We dock at Kiel, on the Baltic Sea, the capital of the state of Schleswig-Holstein. We are taking a 90 minute bus ride to Lubeck a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On arrival in Lubeck, we have 3 hours on our own to explore the town. The old town is located on an oval shaped island and still has some in tact medieval and gothic buildings. The Holsten Gate is one of the remaining relics of the original fortress complete with the iron gate that would have been dropped down to keep the city secure. Lubeck is home to the Heiligen Geist Hospital, Germany's first old age home and originally a hospital run by monks and nuns. The narrow cobblestone alleyways are what we love about these towns and we don't get tired of wandering up and down looking at the houses and churches and buildings. The bus takes us for a quick tour around Kiel before our return to the ship. As we sail out of Kiel we have a descriptive commentary of the picturesque fjord including the Kiel Canal which connects the Baltic and the North Sea. There are yachts and kite surfers and many pleasure craft out on the fjord as we sail past. It has been once again a very sunny beautiful warm day and at 5 o'clock it's still very pleasant on deck. Tomorrow we sail into Copenhagen again and a number of passengers disembark and we ain't some new ones for the next 12 days as we cruise the Fjord lands and highlands of Norway, Scotland and Ireland.