After a stopover in Berlin, we arrived in the somewhat windy, yet sunny, island of Rügen. It is one of the many islands that Germany has. Yes, Germany has islands! That also means that one has to travel from the mainland, from Stralsund to be exact, over a very HIGH bridge, which for some people could be scary. Rollercoaster scary. A very fitting start to our much needed holiday. As the sign above says, we were ready for the funny farm…uhm…island. The island of delightful pleasure…Welcome!

This is our house for the next fifteen days. Centrally situated. When I mean central, it’s not near anything or anywhere. I mean it’s smack right in the middle of a lot of farmland, as far as the eye can see. Beautiful! Quiet! and uhm…well…central…

After doing the usual checks of the house interior (toilets flushing, hot water working, HEATING), we explored the big, football field big, garden. To our amazement, there were many of these black topped mushrooms, just waiting to be eaten. Okay, so we were quite hungry by this time, but eat them? No way! Or maybe?? Hmmm…The caretaker mowed them down the next day anyway, so dilemma solved.

After exploring our surroundings, we decided to go farther afield to see what lies beyond farmfield one, farmfield two, fields, fields and lots of fields…A few driving minutes away, we stumbled upon these wonderful cranes. What a sight! Of course it is not possible to go too near to them, as they are very shy, and at the slightest movement or noise (in other words, humans) they will simply all just fly away. It helps to have a car with good brakes, as you find that you mostly have to screetch to a halt, because the passenger excitedly screams LOOK and the driver shouts WHERE! Screeeeetch!!! Most of all though, a camera with a zoom lens is a must. Nope, not one of those eeny weeny digital ones, a 100-400mm zoom lens. Please notice on the photo on the right that there is a youngster among the two that have just landed. Amazing, not so?

After ooh-ing and aah-ing, in silence, at the cranes, and after thousands of photos (okay, only hundreds) (oh, okay, only a few), we drove over to the island of Ummanz. Yes, another bridge. This one is between the village of Mursewiek and Waase. It is only 250 meters long. No rollercoaster! As you can see, the absolutely best sunset ever, taken from the harbour of Waase! More oohs and aahs, with the volume turned up! Spectacular does not even decribe it. IT WAS AMAZING! After all this excitement, our tummy’s were starting to growl. How convenient that there was a fish restaurant right on this small harbour. Yummy! Fresh fish! We had a platter for two with FOUR different kinds of fish. Washing that down with some refreshing white wine rounded up a wonderful and exciting first day.