Part I - Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Go to: Part II Part III Part IV MECKLENBURG
Tuesday, 16 August. The ship docked in Warnermunde, Germany, at 7:00, but we had a leisurely morning and didn’t go ashore until 10:30. The little town serves as the port for the city of Rostock, once part of the Hanseatic League. They are both in the German Land (State) of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, which was in East Germany before the country was reunified in 1990. Warnermunde was a quant little town, but just swarming with tourists. There were about a dozen steam calliopes on the dock to greet the ship. We spent two hours strolling around and managed to find some quiet areas away from the crowds.
We had lunch on the ship before starting our 2:00 tour, Molli Steam Train & Mecklenburg. The bus took us south through old Rostock, then about ten miles west to Bad Doberan where we visited the Minster Church (1368). Bad Doberan was an unimportant little village until 1793 when the Duke of Mecklenburg established the first German bathing resort at nearby Heiligendamm, bringing in a flood of well-to-do visitors. Then we were taken to the old train station where we boarded the Molli train, a narrow-gauge steam train (1886) that took us to Heiligendamm. The bus was waiting at the station there and took us to the nearby beachfront town of Kuehlingsborn, about 25 minutes away. Our first stop was at a very nice restaurant where we were served coffee and kuchen (custard-filled). Then we had 45-minutes free time to stroll the “boardwalk” (actually stone pavement) along the sea. The weather was perfect and it was a delightful walk. The elegant old buildings were in remarkably good condition, especially considering their neglect under the East German government.
We boarded the bus at 5:30 and were back on the ship an hour later. Then at dinner our table had another surprise. After all of us had ordered (and eaten) other appetizers, six orders of escargot were served with great fanfare. We ate them with gusto. As usual, Lorenzo came by to receive our thanks. After dinner we caught the last ten minutes of the performance of a German brass band from Rostock. They had to go ashore before the ship sailed at 9:30. Then we watched a movie in the theater before retiring. Wednesday, 17 August. This was another day at sea, and we were glad for the rest, even though a number of lectures would take much of the day. At 10:00 we listened to a GCT presentation on the Vikings (given by Chris). After that we rushed to an 11:00 lecture on Russia and St. Petersburg, given by a retired British colonel, a seasoned world traveler. It was another beautiful day, and we had a light lunch on deck by the spa. (We discovered that this buffet had much more healthful light meals than the dining room or the main buffet.) Later we both exercised on the 1/5 mile track on deck, although it was rather crowded. I also managed to get to the gym for a much needed workout. At 3:15 there was a lecture on Stockholm, Helsinki, and the three Baltic countries. And guess what happened at dinner. More escargot! It was getting embarrassing. When Lorenzo came by, we thanked him again but asked him to discontinue the daily escargot. I must admit, though, that after a couple days without it all of us were craving it again. After the meal, our waiter reminded us to set our clocks forward when we went to bed. Immediately on returning to our cabin after the evening show, we did so.
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