Berlin? No thanks. Rostock will do!

 

To follow the herd or not

Arriving in Rostock, Germany, what met us first at this dinghy port were two huge cooling towers of a power station. We were near the railway line, which had a train waiting to board cruise passengers for a shore excursion to Berlin -- a three hour ride-- and back. Some people, like us, did not want to spend 6 hours to and fro on a train just so you could spend a few hours in Berlin. (Can you really soak up the atmosphere of such a vibrant and historic city within a few hours, unless, of course, the purpose is to claim "been there, seen it" and the joy of the ride itself.) We chose to explore Rostock city which was more than 10 kilometers away. A 20 min walk took us to a coffeehouse in the middle of nowhere-- it was not open. There was  no information whether posted or word of mouth, but there was a crowd at the bus stop. We waited half an hour. The ticketing machine ran out of 1-day  tickets. Nevertheless we boarded the bus when it finally arrived. Naturally, it was very crowded, but we managed to squeeze in. No tickets on board either since that machine too ran out of tickets. This is one instance in our travels when the herd instinct came in handy. Safety in numbers indeed.

To appease our troubled conscience we purchased tickets as soon as we got off at the interchange before boarding the next bus to the city centre. We felt more at ease then even though no one checked if we had tickets. Germany's ( and by inference, Europe's) public transport  runs on conscience and trust..

Discovering historical facts

Our bus dropped us at the city interchange, right at Neuer Market Square dominated by the Gothic and Baroque Town Hall. We ambled about looking for washrooms only to find ourselves in a passage that led to several brick buildings. Reading the plaques struck home to us that we were in the hallowed halls of a university. In fact, it is one of the oldest universities in the world,the third oldest university in Germany in continuous operation. The square also preserved six original, carefully restored gable houses from the 15th and 16th centuries. It is hard to believe that parts of this East German city were destroyed in an Allied air-raid in 1942, and rebuilt in a simplified manner

Surprise! This was the Rostock associated with music festivals.

We were in for a treat, for right in the cobblestoned town square,  and in the adjoining streets,  an open air summer festival was in full swing. The weekly outdoor market with an array of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as homemade products would tempt anyone. There were many rides set up for the occasion too, including reverse bungee jumping. Other attractions included giant soap bubbles by a performer who simply dipped a tri-string wand into a container of bubble solution then deftly lifted up into the air,and let a giant bubble free to float at will to the delight of the young ones. There were stages for musical performances too. This rather quaint and quite pretty town also had a a free standing pay toilet that cost a Euro per entry.  

In the old town we marvelled at the Gothic St. Mary’s Church that features a 15th-century astronomical clock, a first in our travels. We also took in a little Cultural History Museum that was  inconspicuous except for the huge letters at its brick walled entrance. The nondescript facade belied the treasures inside.The section that captivated the grandchildren had historical toys, model railways, dolls and doll houses, puppet theatres, children’s books, sets of toy building bricks and an antique classroom setting,  offering an insight into the world of children, especially of the upper classes, in the past two centuries.

The temperature that day was nearly 38 ⁰ C. The children found a cool spot in a pastry shop with picnic tables on a raised wooden platform at the entrance. Sipping our water and eating German pastry as we people watched refreshed us enough to continue our explorations. It didn't take long to catch most of the major points of interest like the waterfront or historical center.  Rostock used to be the most important port city of East Germany. The children located streets and places from the rudimentary map prepared by the cruise director, taking us to the sea side which seemed strangely quiet, except for the various moored colourful fishing boats, and then back to ship, taking the same route back, passing by village houses with huge yards.

After a hot day out the grandchildren couldn't wait to get into the swimming pool on board before dressing up for dinner.

(We didn't explore Warnemünde, the seaside part of Rostock and a major attraction of the city, since we were not aware of it them. That's for another post.)