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Finally, yes finally, I went on vacation, very spontaneously! The destination: the island of Ruegen (Baltic Sea). What else? Read on and find out :)

Wednesday, 28.07.2010
After a short ride of 6 hours we arrived in Nonnevitz (Island of Ruegen). We passed the new "Ruegenbruecke" with its length of 2,831 meters. The bridge connects Stralsund and Rugen. After checking in at the campground we build up the tent (uhhh how spectacular ;) ) and finally went to the beach which was, without question, amazing! Clear water, very fine sand and very clean. The water was surprisingly warm and perfectly for swimming. The arriving day ended at 11 pm, time to go sleeping and recharge.

Thursday, 29.07.2010
How nice was the weather the day before... Thursday's weather was challenging. Not in the morning. In the morning it was cloudy. But that was ok and so we decided to have a short ride to Lohme and walk to the famous chalk cliffs (e.g. "Koenigsstuhl" - "Kings Chair" in English). A nice 5k walk, indeed, right on the cliffs next to the sea. Taking too many pictures on the way, as always, I was wondering why Karsten did not go mad about that :D Whatsoever. We finally arrived at the "Viktoriasicht", a small lookout with a nice view on the "Koenigsstuhl". Which is, by the way, made of chalk which may also be used for painting on blackboards... So if it happens that you are in need of some chalk (if you are a math student for example) - go there. And do not forget to enjoy the scenery! Yep, so far so good. But once we arrived the rain started. And it felt like it will never ever stop again. So we were sitting on a bench next to a little snack bar and enjoyed the lunch. With umbrellas. And rain jackets. And a some time later we decided to walk back. Through the forrest. And then next to cornfields. The rain did not even spend a littlest thought about stopping to fall down. Well, and the trousers and shoes surrendered and left us totally soaked. A bus stop served as a shelter, but not for long as we wanted to get back to the car. Luckily my backpack was still in the car so we could change the wet clothes into dry ones.
It was 3 pm, no time to get back to the camp! We drove to Prora and walked to Binz, a nice place for holiday-makers. We saw the Binz pier, with the help of a nice toy store owner we found a supermarket (which is not so obvious since Binz is very touristy and supermarkets are well-hided on the first view). And we had some ice cream afterwards, at 6.30 pm. The waitress was - lets put it that way - probably not really interested in gaining new guests, as she told Karsten that they do not have any warm food now since the kitchen has to be cleaned. Lame! We went back, I took some pictures of the "Colossus of Prora" which are remains of the former NS-dictatorship. Parts of it were used in the former GDR as barracks for the NVA, the other parts just fell into disrepair.

Friday, 30.07.2010
Until lunch we walked westwards down the beach, first very fine sand, than smaller stones, bigger stones, and a mixture of all of them. The wind was making the walk not as enjoyable as desired. But a lot of people spend some time walking along the coastline. As we came back to the campground we had some soup - warmed up on the little camping stove which was surprisingly working very nicely! By the way, that was the only warm meal within the 4 days.
Compared to Thursday the weather was quite nice, no rain but still cloudy. Perfect for a visit of "Cape Arkona", the northernmost part of Ruegen. We saw the two lighthouses and went downwards from the cliffs right to the coast. No doubt - I was stunned. It was truly a nice place to visit! And if you ask me - go there, it is worth it. And as a souvenir you can grab some of the chalk around you. We did not visit the Jaromarsburg which once was the religious center of the Slavic Rani in the Early Middle Age.
In the late afternoon we went to Sellin, the town were the famous pier is situated, with 394 meters the longest pier on Ruegen. You know, the pier you can find on nearly every general Ruegen postcard. If you want to get to the pier you have the choice: either you pick the steep stairs downwards or you like it comfortable, then you are better off using the elevator. Sellin itself, or the part I have seen, was a nice town with houses of an interesting seaside-resort architecture from the early 20th century. A little odd thing just came into my mind: I did realize that next to some pathways they had sand, it transferred the "beach feeling" into the center of the town.
So, as you can see so far, Ruegen has a lot to offer besides just relaxing and tanning at the beach or swimming in the sea.

Saturday, 31.07.2010
Today was a little weird. Actually it was supposed to be a day at the beach. We went there, and Karsten realized that he was bitten by a tick (what a bitchy animal!). Unable to remove it he had to see a doctor. He ended up in the hospital in Bergen, where the bitchy tick was removed.
In the meantime I had a 6k walk along the the beach and the coast from Nonnevitz towards Cape Arkona. Some great lookouts along the way were made for taking pictures. The beach was either sandy or pebbly and rocky. 4 kilometers from Cape Arkona I decided to return. Unfortunately my shoe was done for the day and broken :( So I had to walk back shoe-less through the forest. No big deal ;)
At the end of the day I went swimming in the sea.

Sunday, 01.08.2010
The last day :( Since we did not want to be home at 12am we wanted drive back not later than 1pm. I enjoyed another time swimming and return journey began just in time. But we had bad luck - we were struck by the first traffic jam right on Ruegen, and then there was another one on the way to Berlin. 13 kilometers in just 1.5 hours! I guess you are better of walking :D 22pm we arrived safely in Chemnitz.

Résumé: a nice trip, beautiful beaches, nice landscapes, a great campground, well, the weather could have been better ;)


What to see?
- Cape Arkona
- Chalk cliffs
- Sellin
- Binz
- Colossus of Prora (there is even a museum which we did not visit - I did not even know that it existed)
- just explore Ruegen yourself! :)

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