Warnemunde, Germany

Our first stop on the cruise was to Warnemunde Germany.  Warnemunde is not very far from Copenhagen (Kobenhavn) however the boat was too deep to be able to travel direct.  It had to go north around the Denmark island by Nyborg and then to Warnemunde.  A lot of people took shore excursions to Berlin which involved a 3+ hour train ride.  We decided to take a shore excursion to the town of Wismar which was a 45 to 60 min bus ride from Warnemunde.  

The town of Wismar dates back to the medieval times.  Sadly it was cold and rainy that day in northern Germany and as we were on a walking tour it was not the greatest.  However our tour guide was fabulous and we made the most of the day.  There were several beautiful old churches in the town, however there was a high amount of destruction during WWII.  Wismar was part of East Germany after the war,during Communist era the buildings feel more further disrepair.  One of the churches was actually leveled by the communist party except for the tower.  I did not realize, but you were not allowed to attend church during communist times.  The country is trying to rebuilt,  however it is slow going.  

Due to the rain, our tour guide had us watch a 3D movie on how the churches were built (rather than the free time to walk around the town).  It was a pretty cheesy movie with an animated brick as the main character, but it was neat to see how the churches were built and stay out of the cold rain for a little while.

The city had a water pumping station during medieval times.  The pumping station was in the center of the square.

We then visited a brewery, had a hot pretzel and got to taste two different beers; a pilsner and a mumme.  Both were very tasty and it was no surprise that the brewery knew what they were doing as they had celebrated 555 years of operation in 2007!!  The head brewer told us that there used to be quite a number of breweries back in the day, and beer was actually a major export for the city a long ago.  

 

We rode on the Audubon back to Warnemunde and our tour guide talked to us about life during communist times and since reunification.  It was very interesting to hear how times after 1991 have been quite tough as unemployment is very high in this region of Germany at ~14%.  She explained that many people now want to purchase all the items they were not allowed, but do not have the money to do so, so there are quite a few people that would rather be living like they were before 1991.

For a place I had no knowledge of before we boarded the ship, it was a wonderful location to visit!