Aliens in the Hanseatic city of Rostock

We took the morning of our departure calmly with a relaxed breakfast at the hostel. Then we went to the train station to take the Flixbus to Rostock. The journey took 5 hours. The highlight of this trip was probably the ferry from Gedser to Rostock with the beautiful harbor entrance in Warnemünde. From the ship, I showed Pascal the Teapot Warnemünde with lighthouse and the place Hohe Düne on the other side of the Warnow river. We reached Rostock train station in the early evening. Still at the train station, we were a bit confused about the current Corona measures that still applied in Germany. So we asked a teenager if you still have to wear a mask in public transport or not. The boy looked at us like a fish and just replied: 'I have no idea if you have to wear a mask or not, but I think you have to in the TRAIN.' Apparently, the word 'ÖV' was unknown in Rostock. So we put on our masks, got on the tram, and drove to our small pension right in the old town of Rostock. Finally, there was a private room with its own bathroom again. We had a cozy dinner in the Ratskeller and ended the evening relaxed.

The next day, we went back to Rostock train station to put our backpacks in a locker. And then came the next challenge: CASH for the lockers. Of course, we didn't have coins for the locker. Johanna took on the problem and went in search of an ATM. After 2 different ATMs where the VISA debit card of a certain German bank was not accepted for cash withdrawal, she finally took out the Swiss debit card and accepted the entire foreign exchange fee to get cash. Problem solved and all this without a first coffee in the morning. We thank the Deutsche Bahn for the excellent service at German train stations. Then we went back to the city and started the city tour at the Steintor, strolled along the Kröpeliner Tor Straße and got our Rostock breakfast with coffee at a bakery. Then we visited the Fountain of Joy, the Kröpeliner Tor, and the Stadthafen. From the Stadthafen, we went on to relax at the Warnow river. Back in the old town, we enjoyed coffee and cake in a small cafe before we made our way to the train station and took the train towards Neubrandenburg.