Darß Flowers

The Top of St. Marien's

This detail of Tim, Nele, and Uncle Matthias is part of a full 360 panorama I took from the top of the St.-Marien-Kirche in Stralsund.

Stralsund Town

On our way out of Rügen, we stopped in Stralsund, another very old and picturesque harbor city.

This is St-Marien's-Kirche. Let's go to the top!

End of Part V

Go to Part VI...

Farewell to Glowe

One last look at the sea, and then it is time to leave our Ferienwohnung (vacation house), and the island.

Sanddorn Suppe

After the bikeride, Matthias Martin and I stopped by this über-posh restaurant on the cliffs called Panorama, and had some Sanddorn soup and some Kaffee and Kuchen. The island of Rügen is somewhat known for the wild Sanddorn (lit. Sand-Thorn) berry bushes. If I had just come across these berries, I would have guessed they were poisonous. Not so! That was the best soup I have ever had.

Mushrooms!

Mushrooms are one of my favorite natural subjects! I don't know why (Fantasia perhaps?), but they are just magical... no matter how much I understand them scientifically, they are still an other-worldly mystery. The bikeride through Jasmunder National Forest afforded plenty of opportunities to photograph them.

On a previous bikeride, Matthias and I and a few other amateur "pilz-jäger" collected Pfifferlinger (a bright yellow-orange edible mushroom) for soup. One of my fondest memories was collecting them in Sweden when Nina and I came over in '96. Like a treasure hunt!

These first mushrooms were found in Groß Zicker, actually.

Jasmunder Bikeride

After the Kreidefelsen, Matthias, Martin and I decided to take the bikes further, exploring the national forest between Hagen and Sassnitz. It ended up being another 20-mile day trip!

Kreidefelsen!

The other thing that Rügen is famous for, besides the Communist vacation homes, is the Kreide Felsen (chalk cliffs) in Jasmunder National park. They are the subject of some famous paintings by Casper David Friedrich, and many tourists' photographs I'm sure. The 30-65 year old demographic headed out to see them this morning while the kids and Oma stayed home.

 Looking down off the cliffs.

The fall colors certainly make for a good picture.

Taun Hövt Flowers

Groß Zicker Panorama

Martin and Matthias decide where to go next from the top of the hill.

Fields of Groß Zicker

I found this road, this fork, and those clouds very nice to photograph. Here we are heading into the hills for an after-lunch hike.

Zicker Lunch

Lunchtime at Taun Hövt in Groß Zicker after a morning of touring the coastal cities.
We have gone almost as far south as one can go in this corner of the island.
Here, if you're interested, is what it's like to drive through the lovely country village
of Groß Zicker to some classical guitar (someone else's video).

Ma is happy to have found something vegan! Off-menu, apparently. The specials are fish. 

I had a breaded Dorschfilet (cod).

Swing!

Nele and her friend Tim on a teeter-swing... well, a... 

some kind of playground implement at the place we ate lunch.

Country Parsonage

The Groß Zicker Church. Built in 1360, no big deal. :)

On the Seebrücke

A nice photo of Mom, Matthias, me and Jule snapped by Martin on the Binz pier.

Binz and Sellin

Next day, we all took a drive to see some of Rügen's southern cities on the beach.

 Looking back at Binz from the long seebrücke.

The Pensioner where my grandmother was sent during the War. In Sellin.

The long steps down to the seebrücke in Sellin.

Kap Arkona

At the end of the bikeride was Kap Arkona and its twin lighthouses. About this time, I found the camera's panorama mode. Beware, epic 180s ahead.

Glowe Bikeride

The first thing we did on our first full day in Rügen was take a bikeride out to the cape. About 30 miles, round. Here are some things we saw along the way.

This modern hotel tucked away on top of a cliff in what must be the quietest corner of the island.

This lovely tree on some sort of old burial mound.

This grave wooden chap guarding the dangerous cliffs.

Photo by Martin

Tapetenwechsel, KDR

We arrive in Glowe in the evening. A traffic jam has made us later than expected. Here is our Ferienwohnung. Mom, Dad and I are already on vacation, but for Matthias, Anne, Oma and Nele, this other house by the sea is a much-needed Tapetenwechsel (changing-of-wallpaper).

The island of Rügen is known historically for having been the official vacation destination for the working class of DDR (East) Germany. Sectors of the island still have depressing rows of Communist-built vacation modules meant to provide the workers their annual Tapetenwechsel. The Party even had a catchy Orwellian slogan to capture the aspirations of the vacation program: "Kraft Durch Freude" (Power Through Joy).

Matthias and Anne were always commenting on what has improved on Rügen since the Wall fell 24 years ago. When Westerners were first allowed back into the East, the infrastructure was in a terrible state and houses like this didn't exist. A huge proportion of unified Germany's taxpayer money has thus gone into recovery: bringing the East back up to speed with the West. The island of Rügen is still in the process of upgrading from a Communist vacation destination to a Capitalist one.

End of Part IV

Go to Part V...

Burggarten, Schwerin

On the way to Rügen, we stopped in Schwerin to stretch the legs, take in the sight of this beautiful Schloß and take on another passenger: cousin Nele's boyfriend, Tim.

Tim, Nele, and Mama 'round in the back garden area of Schloß Schwerin.

Woop! Someone else was back there too.

Matthias' Taxi Company

My Uncle Matthias and his wife Anne run a busy taxi company in Kiel metro area. Every time we needed a ride somewhere, it was one of their cars. Business is good, but that also means they are always being called up for a problem with one of their 70 cars or drivers.

I think Tyler and Rami will appreciate this panorama of the Mercedes lot. Me and Pop aren't even into cars that much, but we still enjoyed picking out the one we wanted...

With the other kids gone, it was time to rearrange the cars for our next outing, a vacation within a vacation, to the island of Rügen...