Warnemunde - pronounced Vernamoonday

Sorry to everyone who's trying to keep track of our travels via this blog - I have been simultaneously trying to maintain a busy cruising schedule whilst also battling a nasty cold (some may even say flu but definitely not Covid.) Hopefully I'll get a better run at it now we're back on dry land and, more or less, in charge of our own lives. However, I am going to need to be a bit briefer with my posts if I want to catch up I think. So here goes...

After the Captain cancelled the ports of both Gdansk, Poland and Ronne, Denmark, due to bad weather, we spent an additional day in choppy seas heading for Warnemunde in Germany, where we would have two days rather than the originally scheduled one day. The primary reason the ship docks here is to allow its passengers to visit Berlin, however, this involves a 6 hour round train trip, departing at 7am, for a half day in the city prior to heading back to the ship before it sails again. After a fair amount of prior consideration, Andrew and I had already decided we weren't going to make the trip in favour of coming back sometime in the future when we have more time and, instead, we had planned some coastal/parkland walks for that day.

However, we now have two days in Warnemunde, and the Cruise Director has 930 passengers all wondering what they are going to do with themselves for the day in a town they never really intended to spend any time in. Ultimately, he actually did a stellar job of selling it as a 'must see' destination with most now convinced the cancellations were all for the best and we would love Warnemunde.

So, we find ourselves in a charming little seaside village on the edge of the Baltic Sea at the very start of their spring/summer season - apparently, by mid June you will not be able to move here for German tourists seeking sun and sand. In the meantime, whilst the day is cold and blustery to start with, the sun comes out eventually as we walk along the cobblestoned town streets, seaside esplanade and parklands, prior to lunch at a very traditional restaurant in the fish market area, requiring Google translator's assistance in ordering. The fact we are very far from a destination on any non-German's holiday agenda means no English menus here!

Feeling somewhat guilty about being in an area we know absolutely nothing about, we book the only excursion available for those not travelling to Berlin...a tour of nearby Rostok which is only 20 minutes away.

With a population of around 200,000, Rostok is the third-largest German city on the Baltic Sea and much larger than Warnemunde. However, it's a sunny Sunday and it appears the entire population has gone to Warnemunde and we have Rostok to ourselves for a couple of hours spent walking around learning the history of this city's maritime past. Like so much of Germany it was very heavily bombed during WW2 and the city is a hybrid of new and old.

Returning to the ship, it felt like a scene from 'Home Alone' as we luxuriated in the peace and quiet of a ship empty of most of its passengers. Bliss!

All in all, a great couple of days and now we set sail for Copenhagen!