Clark: Hey, hey, easy kids. Everybody in the car. Boat leaves in two minutes... or perhaps you don't want to see the second largest ball of twine on the face of the earth, which is only four short hours away?
We are visiting the two sides of my family in Lubeck, and Solingen.
Lubeck
Lubeck survived the war largely intact. Most of the old buildings (12th thru 15th century) survived. The old city, consisting of a small easily defendible island, is my favorite part of Germany.
When Hitler bombed Couventry, an old British city of no strategic value, the allies responded by bombing Lubeck with bombs made especially to cause largespread fire, rather than to annihilate a specific target. My Aunt Elke has a burned piece of wood that her father kicked off of the roof thereby preventing the fire from engulfing the house. The Lubeck house is my favorite house...out of all the houses I have ever been in, all over the world.
Solingen
If you want a good knife, Solingen makes the best in the world. Heinkel, Wusthof Trident, and a few other world famous brands are made in Solingen. Bayonets and other tools of war were manufactured here, so it was a strategic target for allied bombing, and has very little old architecture.
Lubeck
Solingen is near Dusseldorf. Cousin Moritz studied there, and gave us a tour. Also pictured are various family members , which will be of little interest to non-Berg viewers.
Solingen and Dusseldorf