Warnemunde, Germany
On Thursday, we arrived to Warnumunde, which is the port city of Berlin. Warnemunde has 800 years of history and 160 years of tradition as a seeside resort. The site is attractive for white beaches and romantic fishermen’s houses. Living modestly from fishing, ferry traffic, trade and handicrafts, the inhabitants of Warnemunde waged a constant struggle against floods, gales and the enemies of the Hanseatic city. The old fishing village had been property of the wealthy town of Rostock, ever since the provincial rules, Heinrich of Mechlenburg, sorely in need of ready cash, sold the left bank of the Warnow River, including Warnemunde, to the town in 1323. This commenced a dismal period marked by poverty and lack of rights, until Warnemunde was discovered for tourism. Word spread that salt water and bracing air worked wonders against many afflictions, and bathing spas along the Baltic coast were becoming more and more attractive.
We did not see Warnemunde as being all that exciting, and we have already been to Berlin, so we signed up for a tour of Wismar, which is a Unesco world heritage site. The tour did not start until 2.30, so we spent the morning poolside with the McDonalds. It was beautiful weather and we had the pool practically to ourselves since most people had chosen the full day tour to Berlin. Eventually, we dragged ourselves from the pool, showered up, and had a nice relaxing lunch in the main dining room. We always prefer the main dining room as you generally have a few options that are not available at the buffet. At 2PM, we got the kids into the kids club and then got on the bus to Wismar. It was an hour and a half bus ride there, as we took the scenic route. The tour guide was pretty good and gave us some details about the history of the area. Of primary interest was the fact that the town has a bit of Swedish history. It went under Swedish rule at the end of the 30 years war, as explained below:
1229 – first documented mention of the city of Wismar
1648 – at the end of the 30 years war, the city of governance of Wismar is awarded to Sweden according to the Peace Treaty of Osnabrueck.
1716 – Sweden has to surrender the governance of Wismar to the High Nordic Allies during the Nordic War.
1803 – Wismar goes back to the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg for 100 years via the deed of security for 1,250,000 talers.
1903 – The Kingdom of Sweden, after the expiry of the 100 years period, waives its claim to the redemption of the deed of security. Wismar is finally integrated into the Duchy of Mecklenburg.
Our tour guide took us on a brief walking tour of the city. We visited a number of different churches, and at the end of our tour, visited a brewery. We learned that during the Middle Ages, water was filled with bacteria and was not safe to drink. However, beer, because of the brewing process, was safe to drink, so most people at that time drank nothing but beer. At its peek, there were 183 breweries in Wismar, serving a population of about 7,000 people. Today, there is only one. We had a visit there and had a chance to try their Mumme beer, a dark beer brewed since medieval times. We received an introduction to the brewing process. We learned that in medieval times, all beer was dark. Pilsner, when it was created sometime later, became a popular alternative to dark beer. So we had a chance to try their signature Pilsner beer as well. After the tour, we hopped on the bus and headed back to the ship. This time, we took the highway, which was about 30 minutes faster. We got the kids and enjoyed the rest of the sunny afternoon poolside. The kids had a late lunch, so we decided to leave them in the kids corner, while the adults had a nice meal on their own. We caught the evening entertainment again, which this time was a magician. As a time saver, we picked up the kids directly before the show and brought their meal into the theater. It worked out well as we could shovel food in their mouth while they were being mesmerized by the magic tricks.
Friday, July 2
Sea Day
The second sea day was fairly relaxing. I attended a lecture on Catherine the Great, who was quite a colorful character. She led a coup against her husband to steel the throne. She had a vast number of boyfriends that she rewarded with money and power when the relationship was over. She even had former boyfriends pick the new boyfriends and in her later years was dating guys half her age. We spent some time in the library with the kids playing games and practicing our letters. All in all, a pretty relaxing sea day.
