2023 August: S.O.S Save our Ship!

S.O.S. Save Our Ship!

The first thing I thought when the waves crashed against our boat at 1:30 in the morning was, “Where is the flare gun?”

It’s been a great trip, and we have enjoyed meeting so many wonderful people and exploring the area. We even spent two more relaxing days anchoring in the middle of Lake Breitling See near Brandenburg. Sun, barbecues, relaxing, and swimming. Who could ask for more? Well, it was wonderful until it wasn’t. Hang in there while I bring you up to date.

The last time we chatted, we said farewell to my niece, Oceanna, and her family, and to Elena and You, Dagmar’s daughter and partner. Heinz and Ingrid, friends of Dagmar and Peter, had just arrived to spend time with them, making some short boat tours in the area with us. 

We all headed out again for the center of Berlin on the Spree River and were lucky enough to find a parking spot for both our boats.

It happened that the Special Olympics were underway.

Plus, there was a lot of construction going on at the time.

An emergency break for a popular dish in Berlin, Currywurst, was in order.

I still haven’t figured out all the rage for CURRYWURST. It just doesn’t sound right.

After a brief rain storm and tummies full, we headed out of Berlin city and through a lock to our next adventure.

I never knew Berlin had so much water around the city. The art was spectacular along the river.

Cool old bridges were a site to see.

We even drove pasted the Special Olympic Kayak Races.

We arrived at a super quiet southern harbor outside of Berlin. This place was so friendly and the perfect spot to rest before we headed out in the morning to the “Spreewald” to see one of the oldest settlements in the area. Click here to read more about this historic area.

By morning we were ready. We needed to take a short train ride to reach the famous site with one train change on the way. Of course, guess who missed the train? ME! As Lutz got in one door of the train, I rushed to another that immediately closed on me. I had to catch the next train  20 minutes later. But alas, we all made it to the admissions entrance. It was rather crowded, so we assigned Peter the task of waiting in line…he does out-rank me.

This place was pretty cool. The houses still stand, and some are occupied. Most are summer vacation homes or Bed & Breakfasts, but the quaintness remains. 

They are only accessible by water.

Even the post is delivered by boat.

And yes, we had a stop for lunch, and it included their famous pickles, called “Spreewald Gurken,” of course. I stuck with the boiled beef and potatoes!

It was a great visit and worth the five-hour tour! We all returned to the harbor without losing anyone on the train.

Dagmar and Peter took off the next morning to be back at our harbor in Potsdam so Heinz and Ingrid could drive home. We decided we loved this little harbor and spent two more nights. The view and weather were so amazing and no rain!

I can’t imagine being anywhere else reading a good book.

We had a few more days before meeting with our boating companions to begin the month’s journey home to Kehl. We only briefly walked through Berlin with our friends, and Lutz and I wanted to be tourists by taking the Hop On Hop Off Bus tour through the city and visiting popular sites and a few museums. We headed to Templehof Hafen, which was at the south end of Berlin. 

The evenings were spectacular!

As they say in the Department of Defence Schools, it is the same with boaters; it’s a small world. Friends always come back into your life, and this was one of those times. Felix and Hetti were in the same harbor. As we landed, we heard, “Hello, Virus and Melinda.” Freaky right? The last time we saw them was in Belgian three years ago. Hetti had signed up for my site and knew all about our past three years of travels. It was great fun catching up.

Later in the week, when we left Templehof, they were surprisingly in our same harbor in Potsdam! Felix is a Seaman’s Folk Singer and plays several instruments, so Lutz enlisted him to sing a few songs for Peters’s birthday. They were rocking the boat Literally.

Our Hop On Hop Off Bus Tour from Templehof was a short subway ride to Berlin. The tour was super, and listening to the different narrations on the headphones helped us get the overview and lay of the land. It had been a long time since I had been to Berlin. Lutz only once several years ago, so it was especially interesting for us both. Of course, we had to see Check Point Charlie.

And check out a portion of the wall.

Lutz usually has a “guys” weekend about this time every year, and this year they met in Berlin.

I was fortunate to have been invited to the daily tours set up, and woo, it was so interesting. On the first day, we had a walking tour of the oldest part of downtown Berlin with a retired professor from the university. This part of town is filled with history. The original train station still stands.

Even the cafes and restaurants have original facades.

The professor took us to several locations and shared the history.

The next day we went to the Stasi Prison, Hohenschönhausen Memorial. The Stasi were considered the C.I.A. of the D.D.R. after World War II. What an experience. So many traject events took place here.

After the morning tour, we headed to the Stasi Headquarters Museum. We were overwhelmed with so much information and so much heartbreak. It was just unbelievable the hardships so many people suffered.

Our stay at Templehof Haven ended, and we headed out to meet with Dagmar and Peter in Oranienburg for a night.  

This was such a cute little city harbor! The boat across from us was restored and running. We had a delicious Asian dinner.

We also enjoyed a short bike ride through the little town to view the castle.

In the afternoon, we visited the heartbreaking Saxonhausen Work Concentration Camp in town. Once again a reminder of how things can go so wrong. 

The entrance gate says, “Work makes you Free.”

We stopped on our cruise back to Potsdam in a cool lake and spent one night in the wild with Dagmar, Petter, and their dog, Honey. It was wonderful. 

Poor Dagmar and Peter had to taxi Honey to shore to do her business. 

In the morning, we took off to Potsdam to prepare the boat for the long haul home—water, groceries, washing clothes, and filling the water tank on Virus. Once our chores were done, we took one last spin around Potsdam and joined the Christopher Street Parade.

The next day the sun was out, and it was so nice. Since Virus was ready to roll, Lutz and I decided we’d leave two days early while Dagmar enjoyed her last few evenings with her daughter. There were still some lakes to visit and a chance to sleep in the wild. Off we went for our amazing adventure-romantic, peaceful…

lots of swimming, and

two days of delicious grilling.

We anchored almost in the middle of the lake while others anchored about two-hundred meters offshore. We constantly check weather conditions, but…on a lake, it’s not always dependable. So the last night, we prepared for our morning take off and hit the hay after a lovely grilled steak and caesar salad meal.

At 1:30 in the morning, Lutz and I were awakened by the rain pouring down. We brought in our cushions and closed the windows. We thought that was it and went back to bed. Then at 4:30 am, I was woken by waves pounding against the boat, water splashing in through my bedroom window escape hatch, and heavy footsteps running frantically overhead. I turned to shake Lutz awake, and he was gone. The wind came up so fast, thunder, lightning, and rain like heck. I screamed and said, “Where’s the flare gun?”. Just in case, right? Lutz said, “Get up here and help me.” Thoughts of him falling in and floating out to nowhere hit me. I scrambled up the steps, and he started pulling in the anchor, yelling, “Start the engine.” Holy moly, I hit the switch and looked around, and we had drifted within fifty meters of one of the boats anchored near shore. By 6;30 am and the anchor dragging, we drove a safe distance from the other boat and pulled up the anchor. From there, we headed toward the canal, hoping for less waves, rain, and a smoother ride toward safer shores. This is the earliest I’ve been up since retiring! I sure can understand why fishing folks leave most lakes by sundown. It can get scary out there, people! As for pictures, this is the only one Lutz took at that hour of the morning, and being scared out of our socks.

Since we are traveling back to Kehl on the same path: Mittelland Kanal to Dortmund Ems Kanal to Rhein-Herne to the Rhein in Duisburg, I will only highlight a few new places we stayed or toured. One location we returned to and stayed two nights was the AutoStadt VW Manufacture in Wolfsburg. I’m married to an automotive engineer, and we had to visit this museum. What a great place. 

It was worth the visit! We spent the day exploring and picking out my new car LOL!

This museum is a kid’s paradise, and for people that love, love cars! There were cafes, family restaurants, swimming, boating, and hotels.

After recovering from the storm and touring the VW museum for the last few days, we left and headed to my dream harbor, Marina Bortfeld. We so enjoyed it that when Peter and Dagmar caught up with us, they also fell in love with it. So, what the heck? What’s two more days? Why not. Just peaceful and relaxing. Even had our morning swim around the lake. Plus, we were the only people at the harbor. Pork Ragu to celebrate the calm day!

Another rushed stop was Hannover, where we celebrated Dagmar’s birthday with their boating friends, Krista and Kurt. We had dinner out, and Christa prepared the delicious homemade strawberry cake for dessert.

We stayed two days and took the Hop On Hop Off bus to get an overview of Hannover city. It’s huge and very busy—lots of shopping, shopping, shopping, and filled with people and traffic. I enjoyed visiting the oldest section and checking out the unique shops.

The old cathedral was very impressive.

And the opera house

A new harbor we hadn’t stayed at was in Idensen. Our blue boat is on the left with the dark blue bimini.

Sitting for so long on the boat, Lutz decided we needed an hour’s bike ride. I have learned over the years that one hour means two for Lutz. By the time we got home, we had gone 20K with our little bikes and two and a half hours!

But it was worth it. We ended up in a very cool resort, lake Steinhuder Meer—such a cute boutique little town. 

Restaurants, cafes, boutiques, handmade goodies and more. But a ton of tourists (like us, LOL).

The next day we tied up along the Mittlelland Kanal that flows over the Weser River. This picture shows how the Mittleland Kanal flows over the Weser—such amazing engineering. We tied up on the left side at the right end by the clump of trees. This is where Lutz got a ticket for parking outside the designated sport boa areat. Plus, he found out that our license for Virus was expired. YIKES!

Our anchoring spot was across from the lock that dropped boats from the Mitteland Kanal to the Weser River. All hours of the day and night, the tankers entered the lock and exited, leaving a swell rocking us at odd hours.

We arrived early that day to bike to town and check it out. Minden is so quaint, and I loved the tour along the Weser to the city. 

The park was so beautiful, with old iron bridges passing over streams.

The town still held that charm of history.

The coolest was the discovery of a Mexican food restaurant, and by the time we made it back to the boat, I said to Lutz, let’s do it; let’s call a cab and go back and check it out. So…off we went.

The food was typical German Mexican food. It wasn’t hot or spicy enough for me. Lutz avoided it altogether and had hot wings and sweet potato fries. But, hey, it was an experience.

The best part was meeting friends from all walks of life. There was a Brazilian, Kazakhstan, a local, American, and Lutz from the Black Forest. We spent most of the evening chatting about politics and life—so many perspectives and a safe place to share opinions. The picture is not the best since it was raining and dark out.

The next morning we headed to Bad Essen. This was a new harbor for us all!

In Bad Essen, Lutz and I rode into town to check it out. Cute B&Bs, old restored homes. It has a large outdoor swimming pool in a nearby park. Really a peaceful village and it happened to be the market day!

We were off to Munster, stopping once to fill Virus with another 700 euros of fuel. We drove through this cool harboring stripe in Munster on our way to Berlin but never stopped to explore the area.

We arrived early and tied up in front of the long boardwalk filled with restaurants. 

It’s a pretty cool old city with lots to see. The castle was huge but closed and preparing for a concert that evening.

We explored the free castle gardens. This place was crazy gorgeous. They had green houses for every kind of plant. From succulents to…

Lush green palms and plants that thrived with more humidity. 

The gardens were covered in seasonal flowers and plants. Plus, we saw three weddings taking place on the grounds. This was well worth the bike ride, even if I almost got run over by a car.

When we returned to the boat, our travel companions had arrived with their friends, Anne and Reinhardt, who had jumped on board with their bikes at the boat gas station. We all went for dinner, and we enjoyed their company. Reinhardt is a jazz enthusiast, and we shared new artists and kept the discussion lively! 

That night Peter warned us that it gets a bit loud in the evenings, especially since it was Saturday night. It was a great location for people-watching, for sure. He was right! During the night, the noise was so loud I rolled over to get my swimming earplugs made of half-part silly putty and half-part swimmers wax. I keep my earplugs in the original plastic egg-shaped silly putty container. It was dark, and I picked up the wrong container. It was straight silly putty and, by morning, had melted into my hair. I might need more than a flare gun this trip, maybe even a haircut! When the cleaning crew arrived at the harbor, I discovered my silly putty hair at 5 am. You could say this was a short night for us all. Oh, by the way, Lutz informed me after I asked where we keep the flare gun. He said, “We don’t have one; you need a license to use one.” You’ve got to love all these German rules!

Thanks for joining me this month and checking out our trip. I’m excited about next month since Dominic, Lutz’s youngest son, is joining us for a few days! He’s not only a professional landscape designer in Vienna; he enjoys cooking, Yeehaw!

Fave Recipe:

Herby Grain-free Pecorino Crackers are my go-to for snaking or dipping. Easy, quick, and tasty! Click here for the recipe.

Fave Resource:

We can’t predict the weather this time of year, but I’ve got you covered for both sunny day and rainy day meals. Click here for the recipes.