A couple of weekends ago, Hannes and I went on a little getaway to the state of Mecklenburg to celebrate our birthdays and Christmas. Our destination was a Schloss*-turned-Wellness Hotel in the middle of nowhere, two hours from Berlin. The idea was to have a little bit of low-key nature plus spa time, and that we definitely got. The hotel was way fancier than our usual utilitarian standard, and we never would've chosen it if we were going somewhere where there were actually other things to do, but for this type of weekend it was a nice splurge. We hung out at the pool and sauna area, took a long walk, ate good food and drank good wine. Now we're all rested so we can take on some more challenging adventures. :) *If you are ever a tourist in Germany, one of the words you are sure to learn (along with Bier) is Schloss, which means castle, but which can also mean manor house. These manor-house type Schloss's (Schlösser if you want to get fancy with your German) are abundant in the countryside, because back in the day there were a lot of kings and they all had their summer hunting residences. We stayed at Schloss Basthorst near Schwerin, which used to be one such place.
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After Easter Hannes and I went on a mini road trip (in his sister's Mini Cooper, in fact), taking a few days to drive from Munich back to Berlin. [Yes, this post belongs on the blog 'wherewaskatiesixmonthsago.'] Our first stop was Bamberg, a city in Franconia, which is in the northern part of Bavaria. Fun facts about Bamberg: **During the middle ages it was ruled by prince-bishops within the Holy Roman Empire. (Did I learn about this in history at some point? It rings a very faint bell.) **It was built on seven hills, just like Rome (and Seattle!). **Its historic city center is a UNESCO world heritage site. Though the longer I'm in Europe, the more it seems like everything is a UNESCO world heritage site. When my 18-year-old American self imagined Germany, Bamberg is what I pictured: quaint towns, wooden buildings, beer. If you're traveling around Germany it's totally worth a day trip. Coburg is about an hour north of Bamberg in the very northern part of Bavaria. It's a much smaller city but it has a pretty market square - at least it seemed so by night. The most notable thing about Coburg for me was the Coburger bratwurst - a long and tasty bratwurst that's cooked over a pine cone fire. The Baltic Sea (the "East Sea" to Germans) is about 3 hours north of Berlin by car, in the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The Germans like to call the state Meck-Pomm, which is much easier to say. :) Meck-Pomm is definitely my favorite nature-y destination in the vicinity Berlin area so far. The coast is quiet and rural - it reminds me a little bit of Maine. I'm not sure there's anything here to attract the international traveler, but it makes a great weekend trip from Berlin. I want to go back! Our little road trip is mapped out here and also below. Stop 1: Graal-MüritzGraal-Müritz was a much needed beach break after driving up through annoying traffic from Berlin. We weren't hot enough to swim, but we had a little picnic, lay on the beach, and played our favorite new game - Kubb. It involves throwing sticks to knock over other sticks - like something between horseshoes and Boules. By the way, the Baltic Sea is way warmer than Puget Sound! Stop 2: Born auf dem DarßBorn is a little town on the "Darß," the little inland sea that you can sea on the map. It is home to a fun campground plus surf school that's populated by 90% families, 10% surfer-hippie dudes - and us, for the night. The surf school/surfer-hippie dudes made it fun because: (1) we weren't the only ones there without kids, (2) it meant there was a cool little bar/beach shack where you could buy Astra beer, an indicator of hipness (or perhaps just hipsterness), and (3) we could rent a kayak, which we did the next morning. It felt great to be out on the water! Stop 3: Coffee break in Straslund.Hannes and I made a little stop in Straslund en route to the island of Rügen. Straslund has a historic city center that's quite nice - in fact, it's a UNESCO world heritage site. (Though it's beginning to seem that everywhere has this classification). Straslund was an important city in the Hanseatic League - something I vaguely remember learning about in history class but couldn't tell you much about now. The brick Gothic architecture in Straslund reminded us of Brugges - which, by no coincidence, was also a Hanseatic port. Stop 4: Jasmund cliffs on the island of Rügen (with an overnight in Sassnitz)Our last day we spent hanging out in Jasmund National Park on Rügen. It's a really pretty place! Plus we had a beautiful sunny day, which made it all the more enjoyable. We spent the day walking 9 km from the town of Sassnitz, where we spent the night, to the Königstuhl, the most "famous" of the cliffs. (We could then catch a bus back to Sassnitz, where the car was.) Even if you're not someone who normally likes to go on 9 km walks, this one is really worth it - the coast is beautiful and varied and you'll have a lot of it to yourself. Actually, our grandparently B&B hosts thought we were wimpy for taking the bus back - they thought we should walk the whole way back, too. There's a trail on top of the cliffs, and it's also possible to walk the whole way on the beach. We opted to walk partway on top, and then take one of the handful of stairways down for the rest of the way. So: I give Rügen two thumbs up. I'd like to go back and explore more of the island. What do Americans picture when they think of Germany? Pretzels and beer! On Thursday afternoon last week Hannes and I flew to Munich and met up with his sister Katrin and her boyfriend Simon (who live there). The weather was nice so we went to the beer garden. I consider this my first true beer garden experience in Munich. Last summer when I was in Munich I went to the Hirschgarten but I was jetlagged and it was cold and rainy, plus I only drank Radlers (beer+sprite). Friday-Saturday-Sunday we went skiing in the Alps. Also postcard Germany, except for the fact that it wasn't actually Germany - we were in Schruns, Austria. But they speak German, so what's the difference, right?? The weather was perfect and it was a great time, despite the fact that I was by far the worst skiier of the bunch. I really love being out in the mountains, but usually it's hiking or cross-country skiing. I prefer going slow and don't enjoy zooming down mountains at high speed...I'm a little bit of a control freak that way. But I loved the downhill skiing where we were because it was really the best way to be out and exploring the mountain - the network of lifts and gondolas was spread over quite a few peaks, and you could ski all day and not repeat a run. Plus there were plenty of mellow runs to keep me happy.
This is Brandenburg, the state that surrounds Berlin on all sides. It's pretty sparsely populated, with a lot of fields interspersed with small towns. I have now been out to Brandenburg twice: once northeast of Berlin on a walk with a meetup group, and then again today, when Hannes and I took our bikes on the train and did a little tour south of Berlin. And I have decided: I have now seen Ganz Brandenburg (all of Brandenburg). It all looks the same to me! My impression so far is that Brandenburg is a little boring. Everything is very flat. Also, the little towns seemed rather lonely and empty - we didn't see many people out and about. It feels way different from the countryside near the Rhine where Hannes is from. Hannes' hometown is tiny and quiet, but much more full of life than the Brandenburg I've experienced so far. Full disclosure: this is not the main channel of the Rhine, it's a little offshoot. (The "real" Rhine, just through the trees, was not frozen.) Also, Hannes was the only one who skated - I didn't have any skates. Instead, I slid around the ice with my hiking boots, which was probably almost as effective as if I'd had skates since my ice skating skills are pretty poor.
Though freezing cold (duh), it was a beautiful day out and I felt so lucky to be out there with a local who was in the know. We might not have found this little skating area if Hannes hadn't run into an old friend who told him that people were gathering to play hockey. |