12/8 Warnemunde Germany

Sunday 12^th Warnemunde

This is another sea port at the mouth of a large river. We have almost come back to Hamburg . . in fact Lubeck is very close to here. A lot of people have jumped on the high speed train for a few hours to spend the day in Berlin. We don’t cast off until 10 tonight.

We did a quick brekky and shot into the gym for an hour or so. The morning trivia was a True or False session . . . 20 statements which you have to decide if they are true. We were the only pair and had just finished when a family of 4 Poms arrived and wanted to do it as well. So we went through it again then we got the answers. The host said that the average score for this is 8, so it was pretty much simultaneous after that when the Poms said they got 9 and I commented that chimpanzees would get 10 by guesswork. They seemed to realise that it wasn’t aimed at them and gave us a big clap for our score of 13.

This is the cruise line that gives participation points for trivia and activities, which is good. However they used to give triple points if you won, which doesn’t seem to be the case any more. He said that some of the best prizes include T-shirts, whereas the shirts they offered last time were so crap we didn’t choose them.

We then went up to the back outdoor dining terrace for tea and noticed the absolute cavalcade of sailing ships going past. Full-rigged tall ships . . . . dozens of them.  Probably the same collection that had been at Kiel when we were there in June. They were all heading out to sea and then coming back, mostly with a good load of passengers. They even had a paddle steamer that seemed to be genuinely driven by the side wheels (most of them are cosmetic wheels and the boat has conventional propellers).

Having drawn the short straw by spending the Sabbath weekend in Israel, we scored big time today by being here on a Sunday. Town was packed with German holidaymakers as well as the couple of cruise ships. It was a bit crowded but the festive atmosphere  was tangible. The Germans absolutely know how to relax and have a good time.

There were also a couple of ships open to the public – a German navy frigate and a Russian four master boat dated 1789. We went round the frigate, which came complete with a staggering array of NATO weaponry and electronic jamming apparatus.

We were very glad not to have paid to see close up the sand sculpture exhibition in Copenhagen because the very first thing we stumbled across in Warnemund was a similar display of big and very artistic creations. Prompt for the photo lady.

A quick internet session confirmed what the ship has been telling us – we can only go ashore in St Petersburg if we join an organised tour. The tour that was recommended to us turned out to cost more than the ship’s one, which is $239! Not sure what we will do – certainly visiting St P was a major part of our decision to come all the way up here.

The other thing Germans like to do when they get a few beers is Sing!! Loudly and with gusto.  Beer drinking songs. We heard a few of them during our afternoon wander – also a choir of appropriately dressed Cossacks. They had a lead singer of some 60 years with grey beard and sad expression. He had a very strong and profoundly deep voice and sang a slow plaintive song that reeked of 3am on a midwinter night when there are 8 feet of snow outside, you have drunk 3 bottles of vodka and you are remembering the Good Old Days that will never come back.

Neat beach shacks

Lighthouse and the teepot

A pretty Mc Donalds

Lots of boats are selling fast food

Very serious buskers

The fleet of tall ships was sailing home as we headed back to the ship. The most notable was a fully rigged galleon replica that came in under full sail – a stirring sight indeed. We very seldom see old sailing ships down our way and this was a big 3 master with all the trimmings.

We joined in the shuffleboard and came up against the Poms again. We beat them but lost out to a four year old and her mum.

Then we did a Bad Bad Thing. You see, there was this little corner of the kitchen where they have a chocolate fountain, an ice cream fridge, and crepe griddles. We succumbed to a crepe with just a little banana and syrup and a small dollop of ice cream. And we shared it.

There was hardly anyone around at dinner. We had the fried cod and green chili chicken respectively. See . . . I laid off the lamb shank tonight. The evening quiz attracted 4 teams and we cruised in 6 points clear . . thanks to herself knowing whose ear Mike Tyson bit off, the first woman to host the Oscars solo and the star of Beetlejuice.

We are footling around between piano players and a “Latin tribute to the Beatles” before the evening show. Which turned out to be . . . yeah whatever.