Day 4, 5
Well, there is so much to say. ;) First of all, after our big evening of "adventure", we slept the next day until 3pm. Big mistake because guess what, at midnight the following day we are still wide awake. We tossed and turned all night and got some good rest from about 3-7 but we were up early for our day tour of Warenmunde and another close town called Wismar, both sounding like they start with a V. The phone rang at 8am and it was the doctor's office which officially released Guy from the confinement of our room, which he has lovingly named 9 1/2 steps. (That is because the room is so small he can only take 9 1/2 steps from the front door to the sliding door). So he was already dressed and ready to go for when the call came. He bolted out the door so fast he looked like Edward from Twilight.
We had a nice breakfast, but because most people were heading out early for tours, it was packed. We packed our bag for the day and headed out when the ship doors opened. There waiting for us was Dave. Guy had found "Friends of Dave" on Trip Advisor. He had over a hundred great reports on what a wonderful tour guide he was. He only takes 15 people and we preferred that over being stuck in a tour group of 50 or more. Dave did make a mistake due to email issues and we actually had 22 people, but it was fine. He rented a bus for us instead of taking the trains and that was nice. We rode about 40 minutes to Wismar where we spent the biggest part of the day. It was OK. Guy had a better time than me because Dave can talk history like nobody's business and Guy was soaking it all up. Occasionally my mind drifted off thinking of more important things, like chocolate chip cookies or something like that. It was Sunday, so no shops were open *insert sad face here*. Dave was quite the story teller and always had something funny to say. We all had earpieces connected to his microphone, so he didn't have to talk very loud and we could hear him. That is what was so funny was because he'd whisper comments about people and we all got it loud and clear in our ears, but no one else heard. Many comments were priceless. When we stopped for lunch it was in a beer brewery that had been there 500 years. Of course Guy can't drink, and not being a drinker myself we had coke and water. Guy is allergic to alcohol, but I definitely would have tried something just because they had being doing this for half of a millennium, but after guy's episode, my stomach has been creepy (I'm calling it "bystander syndrome") and chose the coke lite. I have a photo of the brewery and our lunch on my Picasa page with a link yesterday that hopefully works. For some reason I can't get the pictures to link up with the blog and at 50 cents per minute of Internet on the ship, I don't have the luxury of figuring it out.
After lunch we explored Wismar more and we had about 45 minutes of free time. Guy needed a bottle of water, so we spent our time in the local Subway. Yes, not a little outside cafe, but the Subway. Dave said that was a guaranteed place of bottled water that was still water, not fizzy. So as you are all saying "you hung out where?" just know it was named a bit fancier than Subway's in the US, it was called SUBcafe. So there...is that better? :) But I have to say I had one of the best Chai latte's ever. We just needed a chance to warm up, too. We didn't want to sit outside as it was cloudy and only mid 50s. We took gloves and were glad we did. We were never terribly uncomfortable, but our noses were pink.
So as we headed back to the bus and we heard some whispers from Dave about the local "skin heads" and one particular "neo-nazi" (he was creepy) and we laughed and got on the bus. On the way back to Warnemunde, Dave kindly told us what to see at all our next stops. Then when we got to Warnemunde he was quite the local celebrity. He is an American, who has been living there for many years. He initially had a different job there, but saw the need for a local tour guide. He is well traveled and has an endless supply of local and historical knowledge, so he is perfect for this. He hoped his first year he could do 10 tours and did over 70. He only advertises through word of mouth, online like Trip Advisor and a Cruise chat site. Isn't that crazy ... a testament of how the Internet connects everyone around the world in just seconds. Now, in just three years, he gives tours 5 days a week May - September. We calculated what he made per tour and think he is doing pretty well. Anyway, Warnemunde is the cool fishing village that I have pictures of. Very quaint, reminding us a little of Mystic, CT, and like most German towns, has its own particular stories from the war. This little village has a long white sandy beach which they say is unusual for Germany and is a big tourist destination year round. Not to mention a couple of cruise ships dumping thousands of people off at it weekly.
As the day came to a close, we bid farewell to our 20 new friends and they all stopped in a local pub for a farewell drink. We preferred to explore a bit on our own and I took a few more pictures. Back on the ship it is nearly 7:30pm and I didn't feel like getting gussied up for dinner, so we opted for the specialty restaurant that is a Bistro. We had soup, sandwiches and Italian crepes for dessert. The crepes are on our list of "do again" before the cruise is over. Wow....fabulous. So as we sat at the table, we could hardly keep our eyes open, so back to the room for showers and bed. We fell asleep immediately, but then we were awake again about 2am. We are definitely screwed up with our sleeping. So I finally got up and looked through all the pictures I had taken that day and read some of a book that Amanda Hickman had suggested. :) Guy was up about 10:30 and went to get us breakfast (I just couldn't get up yet). We ate and snoozed again til noon. I know...bad idea, especially since tomorrow morning we cruise into Stockholm and Dave says DO NOT miss cruising into the port, or the two hours + before docking, because it is supposed to be more beautiful than the city. That will take place about 4:30 am, but we are going to confirm this with Guest Services tonight. This won't help the sleeping situation, but I'm not going to miss it. Dave says to go up top of the ship, but I can tell you it better be good from our balcony because I think I'll be way too cold up top. If not...I will venture up with blankets in tow.
Today is a day at sea, so we are currently up top sunning. Yes! We were shocked at how good the sun feels. Guy is in his swim trunks and is soaking it up. It can't be more than mid 60s...and is about 2:30 in the afternoon. The sun doesn't go down until after 10, so nice long days of light is really cool. But I feel sorry for these people who have winters of only a few hours of daylight. Not sure I want that tradeoff. Dinner tonight will probably be our first night in the main dining area. That should be fun and we probably won't go to the theater tonight because of our early morning tomorrow, which is too bad, because the night shows are usually pretty good. But all is good, Guy is doing great, so I'll say cheers for now, or as they say in Germany, "Prost"! xoxoxoxoxox
