Northern Europe Trip 2003
UK, France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands
SATURDAY - Exploring Stade
Stade is a GORGEOUS town that used to be the main port in northern Germany, before Hamburg took over. It's on the river Elbe and is surrounded by a wall. It was ruled by the Swedes for many years who helped to fortify it well. They have gorgeous old houses, cobblestone streets and really have kept an authentic look, unlike most other places we visited. Also this being a Saturday, they were in full Christmas Market Swing and very decorated!!
Here's a map of the town -
We had breakfast at the hotel - this was a DELICIOUS buffet complete with lots of types or orange juice, sausage, bacon, eggs, fruits, coffee, tea and much more. It was GREAT. Interestingly, the scrambled eggs were orange. We thought they added cheese or something but then I got a hard boiled egg to eat and IT had an orange yolk too. Very interesting ...
Our first task was to cross the "moat" and walk into the city proper. Here's a picture of the moat with the two church towers in the backgrounds.
There were friendly mallard ducks in the moat!
And seagulls on the nearby houses -
Spiders had made gorgeous webs in all the fences and the dew glistened nicely on them.
The city itself was just amazingly lovely. There wasn't a lot to "do" in here - just a few shops on the main strip. But the architecture and homes were lovely.
The last picture has Bob and crew right in the center of the town, against the canal there where the ships were loaded and unloaded. Next we headed into the library!
Day 3: Saturday at the Library
Main Europe 2003 Homepage
Lisa's Travelogue Pages