Warnemunde, Germany

It is Thursday, May 15:  Warnemunde, Germany

Sailing into the port of Warnemunde

We see our friend Linda as we get our morning coffee and bid her safe travels as she leaves the ship today and heads back to Chicago.  We will make plans to get together this July as she and her husband will be in Colorado working on their cabin in the mountains.

Many people will make a 3 hour (each way) trip to Berlin today.  We opted not to take on a long day of travel for a short time in Berlin.  Our tour today is with Friends of Dave Tour and we will explore the towns near the port of Warnemunde.  We met our cruise critic friends joining us and walked off the ship as a group.  Dave was waiting for us with a sign.  He was interested in knowing not only our names, but where we are from—a very personable guy and he had us laughing from the very start.  While visiting he sets each of us up with an audio device.  These make it so nice as everyone can walk at their own pace and hear everything the guide says.

We walked through the older part of Warnemunde and Dave told us all about it.  Warnemunde is very clean and the shops along the waterfront looked like they would be fun to explore, but it was too early and they were not open.  Dave encouraged us to take time after the tour to enjoy the town before returning to the ship.  The lighthouse was built in 1897 and is still in use.  Speculation is that this lighthouse was used in some of the advertising for Leonardo deCaprio’s film, Shutter Island.

Warnemunde is a beach resort town

We boarded a nice van that held our group of 18 comfortably and then traveled toward the town of Wismar.  As we travelled along, Dave told us all about the Hanseatic (merchant trading) history of the area.

Travelling along the autobahn

Dave kept us laughing

Wismar is 90 percent intact with its medieval buildings.  There is a renovation going on that is removing the layer of plaster put on the buildings in later years to restore them to their original brick from medieval times. 

Most buildings had the plaster exterior over the old bricks

Our first stop was at the Nicolai Church.  It was built in the 1500’s and at that time was the tallest structure in the world.

Immediately inside the door of the church hangs the Jesse Tree, which is the family tree of Jesus.

The Jesse Tree - Family tree of Jesus

With Jesus at the very top

Inside Nicolai church

The organ

Long ago, many people were buried in churches.  There are tombs under the floor.  Evidently only the rich were able to afford a tomb in the church and for a time after the burial, there would be an unpleasant odor arising from them.  Thus came the term we know today as “the stinking rich”.

The ruin of St. Mary church, built in the early 13^th century and once the main parish church of Wismar is the only remainder of the original brick gothic edifice.  It suffered heavy damages in World War II and the deliberate demolition of the nave in 1960 under East German Communist government.

Holes are from shrapnel

Typical street in Wismar

Cobblestones are difficult to walk on and make the legs very tired.

Lunch was in Brauhaus am Lohberg.  Dave had given us a menu while enroute from Warnemunde so we could choose our meals.  

We had the Mecklenburg goulash, which was excellent, and the ribs, which were called Rippenbrauten and were stuffed with dried apples, prunes, and apricots.  It was good but the goulash was better. And Terry enjoyed the local beer brewed there….the Classic Mum Beer.

Our friends Gwen and Jerry....and that's Dave photobombing

The goulash

The ribs

After lunch we had a brief walk through the town square and then met up with our bus driver and traveled to the town of Schwerin in the state of Mecklenburg

.  

Schwerin is the only capital of Europe that was rebuilt entirely in the 19^th century. For centuries the palace was the home of the grand dukes of the Mecklenburg state and it is absolutely beautiful.  

Internet photo of the area

Today the palace is used for parliament

We all voted not to go inside but to just tour the beautiful grounds and hear Dave tell us all about it.  Catherine the Great, the famous Russian empress of the mid-18^th century, came from the Mecklenburg area.

We then walked over to a beautiful square that had lots of shopping.  

Before being let loose to explore the shops, Dave took us to a local bakery and we got to choose a slice of cake for our afternoon snack.  They were all declared delicious!

As we headed toward our bus for the drive back to the ship, Dave stopped by this house.  It was the Jewish synagogue in the 1930’s.  

On November 9, 1938, the building was set on fire and the Jews were taken and sent to camps.  Around the corner and down the streets there are little gold square plaques with the names of those taken during the holocaust.  The artist purposefully placed the plaques on the sidewalk so that one would have to bow their head in reverence to read the inscription.

Dave was a wonderful tour guide, and the first guide that I ever have had the urge to give a hug as we departed.  In fact, everyone on our tour did just that!

Our cruise critic friends