Day - 15: Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Starting Location: At Sea En-route to Rostock, Germany
Interim Location: Berlin, Germany
Ending Location: At Sea En-route to Tallinn, Estonia
Arrival into Rostock, Germany (formerly East Germany) was a simple event as it is an easy access port with plenty of space for arriving ships. The ship was moored by 0700. The town of Rostock is centered around three activities, agriculture, shipping and travel by sea and by the university that calls Rostock home.
We met our guide Fabian, a university student at Rostock, and were en-route to Berlin by 0800. The journey was to be a 3-hour ride through the German countryside southeastwardly toward Berlin. Most of our day would be spent in what was East Germany prior to the reunification and when in the city, what had been East Berlin.
For most of the trip the scenery was filled with farmland and forests with an occasional area of industry and once again the countryside was dotted with new-age windmills. Fabian more or less confirmed that this northeast corner of Germany had few mineral resources that would be suitable for heavy industry as such, the area had been designated as a center for agriculture. Crops of corn, wheat, canola and lavender were widespread as was forest land clearly used for harvesting timber and replanting for future use. Midway through the journey we made pit stop, after all most of the tourists including ourselves are considered to be "seniors" so travel time between stops is generally limited.
We entered Berlin passing through many areas of great construction. We passed monuments and noted federal buildings.
Once in the city we made a stop to pick-up a Berlin tour guide, Tatyana, a native of (East) Germany. Our first tour stop was near the Brandenburg Gate, home to many things historic including Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts, as well as the hotel noted for the iconic image of Michael Jackson holding a baby out over the balcony of his room.
The pretzels looked good but our bus moved on.
There must be a story about the underwear wearing guy wearing a horse's head hood playing his guitar and singing by the wall; will have to do an Internet search.
We continued around the city passing too many buildings to remember. What was memorable was just how many buildings in what had been East Berlin have either been reconstructed, refaced or in some manner remodeled and in fact how much more work was underway. The cost of all this work must be staggering.
The tour made a brief stop at what had been one of the most famous boarder crossings, "Checkpoint Charlie". Not really much to it today, a couple of "you are leaving/entering" signs and uniformed re-enactors at a street centered "checkpoint" all set up for tourists of course, "get you picture ...".
For lunch we were dropped at the Garden Square (for lack of other name) and given an hour to traipse around and have lunch if so desired. Sheila and I had sausage, cabbage and potatoes at a local street cafe, ah, did I mention the beer. Okay, it was my beer, Sheila held on to it for good measure.
Don't know if this church has been forgotten but looks like it could stand some the TLC being given to other damaged structures.
Don't know the guy in the photo other than he was a bus driver, nevertheless the guy has a great mustache.
After lunch, we stopped for 30-minutes at the large department store KaDeWe, short for Kaufhaus Des Westens. This was really a wasted 1/2 hour as it was too little time see the store and in fact I believe most of us had no interest in the stop. We finished the city tour with a stop at a museum dedicated to the airmen, soldiers and sailors who took part in the Berlin airlift. Not much to the museum but it brought to light what I had assumed was given knowledge for most of the tourist crowd of which we were a part. At the museum, overlooking a relief map of Germany there was confusion amongst many about the division of Germany post WWII. What some apparently didn't understand was that not only had Berlin been divided but that the divided Berlin was actually within the boundaries of East Germany.
After a hard day's work our travel guides settled in for a "brew". Their conversation of the day's experiences would probably have been interesting to hear.
We departed Rostock on time at 10 PM heading to sea en-route for Tallinn, Estonia.
Interim Location: Berlin, Germany
Ending Location: At Sea En-route to Tallinn, Estonia
Arrival into Rostock, Germany (formerly East Germany) was a simple event as it is an easy access port with plenty of space for arriving ships. The ship was moored by 0700. The town of Rostock is centered around three activities, agriculture, shipping and travel by sea and by the university that calls Rostock home.
Within a few minutes of arrival and immigration authorization we had mustered with our group for the day tour of Berlin. Though the train station was just a cross the street from the Marine Terminal and our pier, our travel to Berlin was to be by bus.
For most of the trip the scenery was filled with farmland and forests with an occasional area of industry and once again the countryside was dotted with new-age windmills. Fabian more or less confirmed that this northeast corner of Germany had few mineral resources that would be suitable for heavy industry as such, the area had been designated as a center for agriculture. Crops of corn, wheat, canola and lavender were widespread as was forest land clearly used for harvesting timber and replanting for future use. Midway through the journey we made pit stop, after all most of the tourists including ourselves are considered to be "seniors" so travel time between stops is generally limited.
The pretzels looked good but our bus moved on.
Then of course we stopped to view the remnants of "the wall".
There must be a story about the underwear wearing guy wearing a horse's head hood playing his guitar and singing by the wall; will have to do an Internet search.
We continued around the city passing too many buildings to remember. What was memorable was just how many buildings in what had been East Berlin have either been reconstructed, refaced or in some manner remodeled and in fact how much more work was underway. The cost of all this work must be staggering.
For lunch we were dropped at the Garden Square (for lack of other name) and given an hour to traipse around and have lunch if so desired. Sheila and I had sausage, cabbage and potatoes at a local street cafe, ah, did I mention the beer. Okay, it was my beer, Sheila held on to it for good measure.
Don't know if this church has been forgotten but looks like it could stand some the TLC being given to other damaged structures.
Don't know the guy in the photo other than he was a bus driver, nevertheless the guy has a great mustache.
After lunch, we stopped for 30-minutes at the large department store KaDeWe, short for Kaufhaus Des Westens. This was really a wasted 1/2 hour as it was too little time see the store and in fact I believe most of us had no interest in the stop. We finished the city tour with a stop at a museum dedicated to the airmen, soldiers and sailors who took part in the Berlin airlift. Not much to the museum but it brought to light what I had assumed was given knowledge for most of the tourist crowd of which we were a part. At the museum, overlooking a relief map of Germany there was confusion amongst many about the division of Germany post WWII. What some apparently didn't understand was that not only had Berlin been divided but that the divided Berlin was actually within the boundaries of East Germany.
With the quick version of Berlin completed we were back on the road to Rostock arriving onboard around 8:30 PM just in time for a quick dinner before our 10 PM departure. Most of our fellow travelers agreed that the day's tour to Berlin was a good one but too far in too little time to get much more than a glimpse of buildings and monuments.
We departed Rostock on time at 10 PM heading to sea en-route for Tallinn, Estonia.
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