My personal highlights of Lüneburg
Three highlights of Lüneburg that you won’t find in guidebooks
Lüneburg - Red Light
District, Café BonBon, Busenklingel
Lüneburg in Lüneburg Heath: where honey bees and Heidschnucke sheep wish each other goodnight.
This used to go through my mind when we travelled from Berlin to Lüneburg at
the start of the nineties. Over the years I grew so fond of Lüneburg that I now
live in its famous Old Town.
Guidebooks on Lüneburg are ten a
penny - but you won't find my personal insider tips in any of them (as yet).
1.
Lüneburg’s original red light district
The
Neue Straße in the Lüneburg old town was very lively in the 15th century. At that
time, prostitution was not considered disreputable - it was considered a means
to an end, namely a means to protect respectable women from being molested by
men. The small shacks in the Neue Straße are an ensemble of tiny brick
cottages with a well in front. Today, the brick cottages accommodate smart
flats in the old buildings, wonderful to look at. The Neue Straße is not to be
missed when taking a romantic stroll through the beautiful old town of
Lüneburg. Pure romance!
How
do I find the Neue Straße?
The
street Auf dem Meere starts right behind Lüneburg Town Hall. Walk down Auf
dem Meere, cross Untere Ohlingerstraße and the first street on the left is Neue
Straße.
2.
Café BonBon - in Scunthorpeplatz
Lüneburg
has a large range of good Cafés and
Restaurants, so it is often difficult to
decide which one to frequent. However, you cannot fail with the small but
excellent Café BonBon. This cosy cafe offers home-made cakes, filled rolls and
sandwiches. Café BonBon epitomises the art of baking in the French style.
The
delectable Hansegiebel [Hanseatic gable] tartlets are particularly recommended.
Café BonBon is known only to insiders at this time – but perhaps not for long.
The
cafe is part of the Bonbon Manufaktur [candy factory] at the Alten Kran.
How
do I find Café BonBon?
The
cafe is located in the Scunthorpeplatz, on the corner with Am Springtintgut.
You
will find the Bonbon Manufaktur at Lünertorstr. 1 in Lüneburg.
3.
Busenklingel - in Johann-Sebastian-Bach Square, part of the Old Town
Culture
can also encompass a sense of humour. In Lüneburg, there is a guided tour called ‘Doing the
rounds with the night watchman and his wife’. Recently, I did just
that: I accompanied the night watchman through the old town of Lüneburg. The
watchman recited a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in front of a house
opposite the Church of St. Michaelis in Johann-Sebastian-Bach Square:
Die Haustürklingel an der
Wand,
der Mädchenbusen in der Hand
sind beides Dinge wohlverwandt.
Denn, wenn man beide
leis`berührt,
man innen drinnen deutlich
spürt,
dass unten draußen einer
steht,
er sehnsuchtsvoll nach Einlass
fleht...
The doorbell mounted to the wall
the bosom, neither big nor small
the hand soon feels at a light touch
from deep inside, both things as such,
an inner stirring of the bell
and on the bosom, just as well.
One knows outside there stands in wait
an eager fellow, at the gate.
Translation by Herbert Nehrlich
What
has a girl’s bosom to do with a door bell?
The
watchman recited the poem in front of a house whose door bells are shaped like
two breasts. Why they look like breasts is anybody’s guess: at the time of
Goethe, electric doorbells had not yet been invented, so a tender touch of the
bell wouldn’t have achieved anything. You had to pull the bell really hard, or twist
it, to gain admittance. Treating a girl’s breasts in a similar fashion would be
unlikely to achieve a similar goal. Maybe men should practise a bit?
Where
do I find the Busenklingel?
The
house with the Busenklingel is located in the street Auf der Altstadt, pretty
much halfway between the streets Untere Ohlinger and In der Techt. It is
directly opposite the main entrance of the Church of St. Michaelis in the
Johann-Sebastian-Bach Square.---------------------------------------Has
your appetite been whetted for more of Lüneburg’s oddities`?
How about a pig bone in Lüneburger Town Hall?
Or a pregnant house?
Pig
bones, Busenklingel, and good food. Are you tempted to stay a little longer
in Lüneburg? Lüneburg offers unique overnight accommodation.