When this post goes live, we will be nearing the end of our holiday in Kiel, North-Germany.

The north of Germany is a very comfortable place to travel abroad as a Norwegian, I feel. Many things feel familiar – historically we have a lot in common – while at the same time it’s different enough to be very firmly a foreign country.

Last year we went to Lübeck, a couple of hours by train from Kiel, but this year we have decided to stay in Kiel, this city that most Norwegians seem to travel through, never to.

Highlights in Lübeck included the gorgeous architecture of the altstadt – old town, the incredible marzipan figures at the Niederegger Marzipan-Museum (mmm, marzipan, though I could never eat that ship – such details!), ice cream when the sun shone (it didn’t always), and the long, sandy beaches facing the Baltic Sea.

In Kiel, we expect much of the same, though perhaps less preserved medieval architecture and more really solid university museums. I look forward to practicing my Duolingo German (I’ve practiced since a month before we left last year). I’ll be bringing at least one film camera.

I’m so glad it’s the summer holidays.

Happy travels from Jenny G.