Mile 25: Rostock!

We arrived in Rostock, Germany just one day after leaving Poland since the ports were so close together. The first day, a group of us – Alex, Mark, Megan, Kylie, Jessica and Katie – headed into the city of Rostock. The ship actually docked in a seaside port of Warnemunde (love the way that word is pronounced – use a V instead of the W and proclaim it out loud!). We hopped on the train and traveled 20 mins into Rostock. The walk in to the city center was long but it gave us a chance to see the outskirts of town where the locals lived. We chatted about Katie being vegan on the ship (a very difficult thing to do with our limited choices) and Kylie’s adventures working in the field program office (oh the tales of difficulty professors!).

The city center area itself was quite small (I almost missed it) but it had a very beautiful Rathous (Town Hall) and lovely Germany style building facades. We immediately made a beeline for the first pasty shop we saw – having heard that the Germany pastries are especially tasty. After a hit of sugar or warm pretzel (my choice!), we meandered through the shopping area and stopped to admire Germany style pajamas and stationary. The shops were just opening and not very many people were around at the 10am hour.

Germany, just slightly smaller than the US state of Montana, definitely has a sordid history but it seemed, while I was there, that people were really aiming to be very progressive. The stores were modern and the salespeople were very friendly. We walked past very inventive signs and weird random artwork on the walls. Our first stop was St. Mary’s church. Light shone through the tall thin windows inside and the floors were inlaid with memorial stones. The classic mosaic windows were in every corner of course but the highlight of this church was the massive organ in the center and an intricate sundial clock in one corner – very different from the churches in Poland and STP. Next, we walked over to St. Peter’s Church, the oldest of the churches in Rostock. It was built in the 14^th century and its brick exterior is very gothic in style. The inside, though small, had lovely stain-glass windows depicting the life of Peter; but the main attraction was a series of miniature ships hanging from the tall ceiling – very bizarre.

Finding ourselves once again famished from all the walking, we sat down at an outdoor café and ate plates of veggies, sausages (none for me) and sipped on local beer. On the menu, much to surprise, was a nacho dish (tortilla chips) that came with three sauces of your choice: Salsa, Ranch, BBQ, Cheese and Asia sauce. Yeah, all of Asia had been combined into ONE sauce apparently. I didn’t order it, any bets on what it might be?? My guess is probably spiced soy sauce. We made fun of the loads of potatoes (I will never be rid of this vegetable apparently!) that came with my ratatouille and enjoyed the sun peaking through the clouds. We chatted about our lives back home and I found out that Megan just finished her PhD in Education from UCLA and Mark and Alex teach in Ohio. The latter two had been on at least 2 other voyages on Semester at Sea so it was great to hear them compare this experience with the past.

Then, we walked to the river’s edge and decided to grab coffee and enjoy some peace and quiet. We sat outside on comfy couches facing the water and my peppermint tea and I watched the small boats leave the harbor. We must have spent about 1.5 hours on that couch and none of us had any intentions of leaving such a relaxing spot (the wifi was another huge draw!). It was a much-needed breather from the rush-rush days we had been having in port and at sea. On our way back, I saw a store called “Asia Snacks” and laughed out loud.

Our final stop was the 1262AD Cow Gate, or Kuhtor, one of the oldest preserved brick town gates in all of Germany. It’s really quite hard to imagine any piece of architecture remaining in one location for such a long time. We snapped some group pics and headed back to the city center. I mailed some postcards from the tourist office and then we went back to our favorite pastry shop for round two of pastries (I resisted with a lot of difficulty). I don’t think I would have ever known to go to Rostock if it hadn’t been for this Semester at Sea trip so I was grateful for the chance to see some of the outskirts of Germany. More than anything though, this kind of urban hiking through small towns was really fun with new friends because we got the chance to know each other and hear each other’s stories. The town’s stories somehow merge with our modern stories like a giant palimpsest and the layers are the real memory. What a fun day!