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Today we became tourists and took the train from Warnemunde to Rostock and then the tram to the old town centre which was most attractive, clean and airy. We then walked to the waterfront which was a tad seedy with plenty of the remnants of last nights revelry in broken bottles, discarded food containers and burnt out disposable BBQs which few disposed of.
A dubious lunch on a waterside café and coffee and kucken in the old square were a pleasant relief in the warm summer sun. The town was largely remodelled by the RAF in the forties and the rebuilding since has largely taken place since reunification, mostly comprising blocks of apartments, but the centre is nicely done with most of the significant streets and squares named after post war West German chancellors.
Warnemunde is by contrast, small and cosy with cobbled streets and small cafes, shops and restaurants and a 30 minute train ride from Rostock, the Hanseatic town. The Hanseatic League was a business alliance of trading cities and their guilds that dominated trade along the coasts of Northern Europe and included London, Wismar, Hamburg and Stralsund together with others in Norway and Sweden which formed an early trading alliance (some say mafia) bringing prosperity to their businesses. The Hanseatic league flourished between 1200 and 1500 but then waned in strength as trade moved westwards to the open sea ports.
The people here are a little different and I would wager one could spend a couple of hours looking for a young female without a tattoo, the younger men look as if they went to the barbers, got fed up, and left half way through the cut having told the barber to copy the N Korean leader's latest style. Otherwise style is a little absent and lady's fashion, I am told, is evidently not high on the agenda here. The previous dominance of the Soviets is still tangible in the older generation as almost only the youth can help us with our English questions.
Tomorrow we will try and get our wind instrument fixed and then depart for Denmark , which we look forward to.
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