Postings from Germany

Baltic Sea Holiday

We went to Born am Darß. I know, it looks funny. In German the "ß" is actually a double "S" and so it's not Darb, but Darss.  Three plus hours by car. 

It's located in the former East Germany and in those days was a favorite resort for everyone but especially the politically connected.  It's still very popular today - there are kilometers of lovely sandy beaches, not quite as white as those along the Gulf of Mexico, but not too bad, I have to say.  Of course, the summer season is not as long here as there  ...   but the sea always welcomes. 

Besides the lure of the beaches for people, there is the lure of the water and woods and grassy fields for wildlife. This is a sanctuary and national preserve for many species, but especially for cranes.  In the fall they stop here for several weeks on their way from Scandinavia to much more southern climes for the winter.  During the day they chomp down on the goodies available in the pastures and when the sun begins to set, they fly to the protective waters of the Bodden (the shallow bay) for the night. In the water, the foxes can't sneak up on them and, well, you know, make it hard on them to fly. 

But our main purpose was to get away and take the bikes with us - and use them!  The weather forecast was iffy and iffy it was - some rain, some sun and a lot of wind - but that didn't matter to us. We got out every day though we did take advantage of the boat ferries and the bike buses to make the journey against the wind a bit easier.

Our apartment.  Cozy.  Light.  Roomy.  

And the village!  They do doors here. And they do thatched roofs here.  And cute cute houses.

The landscape is in many ways not unlike north Florida - sea grasses,  wide beaches.  Though the nearby woods are not quite Florida-like.

Because so many folks come here with their bikes , they make accommodations, like trailers on the buses.  Cool.  This comes in handy when the wind is blowing at gale force and you don't really feel like making the round trip, just the half with the wind at your back.  Clearly we are not the only ones who think that way.

We toured the island and the several sea-side resorts, ate out at a couple of local restaurants and ate in with smoked fish and eel that we picked up at local markets.  The last night, we took a boat tour to see the cranes, and there were a few, as well as a glorious sunset.

Heading out, we stopped at the German Amber Museum.  This whole area is famous for amber and you can find it pretty easily along the beach.  Naturally, the museum has a bit more that that and it was enlightening as well as fun.  Made me appreciate the amber necklace that Ursel finished for me. 

Then  we stopped in Rostock to walk the old town and visit the cathedral, old enough to be formerly Catholic.  There's an astronomical clock there, one of a family of clocks built in the former Hanseatic cities of the north.  B I G and even for a rank amateur like me, very impressive. It's an artistic wonder with finely carved details and an overall scheme uniting church and science.  Built in  1379, it tells the time of day, the length of day, the astrological sign of the date, the phase of the moon, and many et ceteras.  Using a code, you can read the various rings to decipher what day it was in what year for hundreds of years.  It also indicates the Saint day and - would you believe !!! - we were there on Werner's day.  How great is that!  I'm sure it was a sign, but I have a hard time interpreting signs. 

Maybe it meant that we had a wonderful weekend.  I can interpret that.