We're in Kiel, Germany site of the 1936 & 1972 Olympic yachting events.
We got off the ship early, now it is Sunday, so 9 am is early. Europe is not like the US; most things are closed. However this is Kiel Week which is a HUGE week for celebration.
Not much to see first thing in the morning as most of the booths for Kiel Week were not yet opened. Our biggest accomplishment was trying to find the tourist office & helping others from the ship find it too.
But then the bells started ringing...
It's Sunday so the bell of St Nicholas called us. I loved listening to those bells. They started ringing at 9:50 and didn't stop until services started @ 10. At which time they kicked all the tourist out of church. This church is from the 13th century. This is a great accomplishment in Kiel; because 80% of Kiel was destroyed during WWII.
After "church" we visited City Hall (Rathaus). Here's a view of the city.
Another view from City Hall toward the Baltic Sea and our cruise ship.
I had read about Kiel and one of the interesting items was City Hall has a paternoster, built in 1911. For those of you speaking Latin you know that paternoster is "our Father" but in this case it's a "elevator" like thing. I ask and the guide about it and he took my tour group on a side trip to see it. It wasn't running but we got to see it. Of course there's no way these are allowed anymore here or in the US.
The City Hall tower is 67 meters tall which offers a great 330 kilometer (20 miles) view.
