Well I am at the end of the North Coast part of my trip. I am heading out of Lübeck tady and back to Berlin along the Elbe. Lübeck is a really beautiful city with five amazing old churces. I have some pictures of course but alas cannot post them now. The cities of the North are part of a history that is quite separate from the rest of Germany. Many of these cities were ruled by Swedes for centuries or were part of the Hanseatic trading routes through the Baltic. Lübeck is kind of a prize among them. It has a history of rich merchants and you can really see that in the ornate houses, huge churches, and the pretty Rathaus. But like much else in northern Germany, most buildings are brick. So while the churches are built in French gothic style (some of them) they are brick and not stone. In addition Lübeck had the hell bombed out of it the war and so much is restored. One of my favorite things is here. It is a moment frozen in time. In Mary's Church (Marienkirche- all of the Hanseatic League's cities have a Nikolaikirche and a Marienkirche) is a room underneath one of the belltowers. On the floor fo the room are the smashed bells that were left where they fell in the 1942 bombings of Lübeck. Much of the church was destroyed and the photos of the towers ablze are also pretty crazy. But the bells lying smashed exactly where the fell is a powerful, lingering moment. Well the odometer reads 1,006 miles and my time on this computer is about up. There is so much that I would like to wriet about people I've seen and met, thoughts I've had while riding, and more. I hope I find the time and a good internet cafe to write it all. I'll be in Berlin in about four days. Pictures then I hope.