Rambling around Rostock

We landed in Warnemunde Germany this morning and have taken the train over to Rostock, only a 20 minute ride or so. It's a rainy day but we're used to that at this point. A few updates...

As our previous post notes, we really enjoyed our half-day tour of Gdansk, in a group of four couples arranged through Cruise Critic. Our guide was a charming young lady who knew the city. We first stopped at the monument to the Solidarity Movement, very impressive. Gdansk is much more lovely city than we had imagined. Their Old Town was reconstructed after being nearly completely desroyed in the closing days of the war, burned by the Russians at Stalin's orders.

The reconstruction is tasteful and appears quite authentic, all the more surprising as it was largely completed in the 70s during the time of Soviet domination.

Yesterday was very special for us. We met our former exchange student, Lene, now Doctor Lene (currently on the way to being an orthopedic surgeon), and her two little boys, Lauritz, who is four, and August, who is about a year old. We walked around Copenhagen for awhile (Lene was a bit lost as she doesn't know it as well as she knows Arhus), ate lunch at a sidewalk cafe overlooking a canal, and then took a bus to take the children to Tivoli Garden for the afternoon. It was great to see her and her two bright and happy little boys.

We gave August a small teddy bear purchased on board, and Lauritz a little duck that quacks out songs when handled puppet-style. We didn't have a lot of choice but it was a hit, and we're sure Lene is already looking forward to the batteries wearing out!

It was a three-hour train ride each way for them and we're very touched that Lene juggled her work schedule and made the trip with the boys. A fabulous day for us and the rain wasn't so bad as to ruin the trip.

Now that we're a little caught up, it's time to walk around Rostock and let Kathy exercise the German language part of her brain.