Kuchen time!

In Germany, they do three of my favorite things really well: coffee, cake, and Christmas. When we were in Lübeck a few years ago, I rarely let a day pass without eating kuchen (cake).  About a month into our stay, I overdosed on it and had to stop. 

Today, though, I was ready to face kuchen again. We stopped at one of our favorite places -- the Hansehof Cafe -- on a sidestreet called Wahmstrasse, where they make the kuchen themselves. It's fresh, not too sweet, and excellent. I ordered the mandarin cheesecake with a cappuccino, and Gary had the pfirsich/himbeere (peach/raspberry) kuchen mit tee. The proprietor, a friendly woman from Bavaria, delivered his tea with a little device (to the right in the photo below) that held three small hourglasses: one for 3 minutes, one for 4 minutes, and one for 5 minutes, so he could steep his tea to his own liking. *sigh*

Here's the view out the window from our table: the cafe is located on the second floor of a building in a little courtyard off Wahmstrasse:

As if the kuchen and hot beverages weren't perfect enough, the Hansehof had a set of Advent candles (which I grew up "doing," but have sadly forgotten about in recent years) lit in the window next to our table. In the age of political correctness, which I mostly subscribe to (but not always) they were nice to see. 

The climate in Lübeck, which is located near the Baltic Sea, is mild enough that they can leave plants outside in winter, for the most part. The Hansehof Cafe has heather growing in pots outside the window. I saw flowers blooming today in along the sidewalks here and there around town.

We walked a lot today around town, and bought some needed items: a yoga mat at TK Maxx (the German version of TJ Maxx), some art supplies, and a sweet children's book that I found at a shop near the Christmas market, illustrated by a wonderful, new-to-me illustrator, Reinhard Michl:

No plans tomorrow yet -- we'll see -- and on Thursday we plan to go to Hamburg, about a 40 minute ride by train.