Rostock, Germany and Return to Copenhagen

Rostock, Germany and Return to Copenhagen, July 17-18

Thursday we spent the day at sea, and enjoyed some down time. On Friday we arrived very early in Rostock, Germany. The main purpose of this port is to give passengers a jumping off point to Berlin, which is a 2.5 hour train ride away. We chose to skip this option, however, because we didn’t want to spend nearly five hours in transit just to get a few hours in Berlin--we will make it there one day on our own and we want to spend enough time there to do it justice. Instead we decided to lay low and explore the rather forgettable city of Rostock and the nearby beach town of Warnemunde. After disembarking the ship, we hopped on a boat shuttle which took us on a twenty minute ride to Warnemunde. 

The town had a fun, lively vibe, but it was packed with tourists, as several other cruise ships had docked and unleashed hoards of multinational, ice-cream licking, sandal-clad passengers upon the town. We walked along one strip of tacky souvenir shops then veered off the main drag to find a quiet park with a playground where Ewan enjoyed frolicking about with the local kiddos for a while. 

We decided that since there wasn’t much to see, we headed back to the boat shuttle which took us back to the ship, where we narrowly made the connection to the ship’s bus shuttle to take us to the town center of Rostock. We walked through a large town square flanked by restaurants and shops and found a place to grab a quick bite for lunch. After lunch we continued down the pedestrian lane leaving the square, which was really just a shopping mall, until we reached the end where a large medieval gate stood, attached to part of the town’s original wall. There was a large park alongside the wall which we walked along and past the pretty grounds of an old monastery. 

We snapped a few photos, but otherwise were unimpressed with the town overall, so we headed back to the town square and caught the shuttle back to the ship, where they had a lively, German style  Octoberfest celebration going on at the Lido Deck, complete with live music played Oompah Band. Ewan donned his swim trunks and Gavin and I sat at a table poolside sampling some local beers and enjoying the impressive array of German sausages, pretzels and other specialties.

The ship set sail fairly late, as it was waiting for all of the excursions to return from Berlin, and sailed back to Copenhagen where we had the day to spend. Originally we had booked a shore excursion, but we had decided to cancel it given we had already covered much ground there prior to setting sail. The one highlight that we were sorry to have missed was the National Museum. Grandma and Grandpa were planning to tag along with us, so being a large group, we thought that having to take two taxis from the ship wouldn’t be our best bet for getting around. I had heard from some other passengers that they had taken the Hop On Hop Off busses from the ship instead of doing shore excursions because they were cheaper and got you around. It sounded like a good idea and an easy way for us all to stick together. Unfortunately it proved to be incredibly inefficient. Once we boarded the bus by the ship, we sat waiting for 45 minutes before heading into town. Frustrating, but a good learning experience! 

We got off the bus at the stop right near Tivoli Gardens and walked a couple blocks where we easily found the museum. The museum was absolutely fabulous, and even had free admission. The exhibits were set up chronologically, beginning with prehistoric times on the first floor and moving up through the ages. Ewan was quite intrigued by the primitive weapons of the Stone Age, and enjoyed seeing the massive skeleton of an aurochs, a large Eurasian ox which last walked the earth in the 1620s, as well as the oak coffins containing skeletons, still wearing leather and wool clothing, as well as other valuables. 

Before we headed up to the second floor, we noticed a door opening out into a courtyard where we noticed several men clad head to toe in black, who were engaged in a fencing match. 

Ewan was positively mesmerized watching them. We then headed upstairs passing several exquisite mosaics from Syria from around 500-600 AD. 

We walked through the Middle Ages as well as the Renaissance periods, admiring the gorgeous altar pieces, crosses and other bits of churches. Joyce and I slowly lingered at each display case, carefully reading the descriptions of each piece. I could have stayed there for hours past the couple that we had already stayed. Of course at this point all three Reid men’s patience was starting to fade, and the youngest member of our party was itching to peruse the gift shop downstairs. 

Sadly, we cut our visit short, skipping the “Modern Times” exhibits on the third floor and headed out for what turned out to be a long and inefficient journey back to the ship via the Hop On Hop Off bus. We walked to the nearest bus stop, a few blocks away from the museum and boarded the bus after waiting ten minutes or so, in the meantime obtaining a frozen treat for a certain young person from the convenience store adjacent to the bus top. Unfortunately we could not hop on a a bus that would take us straight to the ship, as we were docked at Ocean Quay, one of the further cruise ship piers. We had to take this bus to the “Little Mermaid” bus stop along the sight seeing tour, and catch the shuttle to the boat from there. After reaching said stop, once again, we waited for a good twenty minutes until our shuttle bus arrived. Finally boarding the bus, we waited again for another ten minutes while our driver clattered ominously around at the engine compartment at the back of the bus, before climbing back aboard to announce that the bus was broken. Groaning, we sighed and followed his directions to board the bus parked directly in front of us alongside the other dozens of harried cruise ship passengers, elbowing their way in to find the best seat. Finally, over an hour and a half after we had left the museum, did we arrive at the ship, just in time to make it (a half hour late) to our 5:30 seating for our last meal in the dining room and to say goodbye to our wonderful dining steward, Prast. 

Prast was from Indonesia, and though young and unattached with no kids of his own, he had many nieces and nephews, and had a sincere love of children. He and Ewan hit it off from the beginning. Prast had a wicked sense of humor, and a thoughtful, generous soul. Early on in the cruise he had given Ewan a special gift of three wooden puzzles from Indonesia, two of the three we were able to solve, but the final one eluded us. We brought it with us to the table that evening as Prast deftly demonstrated how to solve it in less than 30 seconds! We lingered over dinner and cocktails and after snapping a few photos and exchanging email addresses, we sadly bid farewell to our buddy who had taken such good care of us. We then took Ewan up to Club HAL for his final farewell and pajama party, while Gavin and I packed up to prepare for disembarkation early the next morning and continuing on in our journey to Prague. Just before 10:00 PM, we went up to pick Ewan up and say our goodbyes to the wonderful young ladies who ran Club HAL and thank them for keeping our boy so entertained for the duration of the cruise.

I was surprised at how emotional I was in saying goodbye. It felt like something special was coming to an end, much like summer camp coming to its close. I had tears in my eyes as I hugged Natalie and Oksana. It’s funny, as I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the cruise. It was not our typical style of traveling, and despite being frustrated by being a part of the large, slow, lumbering tour groups, Gavin and I enjoyed the cruise much more than we expected. No, not just because of the free 15-drink-a-day beverage plan that my father-in-law had secured as a perk for signing up early, though we did take full advantage of that. This was largely due to the incredible staff of the cruise ship, who worked so hard and went out of their way to make sure we were enjoying ourselves.

After picking up Ewan from Club HAL, we went to Grandma and Grandpa’s cabin to say good bye and thank them once again for treating us to an unforgettable vacation, and of course to wish them a happy anniversary. We had a very early transfer to the airport, so we wouldn’t see them in the morning. Though sad that the first phase of our vacation was over, we were excited to move onto Prague!