May 23: Warnemünde, Germany

Our first port of call - Warnemünde, the seaside port of the town of Rostock, in the Mecklenberg-Vorpommern district of Germany. We didn't really have much planned for this port, or high expectations. Only because we hadn't bothered to look into the history of the place, or any of the sights or attractions. We got a train to Rostock centre from Warnemünde after getting some much needed free wifi from a cafe.                 / In Rostock we walked up the main shopping street, Kröperlinerstrasse. There were nice shops and restaurants. At the end of the street we fortunately stumbled across Kröperlinertor, for which the street was named. In German a 'tor' is a gate (as in Brandenbergertor from one of our earlier trips!), and this Kröperlinertor was one of Rostock's medieval town wall gates (22 in total). It was first built in 1255 as a simple, one storey wooden gate and successive stories and building materials have been added since then, to its 5 storeys and 54 m height now. Most of the gates and most of the wall did not survive the war bombings, or otherwise were taken down before their historical value was recognised. The Kröperlinertor was only 2 euros to walk up and run by a Rostock historical trust. It was very impressive, with an exhibition at the top and all the info translated by the volunteers at the trust into about 8 languages.         / We had lunch in a pretty courtyard restaurant in town, "Leon's": Adrian had a 'Typical German Meal': worst, sauerkraut and mashed potato, and a Rostocker Pilsener.                                   / Almost as an afterthought we headed to Marienkirche, a Lutheran church built in ?. It was a highlight. It was generously sponsored by royals and aristocracy, so parts of the inside are very ornate. The organ is the height of the building and literally made my jaw drop. At one point the prince at the time, Christian von Ludwig, had a princely balcony built right under the organ. Also there is an astronomical clock at the back of the church (behind the altar, so actually quite hidden), which has kept time since ?, and has the dates of Easter for every year hand written on the face of the clock. Yes, 2012 was correct :)