Laundry day with sailor's greetings

September 27, 2020 is planned as laundry day. After a week and a half of traveling, the laundry bag is filled with dirty and smelly clothes and should now be emptied.

Since the last shower was about three days ago, it is also time to take care of hygiene. We leave after breakfast and drive up north to Ribnitz. It is located about 30km east of Rostock on the Saaler Bodden. According to Park4Night, there should be a possibility of a shower at the harbor. Shower tokens can be purchased at the tourist information center.

Too bad it's Sunday. When we arrive, we are faced with closed doors.

Never mind, let's keep looking. A bit further north, near Wustrow, there seems to be a campsite that also offers its sanitary facilities to outsiders.

So, ignition on and full speed ahead to the next destination.

We find what we're looking for here as well. The owner admires our Beppo and happily opens the barrier for us. We can use everything to our liking and immediately pack our shower supplies to waste no more time.

A shower always has something invigorating, and it's only after a few days of abstinence that you begin to appreciate it. The mood automatically lifts, and like after a restful night's sleep, you are full of energy and ready for action.

So, our next destination is laundry. Similar to the search for the shower, we are faced with closed doors on the first attempt. In Rostock, we find a laundromat that is open on Sundays. We drive another 40km southwest from Wustrow to the city center of Rostock.

While the washing machines and dryers are running, Yasemin and I take a walk around the surrounding neighborhood.

The facades of the houses remind us of the Martinsviertel in Darmstadt. Small pubs can be found on every street corner, and artistic graffiti gives the posh neighborhood a shady charm.

After we have folded and sorted all the laundry, we take a short trip to the old town and the harbor. The weather is just as rainy as the day before, and a cool wind whistles through the streets from the sea.

We sit at the harbor at a fish sandwich stand and soak in the atmosphere.

This is exactly how I imagined the north around the North and Baltic Seas. The expressions on the people's faces here seem empty. Surprisingly, there is a corresponding sense of humor and warmth towards us and others.

I love it here!

September 28th arrives. We find ourselves in Schwaan. Last night, after the delicious fish sandwiches, we moved about 22km south. We parked here by the Warnow River.

We wake up very groggy. Since our resting place is not located in the countryside, we are parked between parked cars right on the riverbank.

The residents are not particularly pleased with our presence. We were already awakened at quarter to 6. The driver of the parked Sprinter let his engine warm up directly next to our bus for three quarters of an hour before finally setting off.

Never mind!

While shopping for groceries in Schwaan, we notice that we lower the average age by an estimated 40 years.

Really, there are no young people here.

Since the weather is supposed to be nice today, we decide to drive to Rostock again and take another look at the city in peace and good weather.

We park near the main train station in a free parking lot and walk into the city center. Since our reading supply is slowly running out, we want to get new books at Thalia.

We spend the afternoon in Rostock, and in the late afternoon, we head up to Warnemünde.

Warnemünde is a small but beautiful harbor town north of Rostock. It thrives on tourism, as can be seen from the many vacation rental signs and the harbor promenade. When you walk through the streets here, you immediately feel like you're on vacation. Everything seems relaxed, and the people are warm and inviting. Among the fish restaurants and clothing/bag shops, there is an old sailor playing songs from his previous voyages on an old accordion.

In the evening, we temporarily say goodbye to the north and make our way to the Mecklenburg Lake District.

We arrive in a secluded wooded area near Dobin Lindstrow in fog and moonlight.

The setting reminds me of a Stephen King novel.

We are alone with Beppo and close the doors.

At night, we wake up when we hear two shots.