We’ve just had a massive thunderstorm here in Germany – thunder, forked lightning, heavy rain, strong wind and the sky went completely black. It blew over in about half an hour and I was already indoors so managed to stay dry.
I did have a little trouble shutting the hotel room window and so did the Dutch lady in the room next door. We both went down to reception at the same time to ask for it to be looked at and were both talking to each other in German before we realised none of us are native German speakers! (Similarly – I spoke German to the receptionist who is actually from Albania and also not a native German speaker).
All of this comes after a day in the sunshine, on Germany’s baltic coast. We started with breakfast in our container hotel/hostel this morning.
After checking out we walked to the beach at Warnemünde (the seaside district of Rostock). As we were staying locally the cost of the hotel covered the tourist/visitors tax which meant we got our Ostsee cards, giving us free access to the beach.
While in Warnemünde we also walked up to the top of the old lighthouse, which gave us a good view across the bay.
We had a fair drive to the airport ahead and decided we’d stop at Travemünde (the seaside district of Lübeck – the mouth of the Warnow river).
I’ve never really thought of Germany as a beach holiday destination but in this hot weather, it is apparent that the Germans have got it all worked out… Beaches all across the country are dotted with lots of ‘Strandkorb’ (think beach deck chair but in a large basket-type thing which gives protection from sun, wind and rain) – this piece on the Deutsche Welle website explains it all.
We had lunch in Travemünde and then took the boat from one side of the river to the other, to go and visit the Passat – a large sailing ship, now used as a museum, moored at the mouth of the Trave River. The ship’s name is the German word for Trade Winds (Passatwinde).
Returning on the boat to the Travemünde side of the river, we set the sat nav for Hamburg Airport and left just after 4. It took about an hour and a half to get to the Airport which is where Corrie left me to get her flight back to Heathrow.
I jumped back in the car and set the sat nav for Wilster, a small town not far from Itzehoe, about an hour North of Hamburg. It wasn’t until after my arrival in Wilster that I picked up the series of messages between Mum and Corrie, and I realised that her flight had been cancelled.
So: We’re both in Germany tonight – Me in my hotel in Wilster, while the airline have put her in to a hotel ahead of her replacement flight tomorrow night. If she hadn’t been transferred to the new flight free of charge, I might have suggested she travel the whole way back with me: Wouldn’t make any difference now we know she won’t make it back in time for work tomorrow!
In some ways I feel like I should call in to her hotel on the way past Hamburg tomorrow – but I do have a long drive tomorrow. It’ll take me a good 5 to 6 hours to get to tomorrow night’s hotel, in Venlo on the Dutch/German border. Tonight is therefore my last night in Germany – 2 nights in the Netherlands remain before I cross the Channel back in to England on Sunday afternoon.
Gute Nacht.
FH.
Today’s Mileage: 181
Accumulative Mileage: 1975.4