Flensburg Travel Guide

This irish is irish only in name, but the bar is buzzing and the karaoke is funny. The bar staff did pull a opint of the black stuff in under a minute, so nil points for guinness serving... i was to drunk to take a photo that night, but i went back the next day...

Dress Code: None

The main trainstation in Flensburg is located in the middel of the city.
There are connections to Kiel, Neumünster and Hamburg on the German side, and the station is serviced by the Hamburg-Aarhus train going northwards into denmark. Furthermore some regional danish trains (operated by DSB) also stop in Flensburg.

The station is located at: Zur Bleiche 51.

This Shopping Center is 47.000 square meters, and has 2400 free of charge parking lots.
The center consists of several food/drinks stores, a building material store and several shops with shoes and clothes. Beside this there are some food vendors (a grillbar, and a chinese restaurant).

What to buy: For a Dane there are a lot of favorable prices on alcohol, soda, and shoes (among others).

Flensburg does not have the most beautiful Christmas market in the world - basically they have booths along the main shopping street.

BUT they sell some unique drinks there, called Punsch. It's like any other Glühwein you get in Germany, but you can add some more rum, and you can add raisins, special sugar and other spices, just to your taste.

Many of the booths also have a wide selection of hot chocolate with a shot of rum or other stuff.

And to eat, you should try Grünkohl and Grünkohl soup. It's a very health winter vegetable, doesn't look very nice but the taste is great. Typical food for the north of Germany.

Das Auge isst nicht mit, aber das Ohr trinkt mit! (sorry, untranslateable!)

Some of the backyards have great little christmas markets as well, especially around the Rote Straße.

Visiting churches is one of the absolute highlights of a trip to Europe, and provides a fascinating insight into the most powerful influencethat has shaped European cultures of the past couple of millenia.

Unlike some other religions - where access to places of worship may be restricted to members of that religious group or a specific gender - the vast majority of Christian churches will allow tourists to visit at most times, including routine services (although some may charge an admission fee for doing so, and access may be denied for private events such as weddings and funerals). However, tourists should realise that most churches are still active places of worship, and so visitors need to exhibit a certain sensitivity to display respect to the culture and avoid giving offence to people at prayer.

The following guidelines are based on wonderful advice offered by Homer (homaned) - who does this for a living - in a forum response, and although specifically written for Christian places of worship, would apply equally to places of worship for other religions

So, here is a general list of do's and don'ts for people wishing to photograph during a church service:

READ THE SIGNS
If photography is not permitted - because, for example, it may damage paint on delicate murals - this will usually be indicated by a pictogram of a camera with a red line through it. Under most circumstances, you can assume that photography will be allowed (unless otherwise indicated), but may not be permitted during services. If in doubt, ask for clarification - this shows respect and will very seldom be met with anything other than a helpful response.

TURN OFF YOUR FLASH!
Every camera on the market has a button on it which will turn off the flash. The number one most alarming and distracting thing that can happen during a liturgy, and one which will even get you kicked out of some churches, is the bright flash that goes off when you take a picture. Not only is it distracting, but it usually makes the picture turn out dark, because your camera's flash only has about a 10-15' range. Turn off the flash, and hold the camera up against your eye, using the viewfinder, and you will likely get a better picture (and you definitely won't have any red-eye problems!).

DON'T MOVE AROUND ALL OVER THE PLACE! (UNLESS YOU HAVE PERMISSION)
Instead of walking all over down the main aisle and in front of everybody, pick a good place from which to take a picture at the beginning of the liturgy, and stay there. Unless you're a professional photographer with practice at stealthily moving during liturgies, you're a distraction, and you're being disrespectful. Even if you're a pro, try to stick to one out-of-the-way place, and use a zoom lens and zoom in to get pictures. Walking in front of people is a surefire way to distract and disrespect and closing in on priests or other celebrants just to capitalise on a photo opportunity is offensive.

TURN OFF THE CAMERA'S SOUND!
Every camera has some way to mute all its 'cute' beeps and clicking noises. If you press a button, and hear a beep, or if you take a picture and hear an obnoxious shutter clicking sound, you need to turn off those sounds (the muting option is usually in one of the menus). Along with the flashing, it's an obvious sign that someone is taking pictures and not showing much respect for those trying to pay attention to the liturgy.

TURN OFF THE 'FOCUS ASSIST' LIGHT!
If your camera can't focus without the little laser-light that shines in everyone's eyes before your camera takes a picture, then don't use your camera. You have to turn that light off! It is very distracting to be watching a lector or priest, and see a little red dot or lines pop up on his face all of the sudden. It's as if some rifleman is making his mark! Turn the light off (again, look in the menus for the option to turn off the 'AF assist' or 'focus assist' light). If you can't turn it off, put a piece of duct tape or some other opaque material over the area where the light is, so the light won't shine on someone.

TURN OFF THE CAMERA'S LCD!
You should never use the LCD to compose your shots anyways; just put your eye up to the viewfinder, and that will not only not distract, it will also steady your camera against your face, making for a better picture (especially if you don't have the flash on). And if you must review the pictures you've taken, hold the camera in front of you, down low, so people behind you don't notice the big, bright LCD display on your camera

CERTAIN PARTS OF THE CEREMONY ARE PARTICULARLY SENSITIVE
The consecration (blessing) of the eucharist (bread and wine) and distribution of communion to the congregation are considered to be particularly sacred parts of the service, and it is offensive to photograph these activities.

The main thing is to try to be respectful of the culture and of other people present at the service. Don't distract. And, if you are asked to not take pictures, or if there's a sign saying 'no photography allowed,' then don't take pictures. You can always ask a priest's permission before the liturgy, but if he says 'No,' put away your camera and enjoy the freedom you have to focus on the privilege of being able to share an experience with people who consider these religious rituals core to their culture and identity, rather than focusing on your camera's LCD!

Homer's Rules ... Homer rules!

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Wikinger Museum Haithabu is located on the site of the ancient Viking settlement of Hathaby. It was once the largest Viking city in the world, but was sacked by the Slavs in 1066 (which seems poetic justice given the amount of raiding they carried out on other people's settlements), after which the settlement was moved across the river to the site of modern Schleswig.

The town occupied a beautiful and commanding position at the head of a long fjord which cuts into the Jutland peninsula. From here, it was 'only' a matter of 15km porterage to reach the North Sea on the other side of the peninsula, which removed the need to negotiate the treacherous waters of the Skagerrak and Kattegat straits - I say 'only', because 15km still seems like a good long way to trot bearing a longboat on your shoulders!

I was very excited at the prospect of this museum, as, despite the enormous influence that they wielded over Northern Europe in the Dark Ages, there aren't too many places where you can learn more about Viking culture. The high point is a reconstructed longboat which is extremely impressive, but I confess that I found many of the other exhibits to be a little dry. Maybe I expected too much, but I emerged feeling slightly disappointed with a sense that the museum didn't do full justice to the fascinating subject matter.

On further consideration, I think that the museum tries too hard to debunk the impression that the Vikings spent all their time raping and pillaging, and overemphasises the agricultural and trading aspects of the culture. Their more peaceable activities - particularly the extent of their trade - are indeed fascinating, but (at least to my mind) the way that the material is presented is too academic, and the displays could do with being punchier and more concise. I would imagine that children would be particularly interested in knowing more about the Viking way of life, but apart from an excellent exhibit which encourages kids to assemble their own Viking village from blocks, there is relatively little to engage them.

Despite this quibble, it is an interesting museum, and well worth going to see the longboat alone. Another major plus is the lovely fjordside setting, where you could linger for hours in good weather (especially if you were organised enough to bring a picnic with you) and the stupendous architecture of the museum building, which is forged out of sheet metal and looks like the upturned hulls of longboats. It is wonderful to see the architecture of a building reflect its function, and this will probably be the memory of Haithabu that I remember most fondly.

To get there by car, take motorway A7 Hamburg-Flensburg, exit Schleswig/Jagel. The museum is located on the B 76 south of Schleswig.