Baltic Adventure - Day 11

Docked in Warnemunde, Germany

Friday, July 2: Warnemunde, Germany

Warnemünde is a sleepy little fishing village in what used to be East Germany, and serves as the gateway to a major port just up the river. It has also become a popular stop for cruise ships since the reunification of Germany. In a little more than a decade since the fall of the Iron Curtain, this area has made remarkable strides. Although many of the people still speak very little English compared to western Germany, the towns people were very friendly and happy to see our arrival. Another large cruise ship docked behind us, and we were told this was the first time two major cruise ships had been docked in Warnemünde at the same time!

We had a lovely stroll through town -- especially our stops at a local bakery and the chocolate shop. Then we decided to take a ferry boat up the river to the larger port city of Rostock. We had lunch at a local steak house near the center of town -- and Eric had a chance to practice some of the German he learned in high school.

Some dark clouds started to move in, so we headed back to the dock to catch our ferry boat back to Warnemünde and the Westerdam. Unfortunately, we got caught in a major down pour -- with thunder and lightening for the full effect -- before the ferry arrived. As fate would have it in these odd moments, we ended up sharing our umbrellas with a lovely couple from New Zealand who were tourists from the other cruise ship. We had a delightful chat with them on our ferry trip back to Warnemünde.

The weather cleared up before we departed that evening. After dinner we decided to take a stroll around the outside Promenade Deck of the Westerdam -- and watched the trains and buses returning with fellow passengers who had opted to spend the day on tours of Berlin. We started to notice local people gathering along the banks of the inlet on either side of the dock. Before long, there were hundreds of locals gathered in the parking lot just below the ship -- young couples, older couples, families with kids, people walking their dogs... We were told that it was a local tradition for the townspeople to come out and say "Auf Wiedersehen" to the departing cruise ships. The people smiled and waved to us, and we waved back. Can you imagine this? The whole town coming out on a Friday evening to share their hospitality with strangers? It was very touching. Another reminder why we Stillwells enjoy Europe so much.

And so we said 'Auf Wiedersehen' to Germany and sailed off into the night.