Jun 4. Warnemunde

 Jun 4. Warnemunde, Germany

After a couple of days in Denmark, we are now docked in Warnemunde, Germany, the port for Berlin.  Because of the very long train ride to get to Berlin ( 3 hours each way) we opted instead to do something more local and go to Schwerin and Rostock.  

Sunny, 21° Another beautiful day!  

Today’s blog begins with a rather long history lesson by the guide!  If you like reading! be sure to check out the link to information about Schwerin and Schwerin Castle as I was unable to take many photos.  Mary will post hers on Facebook as usual. 

On our 1 1/2 hour drive to Schwerin our Guide talked about living in East Germany until 1989 when there was a ‘quiet’  revolution for freedom and the Berlin Wall came down. She talked about how strange it was  when the wall came down to be able to go into a grocery store!

Berlin was right in the middle of the east/west divide. There was food and everything they needed in West Berlin  and it  was written about people digging tunnels underneath the wall trying to get from east to west because they had been separated from friends and families when the Berlin Wall was put up overnight in August, 1961 without any warning.  Stories were also written about people trying to escape over the Berlin wall and many people lost their lives trying to escape - 106 people were shot.  The wall existed for 40 years and when it came down people rushed to the west to do simple things; first thing most people did was get a West German car!.  

During GDR (German Democratic Republic - East Germany ) times nothing was private. There weren’t any private homes or companies as everything was in the hands of the government. 

On the drive we passed farms, as well as many solar panels and wind turbines erected since 2022 .  There are no nuclear power plants producing energy any more so they need to replace all that nuclear energy for heating and warm water; electricity in general is quite expensive keeps getting higher.

An average size family with two kids, parents pay at least €1500 plus your energy costs for rent per month, which is at least a third of your salary.  In reunited Germany, there is a very good social/ tax system.  Taxes are high is but with the taxes we pay, they have a very good educational system and our social system.  Income tax can go up to 48%.  If you have a house you pay your property tax, 80% of the gas prices is tax going  to the government,and as an official member of the church you pay your church tax of  9% out of your  income.  The sales tax is 19% which is included in the cost of an item.  

Education in Germany is free; you pay a very low student fee of €250 per semester every half year which includes  free train tickets to ride the public transportation, reduced entrance fees at the museum or at the theater, so some students are signing up to get all those benefits. 

 Everybody can get unemployment money in case of unemployment for one year that amounts to  68% of your farmer salary and after that one year it becomes a little less. There are regulations for the size of the apartments you may have, but the point is that the government will pay rent for you so you don’t have to worry about living on the streets and you get cash for your living expenses and you don’t have to worry about being hungry and feeding your family. 

 

Another thing paid by taxes is mandatory health insurance.  Everybody needs to have health insurance. The employer and employee share social insurance costs; health insurance, retirement insurance, unemployment insurance is shared 50-50 and it comes off your salary check right away so you barely even notice that you pay money to all those insurances.  If you are a freelancer you are 100% responsibility for all your insurances.  You can always go to the dentist and have your teeth fixed, of course you can go to the hospital. You don’t have to worry about a doctor or medical bills.

 For the rebuilding of Germany in the 90s - 5% out of your income tax goes into the reconstruction.  Schwerin is a  beautiful old town, with a renovated castle of about 600 rooms; only 50 are used by the museum. All the rest is used by the state parliament. The town has a lot of renovations going on; it’s very expensive to renovate and usually they are under historical reservation rules or laws to be as close to the original as possible.

This is a Hanseatic city,  from the times when many other countries around the Baltic were joining the Hansestic League,  a union of traders and sailor sailing together the Baltic to protect all their goods from pirates.  Schwerin was founded by Henry the Lion,  King of Bavaria.  He was actually also the founder of Munich and he came here to the north in the middle of the 12th century.

Our drive ended near the dock where our cruise on the lake began and ended.  Unfortunately for Dorothy the rest of the day involved walking around the town - to the castle, in the old town, to lunch and back to the original drop off point. 

Thankfully we did have a trolley to take us from the castle to the town centre.

From Schwerin we went to the town of Rostock for another walking tour!  Mary went to St Mary’s Church where our guide, who was baptized there, did a short tour.  By this times my knees were screaming ‘No more!’ And I waited by the bus for the group to return.

We were both exhausted by the time we got back to the ship.  We had a quick dinner and then went to a very different show.  Check it out here!!!  5 Skies!

Clocks ahead another hour tonight!  I was asleep by shortly after 10!

Sea Day tomorrow!!   Thank God!

The Two Exhausted Travellers

😴😴