Last weekend the Berlin Fulbright crew decided to get out of town and "Schones Wochende" to Ruegen Island on the Baltic Coast. We woke up early Saturday morning, piled onto a regional express train, and headed 4 hours north to the beach. It was the perfect weekend getaway destination, and a chance for everyone to spend time together - a 48 hour extravaganza of Fulbright fun!!
Saturday morning came super early for all of us, but all 11 travelers made it to the platform in time. Through a rapid exchange of email planning from the 3 days before, we had coordinated a delicious brunch for the train ride. I held 11 seats together, and we filed in with sliced fruit, crepes, nutella, jams, a huge assortment of breads, smelly cheeses, juice of all kinds, and prosecco. It was amazing and so funny to watch all of us passing around delicious treats between the seats and sharing a feast together in such crammed quarters. But we made it work, and it was the perfect start to the trip.
Saturday morning came super early for all of us, but all 11 travelers made it to the platform in time. Through a rapid exchange of email planning from the 3 days before, we had coordinated a delicious brunch for the train ride. I held 11 seats together, and we filed in with sliced fruit, crepes, nutella, jams, a huge assortment of breads, smelly cheeses, juice of all kinds, and prosecco. It was amazing and so funny to watch all of us passing around delicious treats between the seats and sharing a feast together in such crammed quarters. But we made it work, and it was the perfect start to the trip.
Jill and Marco settled in
Martin and Anna caught in the middle of a bite!
With Jason
Jordan and Lauren brought homemade crepes to share - yum!
After the train brunch, we arrived in Stralsund just in time to see our connection pull away to Ruegen Island (our train was running behind schedule). So we had 2 hours to kill in Starlsund until the next connection. We wasted no time and were out and abut exploring the small town of Stralsund. We strolled along the lake, played on the playground, and saw a small market in the middle of the city.
Jill and Jason outside the train station
We stumbled on a playground near the lake!
Martin moving some sand
Lauren and Jordan together
Chris and Mike spinning fast!
Martina and Jill in the swing of things : )
The market
We finally reached our desitination, checked into our hostel, and began exploring. The ocean and coastline was beautiful as we walked the beach, and we hiked over to an abandoned Nazi resort to check things out. We capped off our day with a seafood dinner, drinks, and games back at the hostel.
In Binz
Catherine and I huddle for warmth on the shore
The group on the beach
It was so beautiful!
All smiles at the ocean
The abandoned Nazi resort from the oustide - 3 miles long!
All the rooms had different wallpaper
Jason and I in one of the rooms
An old banquet hall
Staircase shot
The hallway was pretty creepy! Mike with an artistic shot
With the welcome sign
Sunday morning we were up again, with our hiking game-faces on, ready to tackle some chalk cliffs and spectacular views on the tip of the island. We checked out of the hostel and made our way to Sassnitz, only to discover the train station would only hold our luggage until 3pm. We had plenty of tiem to see the cliffs, just not enught time to make the huge hike. We choose the bus route instead, and enjoyed spectacular views and a small hike down to the beach. After our mini excursion, we were soon enough piled back on the train heading home to Berlin. It was a super fun weekend with friends, topped off with Vietnamese food and ice cream!
On our way to Sassnitz
Jill posing
Sweden is in the distance!!!
The crew pointing the way to Sweden
The chalk cliffs were so beautiful
More views from on top
Smiling with Mike
Lauren, Jill, Chris, Catherine, me, and Mike
Jill and Catherine
Verboten!
Halfway down to the beach
Looking up from the shore at the cliffs
On the rocky shoreline
The cliffs almost looked snow covered!
I loved all the different stones
The sand was even chalky
Posing with Catherine
I had a successful and busy start back to classes after my trip, and I am now in the middle of a week long excursion to city-hopping in south Germany! More exciting details to follow soon. Sending all of my love!!
