Deutsch Days (July 11th -12th, 2011)

July 11th, 2011
Today's travel had us visiting Luebeck and Eutin by train. Ellen had pre-purchased the train tickets for us.

Ellen leads the charge to the train.

The boat finally allowed us to disembark at 11:30am.



Luebeck was our first stop. We walked through the Holsten Gate. The gate is from the 15th century.

Terri at the Holsten Gate.

We also saw the Salt Warehouse by the Holstentor gate. They date from the 16th to the 18th century.






We were able to see the outside of St. Peters Church. This church was built in 1227-1250. Kris and Terri went to the top with Brad, while Lisa and I went to the Puppet Museum (four floors of marionettes and puppets).

Church that Kris, Terri, and Brad climbed up

The view from the top.  ~Photo by Kris

Another view from the top of the church.  ~Photo by Kris

Lisa and I went to the Puppet Museum instead of climbing to the top of the church.

Lisa and a creepy puppet

Lisa, Terri, and I all grabbed sandwiches from a local bakery. Kris and Brad got bratwurst from the Huxstrasse (shopping street).

Kris is very happy about his bratwurst.

We stopped at Cafe Niederegger for some Marzipan and cake.


Saw a library.

We also had a photo opportunity at Lubecker Rathaus (state house) before heading back to the train station via St Mary's Church.



We even saw an excavation spot.


And a confusing sign.

Seriously...what does Stapler Hat mean?

Our next train stop was Eutin. It was after 5pm when we arrived, so most everything was closed, but it was a peaceful town to walk around.

What is this?

We walked to the Castle and garden next to Lake Eutin. This building didn't look like any castle I'd ever seen before. There was a gorgeous lake beside it.

from left to right: Sharon, Brad, Lisa, Terri, Kris, Jane, Ellen, Chris, and me

Kris got this amazing capture of a flower in the garden.

We walked by St. Michael's Church (12th Century).


Saw this great road name.


We also walked up to a 1850 Windmill (Mother Gray), which is now a restaurant.

I adored this little place right by the 1850 Windmill.

On the way, we walked down Einfahrt freihalten through a small garden toward a pond with statues.

Want to smell my finger?

Very Little Mermaid-esque, but we aren't in Copenhagen yet.

We headed back to the train station to make it back to Kiel. When walking back to the boat from Kiel, we went through a pedestrian walkway. We saw a really cool eating area/park. It was filled with stone tile humps.



Someone left their shoes behind.


Lisa went to sit on one and took a big slide.

Brad and Lisa

Terri enjoyed a good sit on a statue.


Saw a bit of street art too.


We loaded the ship and grabbed a quick buffet bite with Ellen, Chris, Brad, and Lisa before bed.

July 12th, 2011
Today, Lisa, Brad, Terri, Kris, 11 others, and I went on a Friends of Dave tour to Warnemunde and Wismar (the Ws are pronounced as Vs).

The day started with a stroll through Warnemunde where Dave regaled us with stories of yesteryear and the influence Warnemunde had in history. The village has been around since before the 1800s.

Warnemunde as seen by Kris

Warnemunde is a seaside gem of a town where virtually no one speaks English. The reason why most people don't speak English is due to the fact that school children just started learning English in Eastern Germany about 21 years ago (after the fall of communism/unification of Germany). If you meet someone under the age of 25, they should know English...older demographics do not.

I think this sign is asking you not to take out your chainsaw in public.

This is Dave.

Can't you just hear him saying, "Hi, I'm Dave."?

Here is a Warnemunde church.


Dave also took us to the beach pavilion. Private woven reed beach chairs are quite popular here. One of the beaches is a floppy bits beach. We didn't go there, but we saw the statue.



The pier also had a lighthouse and some interesting artwork.


Dave lives in the building behind this statue.  We actually found ourselves outside of his apartment later that night, and he was yelling down at us advising how we could get free wifi.


The streets have some interesting characters, but the locals seemed to think we were more interesting to stare at.

People were staring at us way more than the roller skating bear.

We did go to a local restaurant, Strom Cafe, to have some cake and a quick rest before heading to Wismar via train.

Wismar was a charming Hanseatic city. It is a recognized UNESCO World Heritage site and located at the Bay of Mecklenburg. Wismar was, at one point, owned by Sweden..adding to its history.



It was really easy to soak in some local culture. I was fascinated by the postal woman.

While everyone else went into the church, I sat outside soaking up the culture of the city. It was so peaceful sitting under the tree in the courtyard while watching all of the people with their dogs pass by. I even wound up in a conversation with a lady from Cologne who had a rescue dog with her they'd gotten from Kentucky!

Kris took this photo of an interesting statue inside of the church.

Kris also took this photo of the organ inside of the church.

Duck family outside of the church.

We saw a school house.

Some neat streets and buildings.

Wismar manhole cover for Carol.

After learning more about Wismar from Dave, it was time for lunch at 2pm at a 555 year old brewery. I had peas and fries. Kris got schnitzel, and Terri got fish. (Pattern emerging?)

Hopps hanging from ceiling.

After lunch, it was time to go to the Gothic section of Wismar. Dave showed us a few more buildings before giving us a half hour of free time to explore the Wasserkunst and Alte Schwede. During this time, Terri hunted for a charm, and Kris and I grabbed German ice cream.





A little girl was playing in a fountain.

Art on buildings captured my interest.

I love old advertisements!

We then got back on the Deutsche Bahn for our hour and a half ride back to Warnemunde (with a quick transfer in Rostock).

When we got back to Warnemunde, we were off to find a charm for Terri. She wound up only finding a tie tack. We walked back to the lighthouse and around town a bit more.

We did, after a long time of searching, find a wifi spot from Guido's restaurant. Lisa and I sat around for 20 minutes passing the iPad back and forth to post my blogs online and for her to pull her documents from her DropBox.

When walking to the ship, we saw sand carvings that were covered earlier in the day.


When we got back to the boat, we had pretzels and bratwurst for dinner. We had a towel animal waiting for us when we got back to the room.

The next day was a day at sea. We met up with Ellen and Chris for some Mah Jong. (Ellen taught us.)

From left to right:  Kris, Ellen, Terri, and Kristy (me)

We had some yummy dessert.


And a cute towel animal awaited us in our cabin.

To be continued...



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