Beside Japan I have some other hobbies. I am a member of the voluntary fire department. This is also the reason for als the fire dept. pictures from Japan. Unfortunately there are pictures from me at the scene.

This fire was 2008 close to the train station. Lucky for me that I just came back from Hamburg and that I had my camera with me.

Feuer Hermann-Lange-Straße 2008

Feuer Hermann-Lange-Straße 2008

This was the backup team of Vol. Fire Dept. 26. They were waiting for nothing to happen. Because if the come into action, something went wrong. All respect to the people in the „second row“ who cover the six of the guys in action.

And I really found an very old picture from 2007. This was a fire in a super market. Is was in charge (somehow) of ladder 4. I went up with the member of th professional fire department. But at the shift changeover his replacement never showed up. So I went up alone. Only the driver of the ladder supported my actions from the ground. It was a relaxing job. After that fire I nearly missed every big one in Lübeck.

Feuer Kaninchenborn

Feuer Kaninchenborn

Ich bin bereits am Anfang 2015 umgezogen. Aber Dank der Staatsprüfung im Mai ist die Wohnung im Juni immer noch eine Baustelle. Sie hat Potential.

Sometimes in July and August you can see NLC in Lübeck. These are clouds in the higher atmosphere, that are illuminated by sunlight. Even at night. They are very high, so that that shadow of the earth doesn’t hit them. On the picture you can see a color change at the top of the clouds. This is the beginning of the earth shadow.

NLC stands for noctilucent clounds. They are located in the mesophere (76-85 km high). For comparsion: an airplane is flying at 10 km, and Felix Baumgartners mindblowing jump was from 36 km height. He need a space suit because there was no atmosphere left to breath. And this was only half way to the NLC clouds.

NLC are not fully understood now. We don’t know when and how they appear. There is no water in the mesophere. The air in the sahara desert contains 100 million times more water. But they are there and they are amazing. The move and change shape. They are rare. In Lübeck auroras borealis are usally not visible. NLC are a good substitute.

Another benefit of the geographic position of Lübeck is something, that in scandinavia is called midsummer. We do not have a sun above the horizont at night. But the sun is also not very deep below the horizont line. So the sky is not dark either. And in the north it is not blue. It shows colors we know from sunset. Dusk is changing to dawn without real night.

The picture above shows the 5 churches of Lübeck at midnight on June 21st. Churches are usually built in east-west-direction with the tower in the west. As you can see, the camera is facing north.

small NLC 2007

Luebeck at midnight on June 21st

The city center of Luebeck is located on an island, surrounded by the river Trave. The river ends 10km away in the baltic sea (a very nice beach area). Under certain wind conditions the water of the baltic sea is pushed into the bay of Luebeck and further into the river. Then the water level rises. Usually not much, usually around 50cm above normal. But sometimes it rises higher and starts to flood the lower streets in the northwest of the town. The streets are only 1m above sea level.

Hochwasser

Hochwasser

Hochwasser

Hochwasser

This happens usually two or three times in a year around the winter storm season. The people living in this area are aware of this and adjusted their homes and lifes to it. The ground floor does not has a carpet. Furnitures can be moved upstairs or are resitant to water. For sure, it is not convenient, but the old houses have that much style and charme, that you will make this sacrify to your life.

Like always, I prefer pictures taken at night. Btw… the picture above is no HDR and it is also not post processed. It is right out of the camera. A lucky shot.

Hochwasser

Hochwasser

Hochwasser

Hochwasser

Here are some pictures from „around my house“. Because it is located in the city center, it is also a tourist hot spot. But it is not my intention to write another tourist guide. There are plenty of those in the internet. But some pictures I want to show …

St. Petri Church

Streetview

Street Obertrave

The Petri Church was the last church that was rebuilt after WW2. Most of city center was annihilated on an air raid in 1942. The reconstruction was finished in 1987. I was 11 years old at that time … I am old.

side front of city hall

Nave of Aegidien Church

Marien Church

Detail Marien Church

Market

One big point of interest in Luebeck are the 5 big churches. Built in mideval around 13oo. These churches are master pieces of engineering and design. The Marien church has the highest arc built from bricks. It is 38,5m high. The towers are 125m high. (For everyone who knows the church: The Sky Tree in Tokyo ist 6 times higher !!!)

For engineers: The tower roof was rebuilt by using the Trautsch-Pieper-Method. It uses light-weight conctrete. This method was invented by Erich Trautsch and Klaus Pieper while there were constructing the power plant in Lübeck-Siems in the 1951. The light weight concrete is built from cinder, a waste product of coal-fired power plants.

Ganghäuser

Fronthouse with passage

Passage to the „Ganghäuser“

House

Small street

Another point of interest are the old houses and specially the old houses in second row, the so called „Ganghäuser“. These houses are behind a big higger house that offers a passage to the area behind. In history house in the front was owned by trader or manufacturer. And the employees had a change to life in the Ganghaus. It was close to their work and provided a good living standard (for that time period) … And the employess were always under surveillance by there bosses.

typical house in the city center

Krähenteich (close to my house)

House

common fake front

Warehouses