Monday, May 30 We decide to go on a Shaw excursion to Schleiswig,
to visit Haitibu, where a Viking museum is located. This area is where an actual Viking settlement was discovered and excavated. On route we miss the first turn to the town, but this proves to be fortuitous, as we need to find a DHL outlet to send a parcel home. We pull over to the side of the road and begin to fiddle with the GPS for points of interest. A white car pulls up behind us and M suggests to go ask for directions to a post office (as we had seen a DHL truck and it has Deutch Poste printed on the side as well as the DHL logo). The gentleman who gets out of the car is actually wearing a Deutch Poste uniform! Asked if he speaks English, he does, T slows down her speech and points to his shirt and asks where the nearest post office is located. He gives directions and off we go and within 5 minutes we are at the main p.o. and send the parcel home!
With this errand done, it takes us all of 5 minutes to travel to the area where the museum/village are located. We decided to get audio guides for all three of us to go through the museum and we found the site a great source of info and really enjoyed seeing findings which dated back to 700 AD which they had found in the harbor around the village. We saw a ship that had been recovered and partly reconstructed, and learned how they built their ships.
We also learned this had been a very important trading town at the time, with trade as far away as Kiev, Rome, Baghdad, etc! We spent the afternoon going through the museum and then the village, similar to the style of Heritage Park in Calgary. All three of us had a wonderful time and once late afternoon arrived, we travelled back to the cottage for our last evening there.
Tuesday, May 31 - Sun is shining today! This morning we pack up and program the GPS system for our next German destination, the island of Rugen. This island is the biggest island in the Baltic Sea and was at one time part of former East Germany. The drive takes us back down toward Hamburg and then turns east toward Lubeck then northeast through Stralsund over a long bridge (reminds me a bit of the bridge in Kelowna) to the island. The drive is uneventful, although following Jochen in his little Nissan Micra on the autobahn at 160 was fun for M, and we are happy to be finished the four-hour drive. Travelling on the autobahn - where there was no speed limit – is great and people know how to handle themselves on the road – slower drivers always move to the right! Once on the island, we follow a wonderfully beautiful road through long stretches of tree lined arch-like canopy leading us to our destination,
the Im Jaich Marina and Resort in Lauterbach. This marina is the brainchild of Jochen’s brother-in-law, which his son Till now runs.
There are a number of buildings with apartments, boathouses, and soon-to-open houses on stilts in the water (like one bedroom hotel suites) people can rent. We had a chance to go through one of these stilt houses – very cleverly designed. We are in a 2-bedroom apartment with a view of the water – great.
Wednesday, June 1 – Today we decide to get caught up on email stuff as we now have access to WIFI and the connection is fast. We also enjoy walking around the marina admiring all the wonderful boats, mostly sail - as well as some big cruising boats. J and T talk about which ones they like the best and which they would like to have…..
This afternoon we decide to go check out the upside-down house as well as a hands-on science experiment museum about 5 minutes from where we are staying. We pay to go into the upside-down house which we have a blast going through.
Every room is extremely detailed but upside down!
The floors and staircases are on a slant, so one’s equilibrium is a bit out of whack! J enjoys science, so we all enjoy going through the building and trying out all the experiments as well as learn a couple of things along the way. Tonight Jochen makes us a German dinner of Rouladen and spaetzle – delicious! We went over to visit Till and his family – they live down the road from where we are staying. J had an opportunity to ride a 50 cc mini bike and loved it – now he would like to have one for sure (he has talked about wanting one in the last year or so).
Thursday, June 2 – We are going to the other end of the island today to go to the Nationalpark Jasmund which has chalk cliffs along the sea.
It is a beautiful sight and we have a nice time. On the way back we stop at the coastal resort town of Binz. This is a beautiful place teeming with people as today is Father’s Day and a national holiday. We walk through the pedestrian-only main street, lined with restaurants and shops as we head to the beach. We arrive at the beach lined with cabana-type benches which people rent for the day. The beach is full of sunbathers with few people in the water – as it is still pretty early for the locals to go swimming. J and T decided that they need to at least put their feet in the Baltic – it’s not too bad really. Tonight we decide to go out for dinner at the restaurant at the marina. We have a wonderful German meal with everyone polishing their plates and sigh with contentment.
Friday, June 3 – Laundry day today. We are getting ready to depart Germany. Today is the warmest day yet. We walk about the marina admiring the views as well as check out the swans, nesting on the shore in the marina area. As the female stands to preen and rearrange her nest, we see that she is sitting on 4 large eggs – won’t be long now.
Later in the day as we walk along the shore line which it’s pathway, we see another female swan with 5 babies following in a line and one hitching a ride on mom’s back – very cool.
The chicks look like baby ducks with their brown down. We found a beach that was recently constructed, with a small patch of the ground firm and not soggy, laden with algae. Although one didn’t have to step far to the left or right to find the latter! J decided he wanted to go in – took a while but he did go in. I didn’t hurt that a couple of teenaged girls had gone into the water and were splashing each other and decided to include J as one of their targets. He gladly joined in, then proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes or so in the water.
The girls practiced some of their English on J questioning him as to where he was from etc. He enjoyed himself in the water while we conversed with someone who was visiting the area from Osoyoos – and struck up a conversation with us. What a glorious day watching the sailboats play in the wind! We have enjoyed being in this part of Germany!
Today we are going back to Hamburg to catch a train to Paris and then Lyon to pick up our lease car, then Switzerland and southern France.
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