Deutschland Unter Alles....

After a pretty non-descript journey to South Sweden where we suffered a night a Trelleborg, we boarded a ferry across the Baltic sea for a 6.5 hour trip to Rostock in North Germany. The Baltic Sea must be one of the most boring places on earth. There are no waves, things to see or even a bit of swell to rock the boat. We did pass one (Danish) island that was appropriately named Borre, (pronounced Borer), and it had white cliffs that could have shamed Dover.

The White Cliffs of Borre!

 

After this stunningly exciting island, we had virtually nothing to occupy ourselves with for the next 4 hours, although Iris did discover and purchase a large goody!

 

As this item is clearly marked "Not Choklad", we had no qualms about eating the entire block in one sitting.

 

So the bore cruise continued and although we passed a couple of smaller vessels to break the monotony, very little else happened until we were near Rostock. It then soon became apparent that there was some kind of "tall ships" regatta going on and we counted over forty, 2 or 3 masted sailing vessels of various vintages.

 

 

This was the first of the many sailing vessels that we came across. A 36 gun, French flagged, frigate. Part of me was admiring the lovely 18th century ship, whilst the other part was hoping a British man o' war would glide alongside and put a broadside through her.

 

Here's a view of the regatta and some of the other sailing ships.

 

 

A clipper, two-masted barque and a schooner as we were entering the port.

 

After disembarking in Rostock we set out on the road to Berlin. It was a quiet drive, being weekend and most traffic was heading out of Berlin in the opposite direction to us. Unfortunately, we had decided to stay at a campsite at a place called Malchow, about 2 hours north of the capital. It was called Malchow "Naturcamp". Unfortunately it contained no nature or naturists but was a latter day model of Stalag Luft 9, by a lake. Luckily, they let us escape the next morning provided that we paid the bill and it was but a small price to pay. (Well it wasn't actually, it was close to extortion).

 

So, on the Sunday we had a pleasant drive to Berlin and found an excellent campsite in the Berlin suburb of Kopenick. The amenities were quite basic but it was very close to the railway into Berlin and had a very nice bar within staggering distance of our campervan.

 

After settling in to the camp we got directions to the tram and after the first one that passed ignored us completely, the second driver gave us directions and was very helpful. We got on the tram, bought tickets, sat down comfortably, and then after about 150 metres got off again. We had reached the station for Berlin, hurrah! Fortunately, our tickets were transferable to the train.

 

We headed (by train) into Alexanderplatz, which was one of the focal points of the revolution when the Berlin wall finally fell. On Sundays it is a big open market and people from all over Germany set out their stalls in much the same way as in other metropolises. That is, they sell fast food and assorted Tat for whatever inflated price they can get. We did buy our lunch there and it was a reasonable vegetarian "wrap" of some middle eastern nature. We then wandered around looking at empty shops, (the malls were open but the shops were closed), until the furnace-like heat got too much and we decided to head back to Kopenick.

The big ball in the sky is at Alexanderplatz.

 

 

We managed our return trip successfully and avoided paying 5 euros for return tickets. Iris had done a swift calculation and decided that as our inward bound tickets were a bit expensive, we shouldn't pay the return bit. We got off the train at Kopenick and literally blundered into a bar across the road where we were able to slake our thirst. As I mentioned earlier, the temperature was in the high 30's so the Berlin Pilsener (for Iris) and a Pina Colada for me went down very nicely. (I may have got those drinks mixed up).

 

A double bonus was that the bar had the English Premier League, Stoke City vs Liverpool showing, and despite my objections, Iris insisted that we watch it. 4 glasses of beer later we had a 1-0 win for the mighty reds, (or blacks, as it happened to be their away strip). We also had a reasonably priced meal to dissipate the alcohol.

 

The next day it was back to Berlin stifling heat. We strolled along the river for a way and then visited the Berliner Dom or cathedral. The church doesn't belong to any of the established christian orders, (e.g. catholic or lutheran etc.) but is an evangelical outfit of some description. It was badly damaged during the second world war, along with the rest of Berlin, but has been restored. The building consists of a fairly small church surmounted by an enormous dome. It is well worth the entry fee.

 

 

Inside the dome.

 

We also visited the crypt of this church and the most notable inmate was Frederick the Great, who shuffled off this mortal coil in about 1688, followed by his missus the year after. There were innumerable other "nobles and royals" in caskets, sarcophagi, tins, (well one of them looked like a big tin), and assorted boxes. A couple of the boxes were so big the occupants must have been approaching the size of a hippo, or at the very least a small moose.

 

 

Friedrich der Grosse. I prefer the English interpretation as Gross!

 

We left Berlin this morning, heading for Luxembourg where we will meet up with Jo and Julien later in the week. Our stop this afternoon was at Gottingen, a  town where the local university was founded by George the Second, in his capacity as Elector of Hanover (which is fairly close to Gottingen). 

 

Gottingen in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was one of the world's leading scientific and mathematical universities and rivalled Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Yale in terms of its academic achievements and reputation.

 

In 1933 however, a certain Adolf came along and decided that as a fair proportion of the academic staff was Jewish, they should be replaced by people who thought proper, like him! And just like the rest of Germany, it has never been the same since.

 

We walked into the town to have a look see and were amazed by the number of late medieval buildings that were still extant. The town was virtually undamaged by bombing and with traffic banned from the centre, it is a really charming place to wander around, (despite the usual chain stores and similar blots on the landscape).

 

There were a number of plaques on various buildings through the town that named the academician who had resided there and when.

The only one that I recognised was Gauss, who (to me) was known for his pioneering work in electromagnetism. It turns out that he was also a gifted mathematician and strong in many other sciences too.

 

 

There were lots of mansions like this on the walk into town too.

 

There was also some interesting graffiti. Joe Stalin (I think) with some uncomplementary remarks.

 

We then stopped in at the P-Cafe for a quick hit before heading into the centre. (For those non-NZ readers, P is Crystal Meth).

 

 

 This was just about the pick of the buildings with carved and gilded wood, circa 1540.

 

 

 

 This little birdie, (I can't make up my mind whether it's a falcon or an owl), is the door handle on a really massive door to the main church. You can see the small keyhole just below the perch.

 

 

The town square and in the background the town hall or Rathaus, as these are named in Germany and the Scandinavian countries. I just love the idea of a gathering place for politicians being called a Rat House and think it should be adopted worldwide.

 

 

And finally, another fine medieval carving. Gottingen's answer to Paddington Bear, although without the hat and wellies.