Day 16: Auf Wiedersehen – with tears and smiles

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Angels Travelling

Wakey-wakey, I’m here!! Your last day! Geez, it came faster than we wanted it to. We thought of all sort of reasons to stay another week, but unfortunately there were work commitments which could not be changed. Sigh. All good things come to an end. Like it or not. 😦 Yep, the holiday was now over, so we grudgingly had to pack our bonnie bags and head for home. After a somewhat long drawn out breakfast, we loaded the car, did all the necessary tidying and checks of the house, then locked the door. Believe it or not, but dropping the key into the safety box was not easy. That clink at the bottom of the metal box meant it was final. No getting back into the house anymore. Sob. Sniff. And to crown it all, it was the sunniest day we had experienced since we were there. Bright beautiful sunshine! Our gloom lasted for quite a while though, until we were well and truly on the very busy highway to Berlin. Yes, we were making another overnight stopover, to visit family again, and the thought of seeing them lifted our spirits. Yay!

Conclusion: Rügen was amazing. We had so much energy, probably due to the high quantity of iron in the water, hee…heee…fish, fish, and uhm fish, plus all the lovely fresh air. The house we lived in was well-equipped, big, quiet and good value for money…As it was surrounded by fields and farmland, we were lucky to always see the cranes flying overhead, mornings and evenings. Very early in the mornings….Noisy creatures! They also spent some days on one of the fields behind the house. Fantastic! We also walked nearly every day, taking in as much of the island as we could. It was not overly tiring to do so, just relaxing. It’s also better to know beforehand what kind of holiday you want, and when. We found the variety of accommodation facilities on offer quite overwhelming, as we’d never been to the island before. Whatever, in the end it was all good…after eeny-meeny-miny-moe…

Some wonderful pictures of Berlin. This is the bridge over the river Spree, going towards the main station, and decorated with many finished and unfinished beer glasses. These were the leftovers from the previous night’s celebration of the Oktoberfest, a la Berlin…

The building to the left, the ‘Kanzleramt’, is the official government office of Angie, the current Chancellor of Germany. In the forecourt is a rusted steel sculpture by a Spanish sculptor, and is simply called ‘Berlin’. Directly opposite (picture right) is another imposing government building, which is also called the washing machine. Hmmmm, wonder why….Probably because when cruising along the river Spree, one sees this big square concrete ‘cube’ with a big round hole in the middle. Inside are rows of windows, which looks like it was just plopped into the cube. This picture was taken of the front, and the cube is to the back somewhere…

The Reichstag building, which was opened in 1894, severely damaged in a fire in 1933, and fully restored in 1999. The glass dome on the top has a 360 degree view over Berlin, and it is currently free to go up there. The queues are long though. L.O.N.G!

The Brandenburg Gate, a must-see in Berlin, was erected in the 1730’s, originally as a symbol of peace. It has been used for many different purposes, political or otherwise, from Napoleon to Kennedy, who, in 1963, proudly declared that he was a Berliner. In some areas in Germany, a Berliner is similar to a jam doughnut…just saying…This gate was also directly behind the then Berlin wall, on the former East German side. If you are facing the heads of the Quadriga (the horses on the top), then you’re in the former East Germany. If you’re facing the, dare it be mentioned, backsides, then you’re in the west.

The Holocaust Memorial has about 2700 concrete slabs, in various sizes, and is situated near the Brandenburg Gate. There are no inscriptions on the slabs, but there is now a visitors centre erected underneath, for more information.

Potsdamer Platz. A busy and bustling area, with traffic and more traffic. There are a lot of fancy hotels, various kinds of restaurants, business offices, entertainment and even a star walk of fame…Well, this is just a strip, or sort of an island, between two very very busy hooting and tooting roads. Yes, a star strip…uhm.

The famous Sony Centre, with its conical roof which apparently represents Mount Fuji. The textile sails on the roof have these amazing light effects, seemingly changing its colours every few seconds or so, from reds to blues to other hues…Getting poetic now, not so??? 😉 Sitting in one of the restaurants below, sipping juices or umbrella drinks, chatting or simply just people-watching, is a nice way to while away an hour or so…Try it!

Inside the centre. This cinema, picture left, is quite famous, and is used a lot for previews and presentations. Red carpet stuff. Yes, this is where the big and the not so well-known stars and starlets come to introduce their new movies.

Theatre. Dancing. Convening. And of course eating. Yum-yum-yummmm! At a restaurant a few short steps from here, we had the most divine, finger-licking lip-smacking spare-ribs ever. Okay, not ever, but in a long while. After eating fish for almost two weeks, it was positively hmmmm…

Day 15: Stones, Goats and Flying Men

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Angels Travelling

The weather forecast was not good today, and we were a little bit tired, but we nonetheless still decided to go on an itsy bitsy walking tour. We wanted to see the longest land bridge of the island, called Schaabe, with the town of Glowe on the one end, and Juliusruh on the other. The Schaabe is about twelve kilometres long, and only about one kilometre at it’s widest point, where we started our walk.

On the one side of the Schaabe is this very wide beach with fine soft sand. Behind that are the dunes, which are stabilised and protected by the very resistant marram grass. Immediately behind that is the forest, cut through the middle of the whole length by a quite busy road.

The forest is considerably dense and spreads right across to the other end of the land bridge. This path (above) is almost at the water’s edge. At this time of the year there are also a lot of mushrooms growing in the forest, which explained why so many people were walking around schlepping baskets and plastic packets. We thought that getting pricked by thorns, OUCH! would be better. 😄 Yes, we could not resist picking off big red and juicy, though a wee bit sour, berries from the thorny bushes. Oh, and we also discovered a few relics from the past. Oh alright, so it was only a rusted military water canister, but it was old-ish. No, we did not take it, but left it there. Hmmm…Why? 😉

This is a holiday complex/resort in Juliusruh, with the typical thatched roof houses that are all over the island. This is what you encounter as soon as you exit the forest. Very peaceful, with only the sounds of the waves lapping against the shore.

The beach as seen from both ends. The left one is facing Glowe, somewhere down yonder, and the right one curving towards Juliusruh, far far away…This little boat was somewhere in the middle…

There were children playing, dogs barking, and one or two naked men dipping their titbits into the brrrrr water. Yep, part of this beach is also for nudists.

Looking at this lovely picture, you’d never say that a storm was brewing, or that we nearly got lost, trying to find our car. Hey, the beach is very big! The heavens did open eventually, boom-splat-plop-plop, but we still went to visit the Karlsdorf farmers market (the tea-pot place in day 7). Here we bought lots of delicious stuff, yummy, for our loved ones and friends at home. Erhmmm, and for ourselves too…wink wink. Another ending to a lovely, but somewhat wet and soggy day. Hello fireplace!

Day 14: Mushrooms, thorns and thunderstorms

Posted on September 29, 2012 by Angels Travelling

The beach as seen from both ends. The left one is facing Glowe, somewhere down yonder, and the right one curving towards Juliusruh, far far away…This little boat was somewhere in the middle…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

There were children playing, dogs barking, and one or two naked men dipping their titbits into the brrrrr water. Yep, part of this beach is also for nudists.

Day 13: Dykes and Divas in Darss

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Angels Travelling

This tour was one of the most beautiful we’ve done so far. The area, a peninsula on the mainland, is called Darss (Darsser Ort). It has a wonderful National Park (Vorpommersche Boddenland), which, apparently, due to a very dynamic sedimentation process, grows by ten metres every year! Bet Holland would like this! Darss is also an old Slavic name roughly meaning ‘Briar’. Yep, thorns and other prickly things! The peninsula is also connected to the mainland by the two Meiningen bridges, situated next to one another, one older (ca. 1908), and the newer one, built in the 1980’s. The fascinating part is that the older one is a pivot bridge, and the other one a bascule bridge, or simply said, a drawbridge. As we approached the crossing, bells started ringing and red lights were flashing, which meant that a ship was on its way. Well, it was actually a boat, but nevertheless, we still had to stop. It was interesting though, to see the bridges moving, making way for the little man and his fishing boat.

Pier in Prerow. This little town was the starting point of our long walk to the nature reserve, and used to be known, long long looong ago, as the Majorca of East Germany. And sssshhhhh!…it also has one of the largest nude beaches in Germany.

Prerow Beach…there were quite a few children trying to fly their kites. It was very windy, but one or two managed to soar up in the air. Nooo, not the children…tsk…tsk… 😄 Whoosh! but the wind was really strong. The picture on the right is just amazing. Woman, man, dog. All lined up behind one another, with the boat adding a little oomph to this pic. A good eye, a better instinct, and snap! the right moment is captured. Priceless!

Zwerg- (Calidris minuta), Alpen- (Calidris alpina) und andere Strandläufer - Ostseehalbinsel Darß

Birds…Birds…Busy birds! There were so many and they were all so tiny! The birdie amateur thought they were ‘aaah-oh-how-cute’ babies. The cameraman nearly dropped his jaw onto his zoom lens. They are Stints (Calidris minuta) and Dunlins (Calidris alpina), he patiently explained, looking at me over his glasses. Oh, and over there are Sandpipers. Okaaaay! Whateverrrrr. 😝 They were still cute. We were now on the northern coastal part of Darss.

Zwergstrandläufer (Calidris minuta) - Ostseehalbinsel Darß

Silbermöwe (Larus argentatus) am Strand von Prerow, Ostseehalbinsel Darß

Dig. Dig. Nibble. Nibble. And what do you know, a seagull too! (right)

Steinwälzer (Arenaria interpres) - Ostseehalbinsel Darß

The Ruddy Turnstone. Yep, that’s what it’s called. Nope, this is not a biology lesson…

That’s what’s so wonderful about nature. Even in the middle of nothing, flowers can grow.

Darßer Nordstrand - Nationalpark Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft

The wonderful coastal area of the nature reserve. The weather was not so great, even raining a bit, but that did not spoil anything for us. It is a very quiet and almost serene area, and, as captured in these stunning pictures, sand and water as far as the eye can see. Almost like clouds meets land…

The tiny little harbour of Ottersee, with a wooden bridge, which we had to cross. Shiver-shiver-shake! There were NO railings on either side, so it was almost like walking on a tightrope…Oooohhhrrrrrrrr…

Ostseehalbinsel Darß - Nationalpark Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft

…after safely ‘landing’ on the other side of the wooden bridge, we entered the protected area of the national park. This wooden ‘runway’ is one of many, and it serves as a secure walkway, because the ground is very soft and mostly mushy and wet. We also heard and saw quite a few deers. Some were also fighting! Like divas protecting their territory… 😌

…another brilliant picture of the coast, with a washed up log, all by its lonesome self…We also looked for the famous amber stones, to no avail…again…

…here another example of how nature works. This tree is almost dead, yet a beautiful flower still manages to grow in it…All together now. Aaaahhhhh!…and then comes man…Almost all the trees in the park have these ‘patterns’. During the East German (DDR) reign, they were periodically milked for their resin. What a shame…

A lovely villa which we saw on our way back to Prerow. From here on we walked all the way on a paved dyke, with the tree-lined coast to the left, and lots of cute little houses on the right…

Unser Ausflugsboot zur Kranichbeobachtung in Prerow

Schaufelraddampfer bei Prerow - Ostseehalbinsel Darß

Boats and ….boats…We were driving back home, when we spontaneously decided to do the boat thing in Prerow…a boat tour specially to see the cranes…We were glad we did! It was quite chilly though, but that was solved by drinking HOT ‘Sanddorn’ juice, and a hot chocolate with lots of cream and something Russian…or was it Jamaican…Whichever. It was toasty! ☺️ The one on the left was our boat, and the one on the right was a Mississippi steam boat which we encountered on the way…The boat sails on the Prerow river right up to the Meiningen Bridge, then anchors for an hour or more, until most of the cranes have flown by, or until the sun sets completely, whichever comes first…If you do not want to go by boat, parking near the bridge is possible. Get there early, as parking spaces are limited, and it gets really full.

…many many grey geese which we saw from the boat…

Fliegende Kraniche bei Prerow - Ostseehalbinsel Darß

…and then the best part…Cranes, cranes everywhere. There must have been thousands of them flying over our heads, all returning to their resting ‘quarters’ for the night. Wow! Awesome. Incredible. Marvellous. If you look closer, you can see two of them bumping into one another. Crash bang birdies! No, they did not fall down, and with so many birds flying overhead, nor did any of their ‘droppings’ fall on our heads…or open-mouthed faces 😝

Bootsausflug zur Kranichbeobachtung bei Prerow - Ostseehalbinsel Darß

Kranichflug bei Prerow - Ostseehalbinsel Darß

…see this breathtaking view of the starting nightfall, with the noisy cranes overhead…

“There’s never one sunrise the same, or one sunset the same” Carlos Santana

Kraniche fliegen in den Sonnenuntergang bei Prerow - Ostseehalbinsel Darß

Our wish for you is that the sunsets in your life be always as beautiful as this. As the day comes to an end, the stars start to glisten brightly, and the moon shows its shiny face. Aah, how wondrous it is, knowing that the day has ended as colourful as the dawning of a new day promises to be. Yes, with new hopes and happy dreams. Smile. I know we are 😊

Day 12: Aufhübschen in Binz – primping and preening in Binz

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Angels Travelling

We did not hike today. Surprise. Surprise. The weather was so-la-la, so we decided to visit the largest of the four Baltic sea-side resorts, Binz. It has quite an unusual setting. It faces a lovely long beach with quite soft white sand on the Prorer Wiek (Prorer bay) and at the back there’s a big lake called the Schmachter See, which is quite shallow. Yes, Binz is sort of squeezed in-between two water bodies. The resort is also not too far away from Sellin (see our post on Day 6) and boasts a similar architecture of villas and houses. Although, personally, it lacked the charm of Sellin. Too touristy…

As is typical for most resorts, here is one of the many choo-choo shuttle services which starts at the pier and drives through the town. Don’t expect a steaming chimney or loud toot-toot whistling, as they are tourist trains, quiet, for weary legs, for snapshots, for excited kiddies, or just for fun. They also have rubber tyres. More vroom-vroom than choo-choo. There’s also one called the Hunting Lodge Express, which takes you right up to the historical Granitz Hunting Lodge (Jagdschloss Granitz) which is not far away. Alternatively, there’s also a blue Bäderbahn (Resort train, also with tyres!) for other destinations within the town. AND…for a REAL choo-choo experience, you can also hop onto the Rushing Roland (Rasender Roland) which has a stop in Binz.

…a real sandcastle! For the third time now, the Rügen island is hosting a big international Sand Sculpure Festival (31.03-04.11), currently in Binz. This year’s festival theme is European fairy tales. On the right is a quaint little shop selling products made ONLY from Sanddorn berries. Amazing to see the variety of jams, drinks, cosmetic articles and and and…We bought a few stuff, but only those mixed with sugar and cream. As we’ve said before, Sanddorn is SOUR. Gurrrrhhrrr…

The Pier. Here you can embark on a ship and take an excursion along the chalk coastline, to Kap Arkona (Cape Arkona), or to the other Baltic Seaside Resorts. We sat in a ‘rustic’ little hut right on the beach, and ate a delicious Currywurst (Curry Sausage) with fries, and enjoyed this view. Yummy!

The Kurhaus (Spa house) situated directly on the promenade, and near the pier, was opened in July 1890. Unfortunately it burnt completely down in 1906. It was reconstructed a year later, but this time built with bricks! The original building was a Fachwerkhaus (half-timbered house). Lots of wood! It is now a hotel, but purposely with no star ratings. It used to hold a 5-star superior hotel rating, but they gave this up in 2012. Apparently the service will still remain top class, as always.

…a very elegant sea gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus), primped and preened… 😉

…tantalizing titivation’s?? The sign roughly says that this shop is a ‘primp and preen zone’ Uhmm! Oh okaaaay…we believe you!

Camera packed away…rucksacks stowed in the boot…

We left Binz then headed off towards the Jasmund National Park. Noooo, not to hike, but to go SWIMMING! Not the ‘oopsy-daisy-that-wave-got-me-wet-again’ shore-line adventure paddling, but dipping into a warm smallish indoor swimming pool. There’s also an outdoor pool, but at this time of the year you have to be really brrr-brave to want to swim in that. Well, we did!! After a few shivering minutes we rushed into the sauna. There are many types to choose from, dry heat, wet heat, cannot breathe heat. We did a few sessions in some of them, the shortest stay being in a steaming hot ‘now-I-am-fried’ rose perfumed cabin. Understandably we jumped back into the pool, and decided that we had no need to test the fitness area, nor to get a massage. Too much oilies…So we plopped ourselves on the deck chairs, and promptly fell asleep, with our wet togs still clinging onto our ‘curves’. Not so comfy, but worth it for a short snoozle. This complex, by the way, is called the Jasmar or Jasmunder SPA (Jasmar Therme).

Another highlight was that the passenger was FINALLY allowed to drive! After adjusting the seat from long legs to shorty legs, and stretching the neck so as to be able to see over the bonnet, we bunny hopped out of the parking lot and made our way home, and arrived safely too. A wonderful end to a wonderful day! Sigh. Contented sigh!

Day 11: Ich hab’ die Haare schön – hair, hair, my beautiful hair

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Angels Travelling

…another one of the wonderful churches on the island, St. Mary’s in Bergen, a town not too far from where we were staying. We made a short stop over here before we went to hike in the Lancken-Granitz. When we returned to our car, a neat wet little piece of paper stuck on the windscreen welcomed us to the town, and announced that we must pay a parking fine! Hrmph! Not nice, but thankfully it was only 5 euros. Oh well, at least it did not spoil our impressions of this church though. We were amazed at the Romanesque mural art on the walls and ceilings, depicting quite a few biblical motives. What makes it so interesting in these old churches, is the feeling of being transported back in time, and the wonder of how life must have been without modern day technology. A Gothic slide show!

Here the very high arched ceilings with fantastic murals. Don’t be shy, lie on your back, only if you are sure you can get up again, and admire the view! The floors are made of stone and are very cold, mmmm…so maybe not…

After the parking fine shock, we drove over to our hiking starting point at Lancken-Granitz. There are no visible road signs on the main road leading to this little village, so can be difficult to find, but thanks to Capitano Columbus, the driver, we did not get lost. Not far from this village are the famous megalith tombs from the Neolithic era (new stone age). There are seven of these tombs in total.

Further along is the Ziegensteine tomb, or Sieges[steine] (Victory stones). Ziegen actually means goats, but I don’t think that these had anything to do with goats. Ehm…This tomb is also one of the largest megalithic tombs on the island, and erected by farmers and livestock breeders around 3500-1800BC. It is also situated in a very quiet and peaceful part of the forest.

The Stresow Bay with the very remote island of Vilm in the background. It is a protected nature reserve, and strictly closed to constant human presence. Visits to the island are restricted to a maximum of thirty persons per day, so booking in advance is a must.

The entrance to the little village of Gross Stresow (big Stresow) at the bay, with a big welcome painted on the rock. Cute.

One of the many lovely thatched roof houses in the village.

…what a novel idea for a red little buoy. As you see, from this point, Cape Town is ‘only’ 9781 kilometres away!

This is a holiday house, with such a pretty garden, and the bay is only a few metres away.

We took a little break, and, sitting on an upside-down ‘hope-it-will-not-break’ boat, enjoyed the view while munching on our choc-chip cookies. The sun is struggling to peep through the clouds, and the wooden little pier looked a bit too rickety, so no walking on that. Amazing photo, not so??

Aaahh, beautiful! There were so many butterflies in this garden, more than anywhere else we’ve seen on the island. In fact, up to now we’d only seen one or three caterpillars, eeek, and maybe one or three butterflies. There were also quite a lot of hornets buzzing amongst them, all enjoying the rotting fruits of a pear tree. The amazing photographer braved the buzz-buzzing of those yellow-striped kamikazes, and managed to take this wonderful snapshot of Madame B., casting her shadow over the pole. It was not easy to get such an amazing snapshot! Awesome!

Delicious red apples for the postman?? A mouth-watering apple tree with an overfull post box, still in Gross Stresow.

A view of the village of Gross Stresow in the background. We walked all the way from there, along this very narrow shoreline of the bay (this was probably the widest part!). We sank in the way too soft sand, we paddled in the water, we crawled and fought our way through the reeds, we climbed over rocks and stones. Another day in paradise? You bet!

Hair. Hair. My beautiful hair! …a home for fleas, yeah…a hive for bees, oh yeah…a nest for birds, well hmmm…there ain’t no words for the beauty, the splendor, the wonder of my…Hair. Hair. Hair…Is this baby cute or not??

…and I can talk too, but at the moment I’m a little hoarse…giggle…giggle…

…snuffle up my little one! What a lovely privilege to witness this tenderness between the two. There were other horses in the paddock, but only these two were inquisitive enough to stay with us. The others turned their backs on us when they realised that we had nothing yummy-yum for them to nibble on.

Excuse me Sir, but do you have a mint? Ace Venturarah canoodling with Brown Beauty. …baby…oh oh baby, my sweet baby…cootchie cootchie coo…

After the fun with the loving horses, we reached the ‘only-has-one-street’ fishing village of Neu Reddevitz. It is surrounded on three sides by water, and is in the biosphere reserve of south eastern Rügen. It has a lovely little stony beach, all 5 metres of it. At the distance (top left of photo) is Gross Stresow, where we walked from. So far, far away. Impressive.

The main and only street in the village. There are a lot of lovely little thatched roof houses, which are mainly used as holiday homes.

…here one of the houses getting a face-lift! Apparently it costs a lot of money to re-roof these houses, and it has to be repeated every ten to twenty years or so. Also not good if there’s a fire!

On our way back to Lancken-Granitz, over the Teschenberg, with the Stresow Bay in the background. Is this not a fantastic landscape photo? Spectacular!

A view of the village of Lancken-Granitz. There’s a solid wooden bench over here where one can sit and admire the all-round view of the fields and the village in front, and listen to the chirping birds in the little forest at the back. We were almost at our destination. A wonderful end to another adventurous day. Hee-haw!

Day 10: Strolling in Stralsund

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Angels Travelling

Stralsund, a city on the German mainland, is a must to see if you’re in the area. Fortunately we were not staying too far away, only about a twenty minute drive to get there, via THAT bridge 😉 No, no phobias this time (Smile). So please, come and enjoy strolling with us through the city…

The bridge is called the Rügenbrücke, which you can see in the background of this photo, and is the newer (2007) bridge linking mainland Germany with the island of Rügen. The older bridge (1936/7), right next to it, but not as high, is also still in operation. Both are used simultaneously. The boat in front is a police boat.

Old and new embracing one another. The white building is the new Oceanographic Museum, OZEANEUM (2008) and seems to be hugging one of the three historic warehouses of the harbour. Love this!

The Gorch Fock I, originally built in 1933 as a school/training ship, is, after being renovated in 2008, now permanently moored in Stralsund and is now a museum ship. Another Gorch Fock replacement was built in 1958, (the original one was still in Russian hands) and is still in use today.

Here the ship with the bridge in the background. Again, old and new in harmony with one another…

Stunning! Ozeaneum, Gorch Fock 1 and the historical warehouses of the harbour.

…another view of the bridge, with a little lighthouse in the foreground…

Fast fish! One of many ‘snack-boats’ in the area. There are a lot of delicious choices of smoked and/or fresh fish. The fishy answer to fast food…Yummy!

FIRE!! A Fire Brigade ship…

In the background is the Fire Brigade ship, and the one in front is a boat driving school…with a little dinghy attached. Wonder which one is used for teaching…and why is the little one called ‘Pitti’ …LOL! Also see part of the historical city in the background…

…laughed at the name of this one…heee…heee…

A boat beneath a sunny sky, Lingering onward dreamily, In an evening of July… by Lewis Carroll

…docks for the boats, with the lighthouse. The angle taken of this photo is amazing!

A typical former East German (DDR) car called the Trabant, fondly known as the ‘Trabi’ on top of a hot dog kiosk. The hot dogs are also self-service, according to the sign. Heh???? It was closed, so we’re not sure if it’s real or not…Whatever, great idea!

This is so funny! Very eye-catching and could not be missed LOL!

Hey girls, see the guy with the camera? Yep, that one! Woweeee. Oh…giggle…giggle… he’s looking at us. Wowie! 🙂 This is a fountain showing three girls pointing at something. Apparently if you touch or rub the thumb, you will return to Stralsund again. It looks like it’s been rubbed quite a lot already!

This Brick Gothic Town Hall dates back to the 13th Century. It is situated on the Alter Markt (Old Town Market square), which is in the heart of the old town. This historic town centre is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Wulflamhaus, 14th century, another Gothic building on the Alter Markt, now houses a restaurant and the press office of the city council of Stralsund.

One of the most beautiful churches we’ve seen so far, the Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas Church) where building started from around the 1270’s. It is the oldest of three parish churches in Stralsund, and is still largely being renovated up to today. Enjoy the next few photos taken in the church. There were so many wonderful frescos, carvings, paintings, statues etc., that it is nearly impossible to choose the best ones!

…these beautiful mix of colours were painted over and were white until the 1700’s, but fortunately restored again to what it is now. A ribbed arched roof (right), one of many…

These are wooden carved altars. The left is the Bürgermeisteraltar (Mayor altar) from the year 1500, and the right is the Bergenfahreraltar (Hanseatic Traders and Mariners of the Middle Ages)

…here again the colours and arched walls. The blue windows on the right are brand new, and are called Schreiterfenster (Schreiter windows). Mr. Schreiter’s windows can be found in quite a few churches in Germany.

…there were quite a few ‘skulls’ (left) in many of the carvings. Here one can also see that this part has not been renovated yet. To the right is an old astronomical clock (1394), which is apparently the oldest mechanical clock in the world, still with all it’s original wheel-work. Wow! It’s not running though…

…view of part of the city from the roof of the Ozeaneum…

This is a REAL skeleton! Bite…bite! Also see the escalator to the left. It is thirty metres long. Repeat, THIRTY METRES, and it’s in the middle of…of…shiver…nothing. Think roller-coaster going up, up, up, UP…Oooh, oh phobia, hello again…It is the longest self-supporting escalator in Europe…W-w–wow!

…a school of very busy fish. These kept on following a very round bellied (full or fat???) tiger shark.

…hello handsome!

…oh…okay, so you’re handsome too! Coochie coochie coo…

Hrmph! Leave me alone. I’m hiding! Now that is what we call camouflage!

…and to think that these lovely creatures taste so good with lemon butter sauce…

Did you know that octopuses in general are considered highly intelligent? And also that male octopuses die within a few months of mating? What a bummer! All those brains…

Peng in Black? Tuxedo Bond? Oceans Six? Water Birdies? We had such fun with these!

I am beautiful, I am sexy, I am…tra-la-laaaaaaa…

These had us in stitches! We laughed so much :-D. Adonis, the one with the camera, was taking a few photos of them. The one on the left must have really liked him, and acted as if this was a photo shoot! Stretch, pose, turn left, pose, turn right, pose, flippers up, pose, flippers down, pose. Do you have enough? No? Okay. Stretch-pose-left-pose-right-pose. The one on the right thought, hell no, me too, so did the same. This carried on for minutes. It was soooo funny!

Left loves the sun, while right is doing the sunny-step-dance…

At the end of the tour of the Ozeaneum, you can lie on your back on ‘hard-to-get-up-again’ deck chairs, and see these original sized models of the giants of the sea hanging from the ceiling. This one is a blue whale. These things are HUGE, and they’re also loud. Worth it!

Day 9: Birth of this Blog

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Angels Travelling

YES, we stayed home today! The only reason because it was raining! That non-stop ‘drip-drip-light-the-fire-and-be-cosy’ kind of rain…So we started this blog. It would be a long birth, with nearly twenty hours of labour…hee-heeee! But worth it, not so??? Come on, oh please…APPLAUSE!! Here are some more lovely photos of where we lived…

Entrance to our holiday house…fields as far as the eye can see 😉 It was so funny because the navigator was also puzzled, and would only instruct us to ‘turn into the street’. No name, no number, nothing, just ‘the street’. When friends left our house to go home, their navi instructed them to ‘please find a digital road’ before it could calculate their route back. LOL!

Yes, we were the only TWO persons living there, with lots of chirping birds, a sneaky deer in the bushes, a lot of ‘not-allowed-to-kill-them’ hornets, a few ‘splat-you-are-dead’ mosquitoes, and two ‘run-or-we-bite’ spiders.

The fireside. The very frustrating fireside! It was such a struggle to get those logs burning, even though the instructions were followed to a tee. When they did burn, it was really warm, cosy and …wink-wink…

The couch is big and quite comfortable. The TV could’ve been more modern though. Climbing those stairs after walking for more than six hours could be sometimes challenging, ow-ow, but the very hot shower is up there, so climb baby climb…

The kitchen had everything, except a bread knife. Erhm, try cutting freshly baked bread (noooo, from the farmers market) with an ordinary knife…There was also no microwave. Excuse me! A necessity nowadays…ahem…Absolutely loved the egg cooker – perfectly boiled eggs!

Day 8: Adventure day – skip if you have heart problems

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Angels Travelling

Oops, we did it again! With sunshine predicted for the whole day, we chose a three and a half hour hike (double that for us) from Sassnitz to Lohme. This coastal route is entirely in the Jasmund National Park, with lovely views of the coastline from the top of these amazing cliffs. The er…uhm…official coastal route…We could not wait to see the shore, so took the first wooden steps down, and had this amazing view of the chalk cliffs.

This view of the same part of the cliffs can be seen from above. A few metres more and then the next flight of steps going down, to a little gorge called the Piratenschlucht (Pirate Gorge). This was apparently the hide-out of a famous pirate called Klaus Störtebecker. Sorry, no gold coins found…

We stayed on the coast. Look at all the obstacles in our way! It did not look so bad from a distance, but as we got nearer, it was obvious that we had to crawl under these trees (at different points), or climb over. Or paddle in the water. We crawled on all fours!

H.E.L.P! Landslide ahead! Again, it did not look threatening from our viewpoint, and we were now getting used to overcoming obstacles…ahem…We could definitely not turn back now, so we crawled over more dead branches, scrambled over soft, unstable and crumbling earth…Scary…but we made it!

If we had walked up on the cliff as we were supposed to be doing, we wouldn’t have had the pleasure of this amazing view. It is scary and very imposing walking under these! Look at the trees dangling on the edges. A huff and a puff and they would certainly fall over and come crashing down. Oooh…the excitement and the rush! Also on the left photo we´re nearing the landslide…Oh boy!

No, this photo is NOT skew. This tree is really growing horizontally!! ..and we’re under it!

…looking back to where we’ve just lost a litre each of water (beads of perspiration) and skipped a few heartbeats..The next ascent to the top is still VERY far away…

This is why it was still worth all the trouble. Great! But do you see all those stones and rocks dangling so loosely on the cliff???!!! We ran, uhm…no…SPRINTED, past this one as quickly as we could…

Feeling like ants looking at this imposing cliff. It is HUGE, and all eyes were on every point, in case of crumbling…More loss of beady water 😉

Making progress. Another “oh-we-made-it” view. Notice that the cliff is not as white as the others, due to more moisture…(not from us)

Look at these babies! Grandioso!

More aaaahhhh!

More arghhhhh! (Well, at least we’re over that one…)

Could be a giant pot plant! Wow!

Swans. Ships. Boats. Obstacles.

Rocks ‘n boats

Bottoms up! Swans looking for something to nibble on. There were quite a few, which sort of calmed us down. Would swans concentrate in a dangerous area? Of course not!

High. Higher. Highest. Standing under this is…well…you know…

More swans, and a lovely view of the horizon. The water at this shore was also very white. On all the coasts we’ve been to on the island, this was the only time we’ve seen this…

…peaceful, serene, quiet…and then you go around the corner…

…and oh-oh-oh-no! Another landslide…

…Olympic hurdles. Up to now everything went well, when suddenly, at the last hurdle, panting and puffing, yours truly sunk knee deep into the very sticky mud. See the proof on the right photo. IT. WAS. SCARY. Thankfully, with a lot of muscle power (No, not mine. Thank you my Superhero! ), the very stuck-in-the-mud foot could be pulled out, and without losing the shoe. Geez, wonder how much deeper I would have sunk…

…made it! Nearing the steps…

…a seven metre waterfall right at the ascent point, called Kieler Ufer. Halleluja!

We climbed up those steps. FAST! But we’re still close to the edge over here (well, not the phobic breathless shaking one 😉 wink-wink…)

Look at this! Shrubs and berries growing on the side of the cliff (left). The one on the right shows the spectacular view from the Kollicker point towards the Wissower shore in the foreground, and the Gakower shore. This is postcard perfect!

Horizontal tree defying logic! Aahhh…nature…

Tarzan, the daring one with the camera, is virtually dangling over the cliffs! He is standing on a platform at Victoriasicht (Victoria view), which is precariously jutting out at least two metres, and over nothing! It’s a long way down…but beautiful…

…one hundred metres from top to bottom…see the lovely shadows of the cliffs cast on the shore.

The view of the famous Konigsstühl (King’s chair???) taken from Victoriasicht…and he’s still standing on that jutting thing…shiver….

Yep, we walked down these. Again. Do NOT be fooled by the red kiddie’s bicycle parked so nicely at the bottom of these steps. There are 412 of them! (Steps, not bicycles) It says so on a wooden board at the top, warning you that it is quite strenuous, so please be sure you want to descend. We were sure. It’s only 412, so how bad can it be. Ha! Going down was sort of easy (knees ow-ow), but going back UP! They must’ve miscalculated, because we definitely ‘puff-puff’ counted ‘pant-pant’ more! It WAS strenuous, especially for the short-legged one, who had trouble keeping her upper body vertical! And then to crown it all, the red bicycle owner just whizzed past, babbling and not even out of breath. GEEZ!

Here the cliffs have very lush greenery clinging to its sides. The view of the Konigsstühl again…

After all that exciting adventure, we finally arrived in Lohme, and paid a visit to friends, who kindly drove us back to Sassnitz, to pick up our car. On the way we stopped at this pedestrian bridge leading down to the harbour of Sassnitz. OMG! It is high!

…see how high? and snake-like? View from the almost bottom part of the bridge, towards the harbour. A storm seems to be brewing too…

Proof that I fought my demons and walked on that OMG snake!!! Okay, so I was holding tightly onto very helpful arms, and my knuckles were white, but I am STANDING! and with a smile…So there! Nyeh-nyeh! :-p

Day 7: It is tea time

Posted on September 22, 2012 by Angels Travelling

Teapots everywhere! We took the day off from hiking today, and went to visit a very big farmers market (with friends) in Zirkow, called Karl’s Erlebnisdorf. As soon as we walked through the door, we saw all these teapots. Row upon massive row. No two teapots were the same, all in different shapes and sizes! The bakery is also ‘open’ and one can see how they bake etc. The bread was hot and fresh. What else!!! Yumm-dee-dumm!

…and as is almost everywhere, Sanddorn products. The left photo shows all the various liqueurs. We’ve sampled quite a few already…hic…hic…The photo on the right shows all the cosmetic products made from Sanddorn. Uhmm…let’s see. Wrinkles or no wrinkles.

…and here is Dr. Hufschlag on the left (Dr. Hoof-beat), promoting his horsey ointment (Pferdesalbe). This is apparently very good for aching muscles. No, not for horses, but for humans. And no, we did not need any…To the right you see the many teapots up on top, and also the view towards the entrance…

After browsing, admiring, buying, we went home for lunch, and later some tea with a home-made “a-la lime cream tarte” concoction. It rained heavily in the afternoon, but thankfully we were nice and cosy indoors.

Angels Travelling

Travelling and Photography – Reise und Fotografie

Category Archives: Ruegen Island