Our second port of
call was Warnemunde, which in German apparently means place where cruise ships
stop, as there really isn’t any other reason to find yourself in this sleepy
little German town. Amazingly, this was one of our longer stops on the trip and
so Amanda and I rolled with the schedule and decided to see as much as we could
of Germany. As small as Warnemunde is I can tell that the locals are determined
to make their town as accessible as possible to the numerous tourists who come
calling throughout the year. It is fastidiously clean, as only a German town can
be, and the locals are attentive and helpful.
The last time Amanda and I were in Germany was over our 2012 Christmas Holiday and we stayed in the sleepy medieval town of Rothenburg, were I might have had the best German Sausage ever. It was so good I somehow talked Amanda into letting me get two! So you can imagine that when we disembarked from the Marco Polo I was keen to see if Warnemunde or Rostock could equal my previous culinary experience. Unfortunately for me Amanda said I had to wait until at least eleven o’clock before I could begin my quest.
We began our brief tour of Warnemunde by following the cruise ship’s suggestion and strolling down the main thoroughfare which is lined by small shops and the odd home on your left, and a canal where you can find several barge styled restaurants, a few personal yachts, a local ferry and an emergency fire and rescue watercraft on your right. The path eventually comes to an end atop a jetty that stretches back into the Baltic Sea and supports one of two small lighthouses that indicate the entrance to the small harbor. Walking back from the lighthouse we detoured along a surprisingly wide promenade that was intended to support a far busier summer day than we were experiencing at the end of September. Interesting aside about the promenade, I honestly thought I'd taken a picture of it specifically for the blog post but apparently I was mistaken. This is becoming something of an unfortunate trend and really not all that interesting I suppose.
Anyway, On our way back
towards the town center we tried to make friends with some of the locals but they paid us little heed.
Of course at least the birds didn't bury themselves up to their ears like this guy. German art is a bit odd.
Having exhausted all
the tourist attractions of Warnemunde we hopped a train and made our way out to
the Hanseatic village of Rostock. Rostock is one of the oldest towns in
northern Germany and has a rather surprising intellectual heritage as the University of Rostock, established in 1419, is one of the oldest Universities in the world.
It’s also home to what
is believed to be the third oldest working astronomical clock in the world and displays a calendar that stretches into the year 2017. Let the end of the
world long-form calendar debates begin anew! The clock can be found in St
Mary’s church which is just off the reconstructed Ernst-Thalmann-Platz which,
like so many other places throughout Europe, suffered mightily from heavy
bombing during WWII. The church has under gone renovation efforts numerous
times throughout its history and work is still being done to shore up its interior
structure of columns as well as a few areas of crumbling façade on the
exterior. Even with the scaffolding it is a striking sight when you round the
corner and confronted with this view.
Rostock is also home
to a handful of street vendors who practice the fine art of crafting dough into
the uniquely wonderful shape of a warm, freshly baked pretzel! Here you can see
Amanda thoroughly enjoying her pretzel on a park bench along Kropeliner
Strasse. A few of the street vendors specialize in Bratwurst as well, yet I
devoured mine long before Amanda had a chance to reclaim the camera and catch
me in the act of passionately consuming my lunch. After lunch we continued our
walking tour of Rostock where we saw one of the original entry gates into town. It's rather large!
The town also
overlooks a small harbor that has access to the Baltic yet is far too shallow
for contemporary cruising vessels.
After another half
hour of meandering we came to an ivy-covered wall that Amanda thought was
pretty but I thought looked potentially poisonous. She wanted to touch it but
settled with having her picture taken next to it.
Our tour of Rostock
ended back at the Ernst-Thalmann Platz where the second gate into the ancient
town stands guard. This end of the Platz is also home to a handsomely
constructed red and brown brick building and capped with a beautifully adorned tile
roof. I thought it looked a bit like some of the churches we'd seen around Germany and thought it interesting that it was home to a bank and a cosmetology school.
Of course the town square across the street was very nice as well.
Upon returning to the
ship we discovered a rather peculiar series of sand carvings that we somehow
missed while disembarking earlier in the day.
There’s apparently a
story behind these carvings but my German isn’t quite good enough for me to
make it out. Anyway our time in Germany was coming to a close and we had time
for just a few photos or our ship before setting sail again.
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