Day 8: Warnemünde/Wismar (Germany) - We didn't go to Lübeck

An announcement at 7:20 told us we had arrived in Germany. At the time, the information was not particularly welcomed by the sleepers in room #9307. We eventually did get up, had breakfast in the restaurant, then went ashore just before 10:00. Warnemünde is a pretty little seaside tourist town, but we had bigger goals in mind: we were going to go on a journey to the faraway city of Lübeck. The reason? None other than we like riding trains and Mia had found a way to get to Lübeck with a day pass. From Warnemünde we took a train ride with such sights as water pipes and constructions zones to Rostock, the main local city. We hadn't had time to figure out the trains before we realized we'd missed the one to Lübeck and they departed only every 2 hours. The next train to Wismar, though, another city Mia had researched that was halfway to Lübeck, was in an hour. So we wandered Rostock for a long uneventful hour, then took an hour train ride of great countryside beauty to Wismar.

Wismar is a lovely cobblestone-street town

with old buildings, some being restored from when they were bombed in the 40s, such as the huge and impressive St. Nikolai church.

We got some real, yummy, German hot chocolate, then wandered the town. For lunch we tried real German hot dogs, and some variety chocolates. Other than a few frantic bursts of rain, the weather was nice, we got by with limited German, and we really liked Wismar.

We were also lucky on the timing - we just happened to arrive in the market square during a classic car show. As far as we could tell, it was going from Hamburg to Berlin over 3 days, and there were at least 190 numbered cars.

From convertibles to tiny cars to fire engines, it was quite show. The cars paraded through the square, stopping for pictures or to chat or whatnot. Some of the drivers wore aviation hats and goggles. It made the day for Rich, and Mia and I enjoyed the unusual show. We have great timing!

-Myra

From Mia:

We got back to the ship in time for the German Folkloric show at 7. It only lasted for an hour and Myra and I both enjoyed it, while Rich did not. He doesn't like any sort of dance. The show was mostly dancing, with one performance of flag weaving, which we all, even Rich, enjoyed. We were all also entertained with the children's dances, especially the audience participation.

After the show we went to dinner with a healthy appetite - Myra ordered 5 appetizers and an entree. After a very satisfying meal, we went hot tubbing. After Myra and Rich went back to the room, I could no longer resist the call of the swimming pool, so I got in to the nice warm and wavy water and swam for 20 minutes. I only went in because it was getting too late. We went to bed soon after, very ready for a relaxing day at sea tomorrow.