#Sellin on the island Rügen by the Baltic Sea

The train that goes to the island of Rügen ends in Binz. The island Rügen is connected to the mainland by a sea-bridge. There is a roadway for cars on that bridge and tracks for the train. Once you are on the island everything looks the same as on the mainland. You don’t even know you are on an island. We arrived in Binz on schedule. The Hauptbahnhof in Binz is small. It has only three tracks. We left the building and stood outside—lost again. We knew we had to take a bus to get to Sellin, but we had no idea which one. So I went back in and found an information booth where I got the information and I also bought the ticket for the bus. A few minutes later we sat in the bus on the way to Sellin. The trip took 30 minutes.

In Sellin, we stayed at a hotel which had been recommended to me by my friend in Schwerin. He knew the owner. The place was called ‘Pension Petri’. They also had a restaurant ‘Fischgaststätte Petri’. We only ate there twice because it was expensive, but we had breakfast there, which was very good. They even served ‘North sea Caviar’ which tasted quite nice.

The owner, Herr Lutter, greeted as warmly and he gave us a couple of tourist cards which we could use for the local transport system. They were part of our package, which also included the breakfast. We used those cards all the time.

Sellin is not a large place; you can pretty much walk through the whole town. On our first excursion to the beach we discovered that you had to climb a steep hill to get to the ocean. We only walked it once; it was too exhausting. After that we took the tourist train to get there and to other places. We found it was always windy at the beach and the waves were high.

On the second day we walked through a park and discovered by accident a little restaurant hidden away among the hobby-gardens that are so popular in Germany. Those gardens are quite interesting. All have small cottages on them where people go on weekends or at any other time to relax and work in their gardens.

The restaurant was called ‘Inselfrieden’, which means ‘Island Peace’. We had supper there a few times because the food was wonderful and reasonably priced. The place was always busy, mainly with local people.

We walked along the ocean down a boardwalk that led partially through a forest. Before we realized it we had gone to the next little town. Everything is so close there.

We went on a bus tour along the coast and got off at Göhren, another nice little town. They have a boardwalk going into the ocean where the ships dock. We watched one ship trying to dock, but the waves were too high and they gave up. The Captain announced over the speakers: “Nobody is allowed on board. If anything happens all Hell will break loose.” The people who wanted to get on the ship had to go and get their money back, while the ones on the ship were taken to a larger port. I sure was glad I wasn’t on that ship. My stomach would not have taken that punishment.

There are many restaurants and shops in Sellin. We visited an ‘Amber Museum’, which was quite informative. I found out something that didn’t make me happy. A few years back I bought a nice piece of Amber with a scorpion inside in Cuba. Instead of millions of years old it is actually nothing but plastic. I paid 40 American Dollars for it and I was so proud to have brought the guy down from his original $200.00 he wanted.

A lot of fake amber is sold in places like Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Well, that teaches me a lesson never to buy anything there anymore. If I do then only from a reputable shop—and even then I’ll be leery. By the way, Amber is found in the Baltic Sea. Sometimes, after a storm, it washes up on shore and can be found among the rocks. Amber is lighter than seawater and floats and that’s how I know now that my precious Amber is plastic. When I put it into a container filled with saltwater instead of floating it sank to the bottom, no matter how much salt I added. It didn’t float. What a disappointment. Amber is quite expensive even by the Baltic Sea, but I did buy a small piece for which I paid two Euros per 100 grams.

There is a long boardwalk, called ‘Seebrücke’ going into the sea in Sellin with a diving bell at the end of it. You can take it to get below surface to watch sea life. When we were there, they didn’t dive, because the waves were too high. As mentioned, they have a ‘Seebrücke’ also in Göhren where the ships dock, but it isn’t as large as the one in Sellin.

The 'Seebrücke' in Sellin

The island Rügen is a holiday destination for the Germans. We saw many tourists there, many older couples at this time of year. In the summer, it is probably next to impossible to get a hotel on the island and prices are high. There are many beautiful beaches where you can rent beach chairs, also expensive to rent. We watched the odd person taking a plunge in the Baltic Sea, but at this time of year the water is cold. The island is also known for its ‘nude’ beaches. We saw one nude woman in Göhren going into the water. My wife wouldn’t let me take a picture☺

The island Rügen is a beautiful place and still pristine. We didn’t see any foreigners, except possibly tourists from another country. Not to sound racist or discriminatory, but I cannot ignore what I observe and what is a fact.  Everything was so clean there. We weren't aware of any beggars or street people. Nobody bothered us with begging. It was a peaceful place where one could relax without worrying. It reminded me what Germany used to be like when I grew up there. It is sad to see how things have changed and I'm afraid it won't be long until the island Rügen will also be touched by the influx of refugees flooding Europe.

We spent a week in Sellin then it was time to go home. We took the bus back to Binz and boarded our train to Berlin. We were lucky to get a whole compartment to ourselves again and we had no trouble storing our large suitcases. Traveling by train wasn't so scary anymore.

Next stop: Berlin

#Being Screwed

I hate deception. It seems wherever you go you are being deceived. I'm talking mostly about stores. It is not only how they try to make you buy something with false promises, it is also how certain merchandise is described on the package or more precisely what they omit to say, either knowingly or unknowingly. Mostly knowingly.

We bought 6 LED light bulbs at Costco yesterday, mainly because the Hydro have a program where you get up to 50% off the high price of these bulbs, and they are expensive. They are supposed to last 22 1/2 years, but in small print it says: based on 3 hours a day of use. So that estimate is already not quite correct, because most lights are on longer than that, especially in those long and dark winter evenings.

On the package it says that they can be used with dimmers; then in small print somewhere else it says that they may not be compatible with all dimmers and they suggest to go to their website to get a list. Well, how can you go to the website when you are in a store looking at the lights deciding if you should buy or not? Not everyone carries an Iphone or a tablet to connect to the internet.

We decided to buy them and paid nine bucks for three after the rebate. At home I discovered that LED lights cannot be used with 'Touch-dimmers' and motion detectors. They stay on at all times. They can only be used when you switch off the dimmer and cut the power completely.

Most of the bulbs in our house inside and outside are those spiral ones. Now we are told they are not safe and may cause fires. I've had them for years and I am happy with them. Okay, they cannot be dimmed at all, but they save me a ton of money on power consumption, especially the ones over my aquariums which are on for many hours. We use the old regular incandescent light-bulbs in the lights we dim. I only hope that they never stop making and selling those 'old-fashioned useless power-hungry bulbs'. I also hope that the government in its forever overzealous goal of protecting the citizens from harm doesn't make them illegal. If they do I still have plenty of them stashed away and they'll last until somebody comes up with a bulb that is just as good but uses less power and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

I have in mind to return the LED bulbs to Costco, but I destroyed the packaging. Those bulbs are packaged in such a way that they cannot be removed without cutting up the cardboard and the plastic wrap. Another way to make sure you keep them. Most stores will take back merchandise only in its original and undamaged package. I barely managed to remove the bulbs without stabbing myself with the point of the knife.

Arrrrggg...We are being screwed without realizing it sometimes and it isn't much fun. And when we do realize it we may say "Ah, screw it. It isn't worth my time to take this garbage back." And that, my friends, is what the manufactures and sellers count on.

Screw it!!

The World is going Crazy

I don't know about the way our world is developing. Is it just me or are people actually crazy? This morning I saw something on TV (only briefly. I don't watch TV in the morning!) that bugged me. They showed people dressing up their dogs for Halloween. One dog wore a batman costume and the other one something else. To me that is pretty sick. I think it borders on animal cruelty. Dogs are not people! They don't get dressed up, for crying out loud. Now I suppose you should give them Halloween treats also if they show up in front of your door on #Halloween? What's next? A cat dressed up as Catwoman?

Come on! Give me a break. This is just nuts.

I cringe when I see guys with earrings and ponytails, especially old men. They look ridiculous half-bald and wearing a ponytail and a diamond stud in their wrinkly ears. Do they ever look in the mirror and if they do what do they think they see? And those huge plugs in people's earlobes! I saw a young man on the beach one time with his plugs removed. Wow! Those flopping donuts on his ears were surely ugly. How is this guy going to look when he gets old? What about advancement on his job? Who wants to look at a CEO with those floppy ears? What kind of respect will he get from his coworkers or customers? Things like that belong into the jungle but not into a civilized world.

And what's with all those tattoos these days? Why do people ruin their skin for the rest of their lives? I've seen some pretty ugly designs. I don't object to a butterfly or some other beautiful picture on a woman's shoulder, belly, or buttock, but why tattoo half your face with black paint? Or why have a devil's face or some other weird motif on your leg? I don't get it. Why are girls and women wearing torn jeans? I've thrown better looking jeans into the garbage. I'm sure glad that fashion with those sloppy pants with the crotch down to the knees seems to have come and gone. How could anyone walk in them, especially climb stairs?

There are other things that bug me and that I can't agree with. I do not believe gay people should get married. Oh yes, I am old-fashioned that way and not influenced by propaganda from the lobbyists. Marriage is an institution that should be reserved for a man and a woman, the way it was intended to be. I have no problem if gay people live together, but not as 'husband and wife'. Come on, a man, gay or not, is still a male and can't be called 'wife'. Wife is for a female. Same goes for lesbians. You can't call another woman 'husband'. That is ridiculous. And I can't agree with gay people adopting children. Sorry. They will grow up in an environment that is not normal and I don't care what we are made to believe by the media like movies, TV-shows, magazines and newspapers. Just because certain interest groups say everything is okay doesn't make it so.

And this whole thing about gender. Some men want to be women and some women want to be men. No cross-dressing helps here. If you have a penis you are a man and if you have a vagina you are a woman. How much simpler can it be? Of course, you can always have an operation, but biologically you are still the gender you were born with. That can never be changed.

Don't get me wrong. I am not bashing homosexuals here. They are born that way and are still people with feelings and rights, like everyone else. They are not different from so-called 'normal' people and they should be treated as such. I will never discriminate against them. We are all human beings. I don't have any gay people in my circle of friends and acquaintances, but there seem to be a lot of them around. Maybe it is because society as a whole is more tolerant that way and they are coming 'out of the closet'. I'm talking about the Western, more civilized world, not those backwards countries that want to drag people back into the dark ages that were rife with ignorance and intolerance. There exist still plenty of those countries on Earth. Perhaps it is also Nature's way to curb the birthrate and stop humanity from overpopulating this planet, which is a serious problem. Eventually, there won't be enough food to feed all those billions of hungry mouths and not enough room to deal with the garbage. As long as some women still have ten and more children poverty and hunger will stay with us.

Am I such a dinosaur? I believe I'm pretty open to new ideas and the advancement of the human race, but not everything some people come up with helps us to make this a better world. I admit, many old-fashioned ideas need to be changed and we have to learn to accept each other, no matter what we believe or think, even if some of us wear outlandish clothes ☺.

However, we should no be pushed into accepting everything some weird person dreams up without questioning it or even disagreeing with. That's what  a free democratic society is all about and that's why I have a right to voice my opinion. It may not be what the majority believes at the moment and that's okay. I just don't like some of the stuff that is happening. As I've always said and I stick with that: Just because everyone does it doesn't make it right.

My wife and I would never wear something like this, but, hey, what the heck! It works for this couple. I'm open.

It may not be politically correct what I wrote here, but I don't really give a crap. That's another thing minority interest groups are trying to push on us. I don't comply. I admit, I'm not politically correct and I make no excuses.

#Schwerin, Germany

The town of Schwerin is located in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, East Germany, the former DDR. In fact, it is the capital city of that province. Many people in that part of Germany speak Russian.

Schwerin is a city of nearly 100,000 inhabitants, a city with beautiful, old buildings, a castle, and old churches. Unfortunately, when the Communists owned that part of Germany, they neglected the land and the buildings and many of them are in a sad state. Communism does not inspire people to work and does not promote entrepreneurship. Things deteriorate and don’t get fixed and that is evident in all the places we visited. Of course, after Germany was reunited again, people with vision moved in and began repairing and building, but it takes years to get things back to normal.

There are many lakes in the area. Most of them are somehow connected and the water flows eventually into the Baltic Sea. We booked a tour with a ship around one of the larger lakes. The shore of the lake is dotted with small cottages, many on stilts.

The public transport in Schwerin is the Electric Street car system. Very efficient and fast. It was interesting to see the cars maneuvering the narrow streets with all those Street cars.

We left Hamburg by train. According to our train ticket it was going to take one hour and forty minutes to get to Schwerin. My friend said he would wait for us by the Hauptbahnhof and I was looking forward to seeing him again after 55 years. We were supposed to be in Schwerin at 11:51 AM, but it didn’t happen that way.

They announce every stop over the speakers and they also have monitors everywhere. If you pay attention it is easy to know when you arrive at your destination. We had comfortable seats on the train, but we were anxious and a bit nervous. We are not used to traveling in a train. They finally announced we’d be arriving in Schwerin in 6 minutes. A couple of stops later I heard the announcer say ‘Schwerin’ and we left the train and stepped onto the boardwalk.

Somehow it didn’t look right. It was supposed to be the Hauptbahnhof, but we saw no buildings, just a small shelter with a bench. All around us were trees and grass. Then we looked at the sign and it read: Süd Schwerin (South Schwerin). I said to my wife, “This doesn’t look like the Hauptbahnhof.” By the time we realized we had left the train too soon it pulled away, leaving us in ‘No-man’s-land’ and in a panic.

There were a couple of young men who had also gotten off one of the wagons. We approached them and told them of our plight. One of them checked his cellphone and told us there would be another train coming at 12:37. Fifty minutes of waiting. Fifty minutes of sweating and great anxiety. We wondered what my friend was thinking when we didn’t get off the train in Schwerin.

The train finally arrived and we boarded it. It still took ten minutes to get to the Hauptbahnhof, because this train stopped at every small station. Schwerin Hauptbahnhof is not large, but it is in the center of the city. Our hotel was just across the street and we were happy to have arrived. Of course, my friend had left, but he told the front desk he would be back later.

Fifty-five years is a lifetime and long enough for people to grow apart. Sometimes so much that the connection you had when you were young has been severed. My friend and I had been in contact again by emails and by phone for about a year. We found each other again through the internet. When I told him that I was planning to visit Germany, he said, “But you must visit me.” Because of him, we changed our travel plans and we were glad we did. Otherwise we would never have seen Schwerin and all the other places we visited.

Obviously, be both had changed. Time does that to people. We were old now, but it seemed the years had done nothing to make us feel like strangers. In fact, we found we still had the same crazy ideas we had so long ago. We spent time with him and he showed us the sights in Schwerin. On our last full day in Schwerin we drove to the city of Wismar by the Baltic Sea. Another wonderful city to visit. They have a harbour and we ate in one of the harbour restaurants. Of course, we had a fish-dish and it tasted great.

There was one day we spent alone, doing some shopping and just walking around the little city. When we sat on one of the benches by the ‘Pfaffensee’, an old lady asked it was okay to join us on the bench. We had a great conversation with her for nearly an hour. We found out directly from one of the locals how Germans feel about all those refugees and other foreigners flocking to Germany. The Germans are not happy about it. They don’t like that their government pays so much money to the foreigners. People who have never worked in Germany, never paid taxes and didn’t contribute to the pension funds get more money than the Germans. Most of these refugees have many children and they get child support. No wonder they think Germany is a paradise.

Sounds pretty much the way it is in Canada. It will get worse when our new government brings in all the aging relatives of the refugees coming into Canada.

I strayed again. Back to our holiday. We stayed at the InterCity hotel in Schwerin and we were quite satisfied with our choice. Accommodations were good, breakfast was excellent and the selection was great. Many different kinds of bread and buns, cold cuts, cheeses, including Camembert, scrambled eggs, and more. Couldn’t ask for better. Loved those buns and the solid bread. None of that sponge bread so common in America.

We bought our train tickets from Schwerin to our next destination Binz on the island Rügen three days before we left Schwerin. We also bought our tickets from Binz to Berlin at the same time. I don’t quite understand how the transportation system works in Germany. Apparently, it is a good idea to buy tickets way ahead of time, because then you get better offers, whatever that means. The closer you leave buying tickets to your day of departure the more they cost. We paid 128 Euros (192,00 Canadian Dollars) for both of us for both sets of tickets. The tickets from Binz to Berlin we could have bought for 30 Euros less, but then we would have had to change trains in Strahlsund with only 8 minutes between arrival and departure of the next train. So we decided to pay the extra money and have peace of mind. No changing of trains.

We spent 5 days in Schwerin before we boarded our train to Binz. We had a large compartment to ourselves and plenty of room for our luggage, something we had worried about at home. Traveling with two large suitcases and hand luggage can become difficult when taking public transportation and we had no idea what to expect. Our fears were unfounded.

Once we sat in our seats we relaxed and enjoyed the sights. Traveling by train is more relaxing than driving a car.

Next: Sellin on the island Rügen by the Baltic Sea.

The Killing of an #Elephant

Yesterday in the news they reported another senseless killing of an animal in Africa. This time a beautiful Bull Elephant, apparently shot by a German Trophy Hunter. Why would anyone kill an Elephant? The sale or even importing of ivory is illegal. You don't eat the meat. Besides, where is the sport in hunting Elephants?

I am a hunter, but I don't go on Trophy hunts. I hunt animals like deer, and when I'm fortunate to get one I take home the meat to eat. No different from buying meat in a store. Beef, pigs, chickens, and other animals that are raised for consumption also have to be killed to harvest the meat. That's how the world was designed. We all need to eat to stay alive, and I am not a vegetarian. Humans are not vegetarians. There are predators and there is prey. Predators have their eyes in the front so they can judge the distance from them to their prey. Prey, like deer, rabbits, other rodents, and most birds, have their eyes on the side of their head so they can spot their hunters more easily to give them a chance to escape. That's life. Sometimes it isn't pretty. Anyone ever watching the nature channels must have at one time or other watched a lion or other large cat chase and catch an antelope. It is brutal but reality.

Anyway, even as a hunter I cannot condone the senseless killing of an elephant, a lion, a tiger or any other exotic, usually on the verge of extinction, animal. There is no pride in that but only shame. It is not an accomplishment or great feat. How can you even miss a large target like an elephant?

I took this picture in the Berlin Zoo

More about #Hamburg

I still like to talk a little about Hamburg. There is a lot to see there. The one sight that impressed us the most was Miniature Wunderland. It is a must-see when in Hamburg. It is only six minutes with the U-Bahn from the Hauptbahnhof. You take the U3 to Baumwall and then it is a ten-minute walk to Miniature Wunderland.

We spent the whole day there. What a wonderful experience that was. 14,000 km of model railroad tracks running through miniature landscapes—valleys and mountains of places that actually exist. There are literally thousands of trains running continually. And the number of miniature people is unbelievable. They even have an airport with planes landing and taking off, rescue wagons and fire engines racing through a miniature town toward burning building. It is incredible and mindboggling. I took hundreds of pictures.

The whole thing is inside a multi-storey building and there was a huge crowd of people. We were there on Friday, August 28 and there were still a lot of children among the visitors. On one of the floors they have a restaurant where you can get food for a reasonable price. Even beer.

On Saturday we went to the Hagenbeck Zoo, also a recommended sight to see. You get there by using the U2 and it takes 15 minutes to get there. We paid 28 Euro (Can. $42.00) per person, which includes visiting the aquarium. It was a lot of money but worth it. We arrived at 9:45 AM and left at 5:00 PM. They give you a map to follow and it is quite easy to find all the displays and see all the animals. We didn’t see the lions; they were hiding. There is a restaurant inside the park and many small vendors where you can buy food.  

The next day, Sunday, we took the City Tour and it was interesting to see all the old buildings and other sights. You can get off and on whenever and wherever you like. The first time we didn’t get off anywhere, just enjoyed the sights. The second time we got off at a couple of places. One of the stops was the ‘Museum für Völkerkunde’ that displayed pictures and artifacts from ancient Egyptians, also some history about the Indians in America and their plight and pictures and artifacts from people in Africa and their suffering. It wasn’t worth the 8 Euros we paid per person to see that. We’ve seen stuff like that before. You don't need to go to a museum to find out about the misery in this world; you see that every day on TV.

In the afternoon we went on the harbor tour. That was quite interesting to see the big ships and how the load those containers onto the ships. Unfortunately, it rained during the tour, but they have a roof over the seats, so that wasn’t a big deal.

We used our Hamburg Card to buy the tickets for the city and harbor tour and got a discount, but we ran into a bit of a snag. We bought the tickets on Friday in Baumwall after visiting Miniature Wunderland, but when we got off the bus by the ‘Landungsbrücke’ they told us we have to board the ship in Baumwall where we bought the tickets, so we had to walk all the way to Baumwall, which fortunately was only a ten-minute walk. No big deal. Except we had to walk in the rain on the way back to the bus stop. The red Double-decker bus doesn’t stop in Baumwall. By the way, we paid 55.00 Euro for both of us with our discount, that’s about $83.00 Canadian. Seeing the sights is expensive, especially now with our low Dollar, but the whole trip cost a lot of money and there is no point in saving money in the wrong place. We may never go there again.

We enjoyed Hamburg, the sights and the good food, and we left there satisfied with what we had seen and done.

Our next destination was Schwerin, a city of about 100,000 people. Why Schwerin? An old friend of mine lives there. We haven’t seen each other since 1960. I was anxious to meet him again.

A Gruelling Day

 I’m still sticking to the conspiracy theory about the Universe. It doesn’t only want me to have any extra money it also wants me to have no time. Last week I cleaned up the yard, picking up most of the dead branches and burned them. Well, that wasn’t good enough. A few days ago we had a storm with winds up to 100 km/h. High winds cause branches to break off trees.

We have willows growing on the perimeter of our property. I planted them twenty years ago and I curse the day when we made the decision to plant willows. I got the cuttings from a friend of mine. They were sticks about one foot long. In the Spring I stuck them into soil and kept watering them. They developed roots and sprouted little branches, and then in the Fall I planted them around our property.

Willows grow fast and within three years we had a nice high hedge. The problem with willows is that the branches are very brittle. That saying about ‘bending like a willow’ is not quite accurate. Those brittle branches break, especially when it gets windy. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: DON’T PLANT WILLOWS!! Unless you are asking to be punished for it. There is no end to the work with them. Those lovely catkins on the pussywillows are not worth it.

Repeat after me: “I WILL NEVER PLANT WILLOWS!” Again: “I WILL NEVER PLANT WILLOWS!”

Our nice clean yard was covered with a thick carpet of willow branches. We’ve never had it this bad. Not only our yard but also part of our neighbor’s yard in the back on one side. I try to be a good neighbor and I always clean up those branches even from their yards.

My wife and I went out this morning and raked the branches together and moved them into a pile in my garden. That pile is huge. I’m hoping for no wind tomorrow morning so I can burn them. There will be high flames and it will be scary. We burn twice a year: once in the Spring and once in the Fall. I could take the branches to the dump but that would involve several trips with my truck. Faster and easier just to burn them at home.

Either way it is gruelling work raking and loading up the piles of branches into a trailer, and then dumping them again in the garden. On top of that it was windy and chilly. I have a bit of a cold and too much exertion causes one to perspire and tire more quickly. I did not need this extra work. What makes matters worse I wanted to go fishing this morning. That didn’t happen.

The Universe doesn’t want me to go fishing, either.

Now I have a dilemma. If there is no wind tomorrow morning I will have to burn those darn branches, but if it is windy I can go fishing. What should I pray for? Wind or no wind?

I’m really torn…