To the Resort...warm weather...not a chance

These pictures were taken from a website showing how beautiful the island of Rugen is...we just went on the wrong day.

SATURDAY, July 2
At 8:00 am, we dragged our suitcases to our rain soaked bus to go on an island adventure. Sounds warm and tropical, right? It wasn't warm or tropical. It was pouring. At the last second, a few people ran into the bike shop to buy a poncho. Little did they know that the ponchos they bought either didn't have armholes or they tied wierdly around the waist?? Too late ... we were on the road.

Fortunately, I had brought Dollar Tree ponchos with me. So, I gave one to Rick from VA and I used the other one. One of our ladies, Karen from the University of Michigan didn't feel well, so we were able to drop her off at our next hotel on our way to the island.
Off we went to the Island of Rugen. It is one of Germany's most popular holiday resorts. It is famous for its chalk cliffs. More than 800,000 visitors come to the Konigsstuhl, one of Germany's most famous chalk cliffs and to Cape Arkone each year.

We were told it would be cold and rainy and it was. I wore a pair of panty hose, a pair of yoga pants and a pair of jeans. I had one pair of socks and my cute plaid sneakers (that weren't looking so cute to me anymore). I wore a three shirts and a fleece hoody. Remember, it is July 2 and it had just been 90+ degrees in Berlin. What a drastic change.

But, the adventure continues. We pick up our guide and he has a great accent. He joined the East German navy and served 36 years. He started every sentence with "Ladies and Gentlemen, I think...." And, if you had a question, he gave you his undivided attention by getting about 2 inches from your nose to answer it.
We walked in the cold, windy rain down to the beaches. The houses and cottages were gorgeous and, obviously, very expensive. When we got to the Baltic Sea, every one wanted to at least touch it. While this was going on, we didn't notice that we were right next to the "FKK" part of the beach were a father, mother and small son were all getting into the water. "FKK" means Free Body Culture. It is a naturalistic way of thinking...which, in this case, meant nude. AND THE WATER WAS FREEZING! They didn't just "toe" the water...they went all in and stayed in.
So, off we went to the smoke house for lunch. Smoked fishes and eels and stuff like that. Well, you know how I feel about fish...but I did it. I ate most of a smoked salmon sandwich. Here is Regina(NY) with her fish sandwich. They were served open faced.

I can't say that I liked it, but it wasn't bad. Ben (AZ) couldn't do the fish and had the big whopper weiner.
Next, we went to a nature museum. It was very interactive and was really well done. The path from here led to the chalk cliffs at Jasmund National Park. It was really very foggy, so although we could see the cliff, we couldn't see how far down the water was. But, we knew it was a long ways by the sound. Creepy.

We were able to hundreds of "rooms" that were built by the Hitler regime for the Nazi's to vacation on the island of Rugen. These "vacation" rooms could house 20,000 people.
Cold, wet and tired, we piled into the bus with our guide still saying facts about the beautiful island. Unfortunately, I fell asleep somewhere between "Ladies and Gentlemen."

After checking into our new hotel, the InterCity Hotel Stralsund, we changed into other dry layers. Unfortunately, I don't have anything but these layers, so I re-layered them and we walked to dinner...no rain. I had a nice chicken and mushroom with rice meal and we were ready to head back. At that point, the lightning started and the rain came down. The few of us that were ready to leave were ready to leave...so I rolled up my jeans and took off my sneakers (my only pair of closed toed shoes) and ran for the hotel.

Drenched, I washed my dirty socks (my only pair) in the sink and hung them to dry. Off, finally, to bed.