Germany!

Hey all,

Usually, my blog posts go pretty chronologically.  Today, I think it’s vitally important to not bury the lead – I remember enough German to successfully purchase large pretzels.  I just wanted to allay all fears to the contrary before going through the day.

The ship wasn’t set to dock until 10:15, so in advance of that, I did morning stretch again, grabbed breakfast, and met Troy for morning trivia.  This time we paired with Mike and Ivy, who are from Clearwater, FL and were recognized last night for having spent more than a year at sea doing different cruises (apparently pretty much all of them).  They’re wiz-bang at trivia though, so we more or less cleaned up.  As a reward for our efforts, we were awarded life changing prizes (lanyards to put our key cards in… so swanky).  We hung around and talked to Mike and Ivy for a little while afterwards, and then got ready to depart for Deutschland. 

Our tour started with a half hour drive to Rostock, during which our tour guide Katarina regaled us with all of the parts of Rostock that were destroyed in World War Second.  Rostock was very quaint (pictures to follow when internet is not quite so outrageous) and after walking around Rostock University Square and the Abbey of the Holy Cross, we had a little bit of time to wander around the square and the large fountain on our own.  Enter the point where I successfully bought pretzels J

As a group, we then walked to the St. Marien Church, which was built in 1230, and has a mostly-functional astrological clock that dates back to 1472.  Apparently a lot of the church was walled off during WWII to keep the Nazis from coming in and taking all the metal to recycle into wartime efforts, so much of the original artifacts and artwork remain.  Even the huge stained glass window more or less survived a somewhat direct bombing toward the end of the war.

After St. Marien, we bussed to the Brauhaus Trotzenburg, where we were given beer, more pretzels, and souvenir shot glasses.  After trying the beer (and listening to people say that the pretzels were just too big to eat (What?!?! Really?!?!), we took a tour of the production center.  Brauhaus Trotzenburg fits pretty squarely in the microbrewery category – they don’t distribute at all, just make enough for their own restaurant and operations.

We got back to the ship around 2:00 and got some lunch.  This was followed by reading on the deck, a nap, and a walk into Warnemunde, which was the actual town/village that we docked in.  Warnemunde was very pleasant – sort of a Virginia Beach meets Germany feel, right down to the intense sand sculptures.  No big Neptune though – we assume it’s under construction.

Dinner was not formal, but very delicious.  It was “Top Chef” night, so all the recipes featured had been created for Top Chef Challenges.  After dinner, we went to one of the lounges and watched karaoke, which was both awesome and awful, depending on who was at the microphone.

Tomorrow is another Day at Sea, before we hit Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Stockholm J