Our next port, Warnemünde, had excited me as soon as I saw
it in the itinerary. Here was my chance to visit a beach town from the old East
Germany. I was really interested to see what it would be like compared to what
I knew about the ones in the Federal Republic. Granted, it has been quite a
while now since reunification, but I still expected traces of the old. Not
really knowing how the port would be laid out and how accessible the beach
would be – I wanted sand from there to represent the Baltic in my sand
collection- I was really anxious to make sure that I got to the beach somehow.
Rostock did not really intrigue me, but this would give me a chance to see a
city of Mecklenburg Vorpommern, a state I had never visited before. (Yes,
Warnemünde is in that state, too.) So, once my daughter J had realized that
trying to go to Berlin and really experience the largest city in the country
was just nuts, we chose an optional excursion that we thought would have
something of interest for each of us and still get me back in time to go to the
beach.
When we got up at 6:45, the forecast was 65 degrees, which
seemed a bit cool.
Breakfast was at 7:30, so that we’d have time to brush our
teeth and gather our things before being at the World Stage at 8:30, as our
tickets directed. Once there, we sat waiting for our particular tour to be
called. We were sent out into the hallway to have a sticker put on that told
our tour number, 8.
We didn’t have to wait long to be called. After the sticker,
we headed down to the gangway, having our key card scanned before exiting the
ship. At 8:47, we were off the ship. We found our tour guide by looking for a
person holding a sign with our number. Once she, Antje, had us all gathered,
she led us out of the port and up along the water to a tour boat. Part of the
tour involved a boat ride on the Warnow, the river that gives the town its name
“mouth of the Warnow”. The ride was supposed to be at the end, but, for
whatever reason, it was first.
Onboard the boat was our group and some locals. I noticed
Father Rob was taking the excursion, too. We set off at 9:17. The ride was
lovely and not too chilly. She told us about the shipyards around us that used
to be some of the busiest around. Some now did cruise ship retrofitting, but
the shipping sounded pretty dead.
Fire brigade
Wind turbines
Logs
We spied a nice little beach with its iconic
Strandkörbe, the wicker beach chairs so common on the North Sea in Germany and
obviously here, too. We also saw some cute houses and modern apartments. One of
the shipyards has been converted into a mall and expensive apartments at the water.
When we arrived in Rostock at 10:05, it was 22 C or 71.6F.
We got on the bus to begin our tour at 10:14. We were on less than 15 minutes,
when it was time to get off to do a walking tour. Always interested in
architecture, I was quick to note a building with a unique design of birds in
its brick. Down a street, we could see
the Kröpeliner Tor (Kröpelin Gate), which is one of only two remaining
watchtowers from the old city wall.
Soon, we reached the main building of the
Rostock University. It was amazing! So much detail! There were statues and
busts and the names of areas of study in Latin and so much more! The university
will be 600 years old next year. Rostock itself is celebrating its 800th
anniversary this year.
We headed around the side of the building to go to the
Klosterhof, the old location of a convent. Here we could see the city wall that
still stands. You could see that the wall was not built all at once from the
differences in the bricks. It actually was an incredibly long process to make
bricks in the Middle Ages.
She led us out in front of the University again and to the
“Fountain of Joy”, which was built during the Communist era, and is relatively
racy for that time, what with all the naked figures.
We were given a break to go into the tourist bureau to buy a
postcard or to go to McDonald’s to use the restroom. I used the former to do
both and even found some nice pins, including one for Warnemünde and one saying
“Rostock 800”. The checking out had taken far more time than I would have
liked, but the clerk gave me a nice booklet on Rostock and a heavy, nicely
decorated paper bag. I didn’t need the latter, but it was too nice to turn
down.
As we continued down the pedestrian zone through the Neuer
Markt, it was warm, clear, and lovely with a breeze.
She led us to the
Marienkirche (St. Mary’s Church), another formerly Catholic church, now
Lutheran. It is the main church of the city and has an astronomical clock built
in 1472, that has a disc that can be put in it and is accurate for about 150
years and has a lot of details. The Lutherans did not destroy all the ornate
details, such as the Baroque organ. The stained glass window is more modern,
but lovely. Like several churches we’d see on this trip, a large ship’s model
hung from the ceiling in recognition of the importance of ships to the town. It
was a very nice church and I found myself wishing it were still Catholic.
In looking at maps to accurately write this blog, I
discovered that there is a St. Katharinen that is not far away from the
Marienkirche. It is now the theater and music department of the university’s
home, but it was founded as a church and convent in honor of my patron saint,
St. Catherine of Alexandria. I get very excited, whenever I find her honored in
a painting or in a church. I’m truly sorry that I did not know this was here,
so that I could have asked the guide to point it out for me.
As we went to meet the bus, we saw these utility boxes that
were cleverly painted.
We boarded the bus at 11:30 and had a pleasant 20-minute
ride to the big reason we’d chosen this particular excursion- Brauerei
Trotzenburg, the Trotzenburg Brewery, which is a microbrewer, to make my
husband K happy. We were given a tour of their small brewing operation and
explanation of the process. Then, we were led to the charming bar area, where
we each picked up either a light or dark beer and a pretzel. My daughter
doesn’t drink, but she kindly got a light, so that K and I could taste it,
since we each got a dark beer. Both kinds were delicious. We had taken our
beers and pretzels to an unoccupied dining room. While enjoying our snack, I
checked out the sayings written above the benches. I particularly liked the one
in the photo, which says, “Eating is a necessity, enjoyment is an art.”
J and I peeked in the back yard, when we went to the ladies
room and saw a charming beer garden, complete with a play area for the kids and
water for dogs. We were given shot-glass size beer mugs on lanyards as a
souvenir, which was a cool gift. It’s unfortunate, that we’ll probably never be
here again.
At 12:30, we drove back to Warnemünde on the bus. We were
let off near the ship at 12:52, but we headed back toward the town. On the way
we stopped to enjoy a wonderful display of sand art. Truly impressive.
To reach the actual town, we walked along the concrete wharf
next to the channel that exited to the Baltic. Then, we walked through a tunnel
under the train tracks and up through the train station area and there we were.
The scene was quite charming, with a canal full of boats with restaurants and
shops on either side.
We crossed over the bridge to reach the rest of the town
and look for a light lunch at 1:30. We found a kiosk selling sausages. My
husband suggested the Thüringer, since we’d enjoyed them last summer. I pointed
out that we were not in Thüringen, so we should get the local Rostocker
Bratwurst. We did, along with Coke products costing 2,50 Euros each. The
sausages were only 2,80 Euros each and incredibly long! We enjoyed them, while
sitting on a nearby bench.
We found a souvenir shop that featured Sanddorn, sea
buckthorn berries in a wide variety of products. I also found a lovely oval
candle with a hand-painted rose.
I wanted to see the Catholic church, Maria Meerestern (Mary
Star of the Sea), that I’d seen a sign for, so we set off through the town to
find it. Along the way, we saw charming small houses, yogurt shops, clothing
stores, etc. Our path took us along the large city park. Across the street were
large old villas. I was surprised to see that I had one!
A lack of McDonald’s meant we needed to use the public
restroom by the park. Fascinating! You put in your money (0,60 Euros) and the
door opens. Inside the roomy facility is a simple toilet, sink, air hand dryer.
When you exit, the door closes behind you and the toilet is flushed and you can
hear the place being cleaned. It won’t let anyone pay to go in again until it
is finished cleaning. An experience!
The Catholic church was actually inside what looked like an
apartment building. We could not get in, but surmised a large room inside was
used for Sunday Mass. Nearby, we saw a very large hotel, which was reminiscent
of beach hotels at home. Not usual at home was the spa we passed on our way up
to the beach.
There were paths crossing the dunes every long block. A sign
told you what crossing it was by name and with a symbol like a starfish or a
whale or whatever. It also told you which streets were to either side. The path
was lined with wooden boards for a stretch to just past the pay restroom-lady
attendant waiting outside- and then it was all sand. The dunes were covered
with green groundcover and there were often flowers. The beach was wide and it
was a long walk to the water, being careful to try not to get sand in our
shoes. We didn’t have a towel to dry our feet, let alone wipe off the sand.
Many of the Strandkörbe were occupied and there were plenty of kids at play. I
didn’t know if school was on a break or what, but there they were. No one was
in the water, however. We each reached down to touch it and found it too cold
for our taste. It was a lot calmer than at Cocoa Beach, though. I found a small mussel shell to put with the sand we scooped
with a spoon into the plastic bag I’d brought.
The channel was so close that we could see ferries headed
for Sweden, Finland and Estonia sailing in and out on a regular basis. We also noticed that the lifeguards had a
nice building to be in rather than being out in the wind. It was rather cool
out there in the wind.
After taking photos with the Baltic behind us, we carefully
wended our way back up over the dunes. We turned east to walk what reminded us
of a boardwalk, but was really an incredibly wide concrete walkway. We passed
some beach shops and homes/ apartments. We saw kites flying over the beach.
At
one point, there was a play area, where kids could sit in and play with a backhoe
sized to them, if they put in some money. As we neared the lighthouse, there
were buildings on the beachside that were mostly restaurants.
We walked around the lighthouse and down to the street along
the canal. We went in a couple of shops and I bought a watercolor of the
lighthouse and weirdly shaped building from an artist for 15 Euro. There were really nice flowers along there. Over the bridge we'd crossed earlier, we could see our ship.
We’d passed a soft ice cream shop on the wharf that really
called to us. J and I each got one. I couldn’t resist getting the chocolate
dipped one for 2 Euros. It reminded me of summers in Ocean City, Maryland, when I was a kid.
Back by the sand art was a large store called Pier 7. It had
beach items, but also scented soaps, spices, and more. I found a display of
strawberry-decorated items and I got two nice, thick cloth placemats. There
were samples of jams, several of which were strawberry based. J and I put
together a box of 3 to get a discounted price. After checking out, we sat in
some comfortable chairs near their self-serve restaurant to take advantage of
their free Wi-Fi. We took some time to not only post on Facebook, but also to
clear some emails and to use Messenger to send a message to the daughter back
home.
When we got to the terminal, I saw a display with a
Strandkorb. Here was my chance. I asked the man who checked our room keys as we
entered, if I could make a photo, as the Germans say. Absolutely! So cool!
It was 5:17 before we
boarded the ship again, but we were not late for dinner. As both Gandhi and
Hardy, the maître-d’, told us last night, there was no dinner in the dining
room. Instead, up on the Lido deck, there was a German festival, which we got
to at 6:05. The foods were mostly German. There were German beers to buy,
although they were ones I could easily get at home, so I skipped them, whereas
my husband didn’t. They brought on a German band that played mostly oompah
music on the balcony above the pool and decorations were in light blue and
white-both things being Bavarian, which is very far from there. Whatever. It
was something most people would recognize as German. The food was quite good.
The cake with the peaches reminded me of some I'd had as a kid. They even made a “beer” out of yellow Jell-O and meringue!
After dinner, J and I went up to the Crow’s Nest to look for
the daily New York Times, so that we could do the crossword. We stayed up there
for quite a while watching the boats and ships going in and out of the channel.
As the family tends to do, we speculated on where they were going, what that
weird sort of traffic control tower across the channel was, etc. We had great
fun.
Back in the cabin at 8:50, I watched a movie and did some
needlework. At 10:10, I felt movement and headed for the veranda. K brought out
a deck blanket for each of us and we watched us sail away for about 20 minutes.
I stayed out longer than he, because I wanted to see us get past the channel
light that was farthest out in the Baltic.
What a cool way to end a really neat day!
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