Part 2: Rostock - Welcome to the Baltic Sea, min Jung

(07.06.2022 - 10.06.2022) It is a sunny morning on Tuesday, June 7th. Motivated, I waddle towards the old town in Heidelberg to take part in the local free tour, when the phone suddenly rings. The date of my medical examination has to be pushed back a day...to Wednesday...that's tomorrow...in Rostock, half Germany away. So, short assessment - according to plan, the train I originally wanted to take plus the free tour would still work out. But who am I fooling, things don't go according to plan here. So I turn around on the spot, go to the train station and get on the first train heading north. On the Mannheim - Frankfurt route, seemingly one of these surprise maintenance works jumped onto the tracks - annoying beasts. "Unfortunately, we can't say anything about the length of the delay yet," says the first announcement. By now I'm laughing out loud and I am very proud of myself to have made the right decision - to leave immediately after the call. The rest of the route is uncharacteristically punctual. I arrive in Warnemünde near Rostock with a total delay of two hours.

The Dock-Inn Hostel in Warnemünde was opened in 2017. The rooms are converted, decommissioned shipping containers. Very modern, authentic and comparatively cheap accommodation!

After couchsurfing hosts in Rostock were fully booked, I got a place here in the Warnemünde hostel - finally. The screeching of the seagulls, the stiff breeze inland, the slightly fishy smell of the sea, brick buildings and lighthouses as far as the eye can see - the euphoria increases, the sea welcomes me.

View from the hostel to the gigantic Warnemünde shipyard

The first night in the dorm room is quiet - at least until 0200 in the morning when a group of party girls crash into the room. It takes a while before they notice that they are quite loud and I can fall asleep again, but eventually I doze off. Until 0500, when I'm awakened by a gagging followed by a "splat" sound and a nose-hair-eating stench of vomit - the girls must have overdone it a bit. I breathe through my mouth and put on my headphones. "Germany, you're making it really difficult for me to like you," I think to myself. Sleeping is no longer really possible, but hey, this day can only get better. As a matter of fact! After my medical examination I visit the Maritime Museum and the IGA Park in Rostock.

In the evening, work on the blog begins and I get to know Richard from Dresden, with whom I sip a few beers and have a nice chat. That evening I also get to know Marteria (a well-known rapper from Germany) who visits the hostel. Well, getting to know each other is perhaps a bit too much. He was in the group later in the evening, but since I don't know his music, let alone what he looks like, I took him for just some random dude. Richard had to tell me the next day that Marteria was there. Small oops.

The next day, the old town of Rostock is examined a little more closely, and Richard is also joining in. In the absence of a free tour, we will take a tour suggested on visitsights.com. Not a substitute for a guided tour, but I'm still pleasantly surprised. The tour rattles off the most important points and the site also spits out snippets of interesting information about the sights. Meanwhile shopping streets and tourist hotspots are avoided.

On the last day I stroll through Warnemünde and join a boat tour in the harbor before the journey continues east.