Warnemude, Germany

My first... sort of... day off.

Well, it was a day off in the sense that there were no shows being produced in the theater today. But a lack of shows does not turn off my deck phone, cell phone, email or boss. So there you have it. A moderatly administrative day.

I managed to get off of the ship for about 4 hours in the afternoon and for another 2 hours in the evening. We were at port from 0800-2359.

When you walk off the ship, after going through a customs inspection, you immediately stumble upon a overly-touristized shop - where, on my perfectly tourist cue, I bought a postcard and paid about 3x as much for it as I would have if I had waited about an hour into my walk.

What was the coolest thing about this souvenir shop/restaurant that was surrounded by giant sand sculptures. They were absolutely fantastic and there were 5 of them (each depicted below). Oh, and you might notice that vertical pictures are now oriented correctly. I finally figured out how to turn on my brain and realized that I could modify them on my personal computer and then upload them from my office computer. Sheer genius I tell you. Sheer genious... *sigh of exasperation*











I am actually really glad I got a picture with someone standing in front of it so you can begin to grasp the scale of these rediculous sculptures.


Strange seating gondola things outside of the restaurant/souvenir shop.


So I took this picture because I wanted to share the sign advising parents to keep a hold of their children. The hidden gem, you might notice, is the Brautwurst sign. True German Brat stand. No, I didn't have one. I'm trying to get back down to my natural birth weight, thank you very much.


The little smooth gutters between the handrails and the steps allows people to easily push their bick up and down stairs. I watched someone try to do it with one side of a 4-wheeled stroller. That was an entry for FailBlog, not here.


A little river running right through town was super pretty.


An atmosphereic street shot.


I just thought this street was so lovely with the cobblestones and the trees perfectly placed.


This building had the coolest modern architecture. It was a hotel.


This was my initial viewing of the beach. A very nice and welcome change from the inside of the ship.


Awesome beach trampoline setup for kids.


I couldn't figure out what was up with the weird chairs at the restaurant/souvenir shop until I saw this. You rent them from a little stand. Very cool and movie-esque.


When you look at postcard racks in Warnemude, it becomes immediately obvious that they are known for their collection of lighthouses. So I decided to make it my day's adventure on foot to visit all three of them. And visit them I did. This one was absolutely beautiful.


A slightly closer look.


The plaque at the bottom of the lighthouse. You had to pay to go up to the top so I decided my view from the bottom was perfectly adequate. I'm saving up for a down payment and all, ya know?


This picture in particular is for Roger. I'm not even sure if he reads this or not. But it was too perfect to pass up.


The red and white lighthouse was actually inaccessible by food - though I gave it a good old fashioned college try. But I went out on the closest pier I could to snap this shot.


I could get right to the base of the green and white lighthouse. Nothing particularly special, but EVERYONE seemed to walk to it - the boarwalk leading to it was just packed. Along the pier were the dispatches for local tourist outings. On the ship we are warned to be very wary of locals offering tours by boat/bus/etc. There are certainly horror stories out there. However, you have to wonder how much of the information is factual vs. how much they are just trying to ensure that if you want to go sightseeing you book their tours so that Celebrity gets the income. Food for thought.


The view from the green and white lighthouse back to the beach.


Just thought this was cool. Being a squid lover myself.


This building was stunning. I'm a bit bummed that I didn't manage to get the tops of the Corinthian columns in the picture, but they were beautiful. I may try to retake this photo when I am back there next week.


I thought this poster was hilarious. Reminds me a lot of the Home Alone picture.

On my way back from the beach I didn't take the same route I took there because I wanted to see different things. I managed to stumble across a grocery store where I bought a much needed bar of soap - and a much less needed tin of amazing German chocolates. Yum!

I also managed to get SEVERLY lost. I ended up passing the port by about a mile and a half. and it took me forever to find my way back. After about an hour of aimless wandering on a port walk that should have been about 2 hours shorter than it was, there was the most beautiful sight:


Certain words are distinguishable in any language. Thank goodness!

I do realize that had I gotten lost at a normal port (where embarkation is usually 4pm) I would have been royally screwed. Luckily, that was not today.