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The
Noordam was alongside at Warnemünde, Germany at
approximately 7:00am. This was for good reason given that many
of the shore excursions were heading to Berlin and required nearly
the entire day. For others of us who slept in, I was listening
to the disembarkation announcements from bed by the cruise director
Robert Cook. I was very much anticipating going ashore today
in that I was going to reunite with a great friend of mind, Kristin
Schüler, and her husband Björn. Kristin and I met when we
attended Northern Illinois University and bonded very much our
senior year. We have kept in touch through the years and I
definitely still consider her one of my best friends despite our
living so far apart. |
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had breakfast in the Lido Restaurant before leaving the ship to meet
at our pre-arranged time of about 10:30am. I disembarked the
ship just shortly prior and had not immediately seen Kristin so I
walked along the pier and over to the A'Rosa Blu just in case they
had gone there. Upon my return to the Noordam I
immediately spotted Kristin and we had our fantastic reunion!
They had stayed the night in Warnemünde so they had just slightly
more of a better idea of where to go there than I. We went to
a small café to enjoy coffee and catch up on old times. Given
that we had missed several occasions between our last meeting, we
exchanged some nice gifts. |
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It was
another beautiful, sunny day out so we walked around the small port city
of Warnemünde and then brainstormed ideas on what to do. We decided
to take a Hafenrundfahrt (boat port excursion) and sightsee that
way. For not very much in cost, we had a very pleasant tour that
lasted about an hour.
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| Views
of the Warnemünde Port Area from the Excursion Boat. |
Just down from the town area of Warnemünde is a beach that proved
to be very popular on this particularly sunny and hot day. I
could hardly believe all of the people that were packed onto the
beach and enjoying the sun and water! We enjoyed a couple of photo
opportunities along the breakwater at the beach before deciding what
to do for the rest of the day. |
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With
the rest of the day ahead of us, we decided to take a car ride to
Rostock. I was pretty happy about this given that I had not
been there before and it was a perfect day to explore the
city. Rostock is a very charming city and one that I would
definitely love to visit again in the future. Rostock belongs
to the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and is about 200km
north of Berlin and 180km east of Hamburg. One of the
first sites that we walked near is the Gothic structure Kropeliner
Tor. The Kropeliner Tor, built in 1280, is 54 meters
high and serves as a museum nowadays. |
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We
walked along the main promenade of Rostock and occasionally looked
into some shops of interest. There are very colorful buildings
along the main promenade and we walked our way to the end until we
saw the Bürgerschaft der Hansestadt Rostock. |
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we began to conclude our walk in Rostock, we began to hear some loud
music and happened to catch a local gay pride parade. It was
pretty interesting for all three of us as I don't think that Kristin
and Björn had experienced such before! It certainly provided some
interesting photo opportunities and hand outs! |
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By
that time we noticed that it was getting later in the day so we
decided to find the car and drive back to Warnemünde. Kristin
insisted that she get me some German Sekt (champagne) to take with
me so we stopped by a store on the way back to the Noordam.
It was very nice of her and I enjoyed it in my stateroom during the
remainder of the cruise. Among interesting sites that we had
seen that day was a sign that pointed the way to an area called
"Groß Klein" translated "large small" which we
happened to find amusing - maybe that was just because of all of the
heat and sun! |
Shortly
before 5:00pm, Kristin, Björn, and I said our farewells at the pier in
Warnemünde. It was difficult as always to say "Auf
Wiedersehen" to such great friends knowing that it might be some time
until we next meet up. I was happy to have acquired the wonderful
memories of the day, however, to take with me back aboard and back home.
The
highlight for the activities on board the Noordam on this
particular evening was definitely the German Biergarten
Festivities. This was one of the best activities encountered
on board this cruise. The Noordam's aft sections of
Promenade and Upper Promenade Deck were fitted with German décor
and a traditional German buffet was also available. The buffet
featured all of the German favorites such as wienerschnitzel,
sausages, sauerkraut, and more! A local brass band of
Hanseatic City Rostock performed as well. Many of the German
guests on board danced along with the music while the rest of us
enjoyed beer specials!
I found it to be such a great thing that Holland America Line set up
such an event both as a tribute to the wonderful day in Germany but
also for the local guests on board. Shortly in to our
Biergarten Festivities, the A'Rosa Blu set sail for a new cruise and
sailed in close proximity to us. Their guests seemed to be
enjoying our music from their ship as much as we were! |
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| The
A'Rose Blu Sets Sail |
Karen,
Shane Roberts (deejay - emcee), and Joanne |
The
Staff is in the Spirit! |
Brass
Band of Hanseatic City Rostock |
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We
watched alongside the Noordam as the last guests returning
from Berlin embarked the ship. They filtered up to the
Biergarten Festivities little by little and they appeared a bit
exhausted! They all, however, did rave about how wonderful of
a day and excursion it was. We also looked alongside as locals
watched as the Noordam prepared to set sail. As with a
lot of sail aways, it was particularly emotional as nice of a day it
was with good friends.
With the assistance of a local tug boat, the Noordam set sail
at approximately 9:30pm. |
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It was a
relatively quiet evening around the ship after that time given how much
fun everyone had had out at the Biergarten Festivities. The Noordam
had approximately 173 nautical miles to cover before reaching Århus the
following morning.
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