Wernermunde & Rostock, Germany - Monday, May 21, 2018

And we arrive in Wernermunde, Germany. Our first views of this area is seen in these pictures.

Our shore excursion did not start until 2:30pm. This meant we slept in really late and had a nice breakfast with time for Claude to nap before going out. It is hard work adjusting to a six hour time difference. Beside the fact...we were on vacation!! I took this picture and would eMail it to the Mini's to make sure they knew their Pa was taking his required naps.

Our shore excursion was titled "Rostock by Tram & River Cruise". To get to the tram in Rostock we took a bus through Wernermunde to Rostock. Here are a few pictures from that bus ride. The car on top of the building in the third picture is a Russian made car that is basically a joke it is so flimsy. This one is preserved on the roof of a business. 

There were thatched roof homes and buildings but our tour guide said they are looked at with concern because they are great fire hazards. I find thatched roof buildings fascinating. Loved them in Ireland.

Soon we were in Rostock and ready to board a tram. There are old, newer and newest trams in Rostock. We rode on the newer one. Claude is ready to board our tram.

The tram ride was fun and helped us to see Rostock today. Our goal was to get to the old part of Rostock to walk some of the original wall. These are pictures taken during the tram ride of Rostock. 

After our tram ride we would start our walking tour of the older part of Rostock. This city was part of the Hanseatic League of cities. We would start at a tower that was part of the old wall of the Rostock. Then we would walk along parts of the old wall of the city that remain today. Can you find Claudo? He is hidden in one of the pictures. You should always be prepared to walk on some form of cobblestone when walking in any old part of any city. It is a good thing to not try to take pictures while walking on these streets. Just sayin'... 

We would pay a visit to St. Mary's Church. As we entered this church, I noticed the statue of a goat outside along the wall. Hmmm... If I saw a statue of a lamb, that would have made sense. Typically the goat is not the symbol for good things. Alas, we were walking quickly and I did not get a picture of this statue. 

Inside of St. Mary's Church was this absolutely amazing clock. It is called an astronomical clock. It was built by Hans Duringer in 1472. He was from Nuremberg. This clock has three partitions. In the top part the apostles go around giving an hourly performance of the apostles passing before Jesus for a blessing before entry into eternal bliss, except Judas who is shut out. In the middle the clock has the daily time, moon phases, zodiac and month. The bottom is a calendar which was valid till 2017 when a new one replaced the old one. This is a medieval clock with all its parts in working order. There is a sister clock like this in Gdansk, Poland. It is an amazing time piece to say the least. 

Back to the goat. As we were leaving St. Mary's Church, I looked up at the ceiling which is exceedingly high. I noticed what appeared to be paintings. I zoomed in with my camera and this is painted on the ceiling along with some other things. They are small from the ground and would go unnoticed my most people. But they are painted a reddish brown and stand out a bit from the white ceiling. For the life of me I don't know what this is but, with the goat statue out side the church, I am sure there is some hidden meaning I am not perceiving. If you ever go to Rostock, please check this out and let me know.

Rostock University was founding in 1419 and is the oldest university in the Baltic Sea region. That is 73 years before Columbus in case you are counting. The second picture is taken at the City Fountain where the old part of town is looking back at Rostock University. It appears that all statues in the Baltic Sea area are of nudes. These people are very happy with the human body in any of its shapes. Not sure what these nude figures represent in the City Fountain, but, there they are in all their glory. 

We would rest for a bit in this part of Rostock by the City Fountain. 

There was a newer building that fascinated me so I took a few pictures of it. There were triangular shaped bay windows along the front with a creature at the top. It appears to be a griffin. This is the symbol of the city of Rostock. This is a mythical creature with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion. Think 'Griffindor' in Harry Potter. There were other stone items in some of the windows frames. On the ground were shoes. Claude took this picture of me with the shoes. How cute is that? 

Claude and I found the Burger King and used their facilities and purchased sodas to refresh ourselves. Then found a local bakery and tried a local baked treat. The group all met at the fountain and we walked on through the city with the main Town Square as our next goal.

The town square is, of course, a cobblestone surface. It is surrounded by delightful buildings with one side being the Town Hall. It is pink! At the base of one of the columns of Town Hall is a snake. This harks back to a year when the waters rose so much they actually came up the land into the Town Hall. This brought a lot of snakes and created the need to remember that with this snake statue on the column of Town Hall today. 

 

Just for interest sake, let me point out another public toilet. Just amusing to me.

A lesson in German...I posted a picture of Claude getting on the tram. If you look at the front of the tram, you will see the lighted sign stating 'Sonderfahrt'. Somehow this caught Claude and my attention. I know we are in our 60's and should be able to just let these things slide, but, alas, as one ages one becomes more childlike. This is happening to Claude and to me. Seeing a name on our tram that ends in 'fahrt' was just too much to let slide. At the end of our shore excursion when we were getting on the boat to return to the Breakaway, we saw this building with the name 'Hafenrundfahrt'. We saw several others names on things that also ended in 'fahrt'. It had to mean something other than how we were pronouncing it in English. Again, I used Mr. Google and found out that the German meaning of 'fahrt' is journey, drive, trip, or something along those lines depending on where it appears. That helps a lot. Then I asked Mr. Google what 'Sonderfahrt' means. 'Sonder' means special. So our tram means 'special trip or excursion'. Okay then. Now we are getting somewhere besides complete silliness. Our tour guide told us that many German words seem ridiculously long. He explained this is because Germans like to make words that have many words in them so they seem to me to actually be phrases instead of words. 'Hafenrundfahrt' is one of those words/phrases. 'Hafen' means 'harbor'. 'Rund' means 'round or around' and 'fahrt' means 'trip. So, 'hafenrundfahrt' means 'boat trip around the harbor'. There you have a quick German lesson. But it is still okay to laugh when you read 'fahrt'. It is okay to be 12 years old every now and then.

We made it to the harbor, boarded our little cruiser for the trip down or up the Warnow River to Wernermunde and the NCL Breakaway. Along they way they would serve us typical snacks from Germany, black bread with butter and salmon and German beer. We do not drink beer so they cheerfully provided us bottles of water. Yeah us!! Black bread was very good. The third picture down has a statue of a man in a chair sitting on the top left corner of the Spie building. The citizens of the Baltic Sea Countries all seem to care deeply about maintaining the types of buildings that fit with their city. The architect for this building went a bit more modern than the citizenry wanted so they put a statue of the architect on the top of the building. Very eye catching! The flag on our boat was of a griffin, the Rostock city symbol. The fourth picture is people swimming in the Warnow River. Summer is not long over here I guess so there are lots of people dipping in the river. We saw this in Copenhagen in the canals as well. Stena Line is one of many ferries that take tractor trailers, cars and people from one country to the next across the Baltic Sea. The next picture is the first glimpse we got of the Breakaway letting us know we were near the end of our river cruise. The next to last picture is a military shipyard. It might have been like a museum. Then we were back at the dock to get off the Warnow River cruise and start the hike back to the Breakaway. 

Claude and I did this type of sightseeing when visiting Savannah, Georgia several years ago. One day we toured the city of Savannah via a carriage ride. The next day we saw Savannah from a river boat. Two completely different views of the same city. It gives you a more rounded view of a city. This was a great way to get acquainted with a tiny bit of Germany in one day.

On our walk back to the ship we passed this sand monument. It was imprinted on both sides and very large. 

Back on the Breakaway I stood on our balcony and saw again what appeared to be people in brightly colored clothes. They were there when we left in the morning. This time, since they had definitely not moved at all, I zoomed in with my trusty new camera. It appears they might be buoys that have been painted. 

And we found an elephant made of towels on our bed. We began to make a little zoo on the sofa in our stateroom of the towel animals we found each night. This elephant is just cute. People who cruise love coming back to their stateroom after dinner to find the bed freshened and to see what kind of animal will be on their bed that night. I bought a book on one cruise so I could make these creatures. 

Lights out till Tuesday when we would enjoy a full day at sea.