Today’s Reasons For Loving Luebeck

Luebeck is a relatively small city in northern Germany. It is an UNESCO city, and like most UNESCO cities, particularly picturesque and filled to the gills with historical significance. It also happens to be, in my opinion, one of the nicest places to live and raise a family.

Here follows a lists of items that make living in Luebeck today a delight:

1. The sun is shinning and thus the city skyline is spectacular.
2. My postwoman waves at me with a big smile on her face from across the way. She has been delivering mail in our neighbourhood for nearly ten years now. I like the fact that she stopped dieing her hair jet black and has returned to her natural silver grey. For those of you who live in Germany, that means you Charlotte, you know what a radical statement this is. Especially, because the postwoman is young (maybe mid-forties).
3. The German postwomen and postmen deliver the mail on foot, pushing trolleys from door-to-door. The trolleys are of manageable size and need constant refilling. The postwomen and postmen pick up bundles of mail along their routes at various drop-off points. These drop-off points are not locked up containers belonging to the postal company, but publicly accessible areas at doctor’s offices, or kindergartens, or museums. This honour system still seems to work.
4. Our ever efficient tax advisor asked the tax department to reconsider their decision to not return us a certain sum of money after auditing us on our 2005 tax return. The tax department agreed to look over the documentation again, and came to the conclusion they did owe us the money, and promptly paid us back without any ado. All of this happened in the ten days we were in NYC; without any necessary action on our part.
5. Luebeck has a simple, efficient, foolproof public transport system. Each bus stop has a post with name printed on it. There are bus schedules mounted on the posts telling when each bus is arriving and what route they are taking. In the buses, loudspeakers and various LED screens announce what stop is coming up next.
6. Walking by the church around the corner from our place, I hear the Bach Choir and organ rehearsing for their next concert. I slip into the church through the side door and sit quietly in a shadowed corner listening the music. It pours over the empty pews and, like a heavy ether, slowly fills the air with its purity.
7. The city is small enough that it is possible, for most of us, to ride our bicycles to work.

Speaking of which, I’m off…