Day 22+23: Different than planned, train strike, Hansa-Park etc.

It was Sunday afternoon and we had arrived in Lübeck. Since we couldn't check into our hotel room yet, we borrowed an umbrella and walked towards the city center. The Holsten Gate was directly on our way and for a change, the old town didn't shine with half-timbered houses, but with red brick. After we had delicious Asian food at Buddha Bowl, Jörg got himself a tasty ice cream and then we went to the room - catching up on sleep! Unfortunately, Janina didn't tolerate the food well and had to think about it again. So we had time to plan the next few days: Due to the train strike, we couldn't take the train to Hansa-Park tomorrow as planned :-( but we didn't want to cancel that either! Instead, we decided to stay in Lübeck for two more days and then take the train instead of cycling to Kiel. So tomorrow the first thing on the agenda was doing laundry (we found a laundromat not far from our hotel, and we skillfully hung the laundry in our hotel room) and sightseeing, and the day after tomorrow we would visit Hansa-Park - with the bikes! The next day the train would be running again and we could go directly from Lübeck to Sylt. Our original plan only included a whole day in Lübeck (or in Hansa-Park), then an overnight stay near Eutin, so that we would reach Kiel the following day and take the train to Sylt in the evening.

We had great weather on both days - just blue skies! After doing laundry, we visited the European Hanseatic Museum first (very interesting). After that, we strolled through the old town, past various churches and important buildings. At the Marzipan Museum, we bought some treats, took a look at the market square with the town hall, and then had burgers at Peter Pane. After all, we had to be well-fed for the next day! After a delicious breakfast (with waffles!), it was time to cycle 30km to Hansa-Park! Luckily, we didn't have any luggage, so we were relatively relaxed when we arrived at half past 11. But Jörg had really picked up the pace! Therefore, Janina suggested cooling off on the water slide first, as it would probably be crowded in the afternoon. Well, luckily Jörg had a spare t-shirt with him, because he got really wet! But not as wet as Janina last year at Heide Park. We really enjoyed the roller coasters, as well as the Kärnapulten and the Störtebecker tire water slide, and we even dared to go on Europe's highest freefall tower at 120m!! However, what surprised us was that the entire park closed on time - unlike in other parks where you can still queue and ride the roller coasters until everyone is done. So at half past 6, we were back at the Baltic Sea beach and bought ice cream on the promenade. Now we just had to cycle back the 30km... but this time in a relaxed manner! It was beautiful! And tomorrow we would have another delicious waffle breakfast :-))