Warnemunde, Germany

July 31

Warnemunde, Germany was a place none of us had ever heard of before. It turned out to be a cute little town that we liked, maybe because it was small enough we could walk around it without wearing out our feet.  We docked very early there so I could watch ships come into the harbor as I had my tea on the balcony.   There were many tours that traveled three hours inland to visit Berlin.  We decided that was too much wasted travel time and just made it an easy day visiting the small town of Warnemunde.  We picked up a brochure that had a walking tour that would take about an hour.  Not with our group! First we had to stop at an outdoor cafe and have a German beer.  This was only a few blocks in to our "tour".  We walked by a windmill, a church, and through a pretty little park on our way to the beach. The park had an unusual sculpture that just begged for a group picture. The wicker beach chairs that were everywhere on the beach were invented in this town.

Picturesque boats which are now fast food restaurants.

Street musicians with a balalaika

German beer

German windmill

Sculpture in the park.

Beach chairs invented in Warnemunde.

Walked a little further down the beach and found a lighthouse and "teapot" (a round shaped building someone must have thought looked like a teapot.)  Some members of our group wanted to climb the lighthouse and the rest of us found a place that would sell us wifi for 2 Euros for an hour.  We paid up and then sat in their restaurant and connected with the rest of the world.  Now we are about three hours into our one hour tour.  We started walking back and of course had to stop again for some brats and beer. Shopped on the way back but I never found a souvenir spoon from Germany.  I found a pretty fan that helped keep me cool the rest of the trip.

More German beer and brats

Back on the ship the OGBB club decided they wanted to go in the hot tub (old guys with big bellies). As they stepped into the hot tub, they soon found out it was not so hot.  In fact it was freezing cold.  Refreshing, but not relaxing.  They found another hot tub further back on the ship.  Me, I enjoyed an ice cream cone (or two) from the poolside icecream bar.  Read my book on my tablet in a deck chair for awhile and then went back to our cabin to rest from our strenuous "one hour walking tour" before dinner.

Hot tub anyone?

This time we went to the Michealangelo dining room and just asked to be seated at table 313 (our table from two nights again with Pim and Viviana.)  We got in and Pim asked where we were yesterday.  She had been waiting for us and had the table set for us.  We told her about the war between the two head waiters from the two different restaurants.  She said to just keep coming back here between 5:30 and 6:00 and she would have our table for us.  So that is what we did the rest of the cruise.  Pim and Viviana took very good care of us.  One of our group had some dietary restrictions, and Stephen, the head waiter here, made sure to have things special ordered for her.  We loved our service in that dining room.

After dinner some of us went to the "Tribute to Divas" show.  The singer had a very good voice, but needed a new choreographer.  Her dancing was very unnatural.  I went shopping in the ship's stores and found a Beatles Russian doll set.  It was $55 so didn't buy it until I could get Bob's approval.  Watched the Love Boat on the ship tv channel while getting ready for bed.  What a corny old show!  Our ship was much grander!