"All the pathos and irony of leaving one's youth behind is thus implicit in every joyous moment of travel: one knows that the first joy can never be recovered, and the wise traveller learns not to repeat successes but tries new places all the time" - Paul Fussell
Northern Germany was our destination on the second Thursday of our cruise; Warnemunde; Rostock. We awoke to a fairly grey sky, although it was far from cold and the threat of rain seemed minimal. Feeling significantly more awake than we had for the previous few days thanks to our afternoon nap the day before, we managed not to spend 20 minutes in the, until then, usual fashion of passing the buck of who got the shower first and we both speedily prepared for the day ahead before going in search of breakfast. Despite what I'd said the night before about never eating another morsel of food whilst on board, I managed to make myself eat breakfast (it was such a chore I tell you - all that fresh fruit and freshly baked pastries......) and after several cups of tea we were back in the cabin grabbing the bags and heading off ship to find our coach.
Now, never let it be said that I don't appreciate Germany or German's. The fact that studying the fall of the Berlin wall and the psychosomatic reasoning behind the development of WWII on the German home front bored me rigid in history at school; whilst attempting to learn their language nearly gave me a mental breakdown when it came to my GCSE's is, to be perfectly honest, a total different matter.
But anyway, I was glad to see a part of the country which doesn't appear extensively in the holiday brochures. As it turned out, Warnemunde is very much the German's version of Cornwall to the Brits - although, in both cases, the invasion of the visitor has probably taken over the tourist trade from the stay at home holiday maker.
Our guide for the day was a humorous gentleman who was happy to discuss anything that the group could throw at him, including those awkward conversations I would avoid like the plague, like the segregation of the country by the wall and politics in general (what is it with the Brits and asking questions about politics?!)
Anyway, we headed out to our starting point for the day which was a walk through the old town of Rostock; one of the hidden treasures of the Baltic. We started just outside of the old city walls and made our way through the winding back streets to the enclosed courtyard area which housed the Monastery of the Holy Cross.
The Monastery has a fascinating history, having being founded by the Danish Queen Margaret in 1270. According to legend, she founded the monastery in gratitude for a miraculous rescue at sea. The abbey church was completed in 1360. It had a turbulent history following the Reformation when the abbey was changed to a Nunnery, the day to day running of the site changed little but after the 30 year war, only 9 inhabitants were left and the site was handed over to the state. However, only upon the death of the last Abbess in the 1980's was the abbey renovated and it's use changed. It now holds a museum collection and is partially used by the University.
Sadly, we didn't get to go inside the Abbey; it's on my list of places to go back and explore properly. After this cruise the list is so long, I'm going to have to do another Baltic tour by myself! lol!
The Monastery of the Holy Cross
In the courtyard of the Monastery
From the monastery complex we moved on to Old City itself, stopping to admire the old town hall, university and the trader street which, externally has changed little since it was built.
At the market square we stopped by a modern water fountain to learn about the development of Rostock; the changes affected by the world wars and current politics, trade and commerce. It was here that we were educated on the significance of Rostock as part of the Hanseatic League that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe. The League was created to protect economic interests and diplomatic privileges in the cities and countries and along the trade routes the merchants visited. The Hanseatic cities had their own legal system and furnished their own armies for mutual protection and aid. It is the power and wealth that came from being part of this league that has made Rostock so wealthy and has helped it remain relatively independent, despite all the political changes that Germany has seen in the last century.
Right, history lesson over.
hehe, this makes me smile!
To the right hand side of the market square was one of the wonders of Rostock and a highlight of the tour, The church of St Mary, remarkably unaffected by WWII for all it's size is that of a small cathedral. What makes St Mary's so remarkable is not it's impressive Gothic architecture, but rather the treasure it held inside!
Architecturally, St Mary's was as spectacular as any of the cathedrals we had visited in Russia (although distinctly less gold!) and it's history no less impressive or intriguing, but what really captured my imagination - and I suspect that of 90% of the visitors to the church - was the Astronomical Clock.
It is located behind the high altar on the apse and is believed to have been built c.1472 by Hans Düringer. It consists of three partitions; at the very top is a mechanism which shows the apostles crossing before Jesus for a blessing before entry into eternal bliss, however, the last figure who is supposed to represent Judas, is shut out. In the middle is the main clock face; like many astronomical clocks, this does not simply tell the time and the movement of the moon and stars. Instead it tells the reader the daily time, zodiac, moon phases, and month. Finally, you have the main calendar, which is made up of numerous concentric circles which have dares, months, days etc and is valid until 2017. The medieval clock is the only one of its kind still in working condition with its original clockworks.
After spending far too much time admiring the clock, we wandered around the rest of the church and were struck by the contrast of modern and historic architecture and design. I also found the design for my grave, well - it would have to be a tombstone to fit it on but hey!
I want this on my tomb! what a happy looking fellow
Our second stop of the day was a microbrewery. Now I'm not one for beer, I really don't like the taste but it would be rude not to try the free samples, right? so thinking positive thoughts and trying to keep an open mind I took the sample of light beer and the pretzel and said bottoms up. I finished it. I kept it down. I wasn't up for trying a second sample and I haven't since converted to beer. It was..... an experience.
With the beer in the system and the final stage of our excursion ahead of us, we made our way back to the coach and then onwards to the waterfront where we would be taking a water taxi back down the river to where the cruise ship was berthed. Upon leaving the coach we walked past an exhibition being set up on the quay side which had us stop and take a second look. It was the last thing that we expected to find and, knowing everyone would accuse of us of being drunk and seeing things when we told them what it was - we took a photo to prove we were still perfectly sane. Dinosaurs ahoy!
As we left the waterfront and headed down the Warnow River we were able to take in the skyline of Rostock and we left with the distinct impression that industry was thriving in this part of the country.
With the excursion over, we reached the ship a little after 1pm and making our way back to the cabin, we washed up and left the bags behind as we went in search of food. We finished up lunch and were debating what we wanted to do with our afternoon, as it was just too cold to sunbath. The sun was out and it was pleasant enough but the sea breeze was enough to stop all but the most insane....sorry....dedicated.....bather to strip off and we were not those people!
Unsure what was going on around the ship was stopped off at the cabin to take a look at the cruise news, figuring if all else failed we'd grab the books and read for a bit. With nothing grabbing our attention for the next hour, we picked up the books and headed to the slightly more sheltered seating outside of High Spirits. As we drank tea and chatted to others the air took a turn for the colder and before too long, the summer dresses were distinctly too little clothing and Claire and I decided to make a move to find some trousers. As we wandered through High Spirits we were greeted by Alistair and Dan (aka Pasty) - seriously, too many Dan's! - anyway, it was Alistair's juggling class and unable to pass up the opportunity to see how good he was at keeping his 'ball's in the air' (his words, not mine) we promised to return and annoy him for the hour and attempt to relearn how to juggle.
Bottom line - we were useless! me more than Claire, every time I tried to return the third ball to my left hand I sent it flying into the middle of nowhere! a fact that entertained Alistair no end and to which Claire still has great delight in tormenting me over. Suffice to say, no I didn't relearn a skill I once had and no, I haven't picked up juggling balls since my return!
After an hour of utterly embarrassing myself and getting steadily more frustrated, we let Alistair escape to his other duties having arranged to meet him outside the restaurant again later that evening and went in search of a fresh cup of tea and that day's trivia sheets. The remainder of the afternoon past in lazy conversation, messing up the Sudoku and discussing hairstyles for the next nights formal evening - it's all about the planning people!
Before we knew it we had to make a move to get ready for the evening and our usual evening ritual began. After 11 nights on board, we had streamlined our preparations and were masters of getting our hair dry enough with the useless hairdryer that it could be styled and not leave water dripping down our backs. Dressed and ready to go with time to spare we headed up to High Spirits for cocktail hour and once again indulged in our favourite blue cocktails - such a bad move when you realise it made you look like you had been eating blue popsicles all afternoon!
We made our way to the restaurant to meet Alistair for dinner and were, sadly for us, not put in the naughty corner this time. Instead we were in the midst of other diners and that meant we had to behave ourselves - well, Alistair did and we probably should have done, but we didn't. As we ate, drank and generally had a laugh we once again drew looks from the other passengers ranging from curiosity to disapproval. Mneh! It didn't help that Claire had let Alistair look through her camera and had the two had dissolved into giggles over the snail photo's from the night before - who knew a folded towel could be so entertaining?
Sadly, with dinner over we once again had to let Alistair escape as we headed up the show lounge for 'Cool Britannia', a show dedicated to the greats of British Pop through the ages - everything from the Beetles to the Spice Girls. It was a bit of a laugh, although I have to say, sadly it proves that the music from the 70's and 80's was superior in every way to that of the 90's and the Naughties. Anyhoo, show over we made our way upstairs to High Sprits to watch the game show with a cocktail or two and plan the rest of the night.
There was no cabaret set that night, instead it was the second night of Andy Wilkins, the comedian. Having cringed through the first set, there was no way we were heading back to see the second and so instead thought we'd hang around and have a laugh at the karaoke. However; with most the ship heading to the show lounge there was a distinct lack of takers for the karaoke and despite his best efforts, Alistair failed to persuade Claire or myself to partake either - and do you know how hard it is to say no to puppy dog eyes and a man on bended knee offering himself up......for a duet I mean (naughty people! where were your minds wandering too?) Who knows, maybe next time - or maybe we just needed more Dutch courage! lol!
With the show team free for the night and everything rounding off fairly early, we had the pleasure of being joined on deck for a nightcap with Alistair, Daniel and Jenny. One drink turned into two and rapidly that became three and after the fourth, which was an excessively large double whisky I own to having lost track. All I know is that a little after 2am, after a lot of laughter, we were all the worse for wear and walking in a straight line back to the cabin proved an interesting challenge.
Our final day in port would prove to be interesting.
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