Thursday, September 22, 2011

Schwerin and Rostock, Germany

Time for another Baltic cruise post, this time covering our stop in Germany.

We docked in Warnemunde in Germany (formerly part of East Germany). While many on the cruise took the 3 hour train ride into Berlin, we decided to stay in the northern area closer to Warnemunde.

We took a bus through the countryside to Lake Schwerin(Schweriner See). This photo is of a rundown summer home on the lake, maybe someday it will be restored.


And the next photo is a first look from the lake at Schloss Schwerin.



And a closer view.



Construction of this castle began in the 1500's but it was extensively rebuilt in the 1800's. This is the view from the bridge across the lake/moat.

For centuries it was the home of the dukes and grand dukes of Mecklenburg and later Mecklenburg-Schwerin. It currently serves as the seat of the state parliament. 


This is a closer view of the cupola over the entrance which has a statue of pagan prince Niklot who was an ancestor of the House of Mecklenburg.




After our tour of the castle, we toured the town of Schwerin and this is one example of its streets.


I love this mileage marker sign(not sure what to call it since the distance is in kilometres). Really only about 3 hours drive from Aarhus, Denmark and 6 hours from Antwerp(presuming you can drive 100km/hour the whole way,lol).


And our final stop was back in Rostock, where we toured St.Mary's church, a large gothic church built in  the 13th and 14th centuries.  Although much of Rostock was bombed in the second world war, the church was saved from fire and left intact.

Here is a photo of one of the most interesting pipe organs I have ever seen! It has over 5000 pipes.


Also unique to this church is an astronomical clock built in 1472. It contains 3 sections, the bottom section is shown below and contains a calendar valid until  2017.



This medieval clock is the only one of its kind still in working condition with its original clockworks. Very remarkable.


And that is a quick look at our time in Germany, more cruise posts come soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

2 comments:

Deanna said...

Holy smokes, this is amazing!

Rosemary said...

Both places so picturesque... the clock and organ magnificent....