Wow. Hippos as agile as seals underwater. Black rhino pacing shyly at the back of its yard. Giraffes that glow in sunlight. Black jaguars with spots only hinted at under daylight… This is an amazing zoo! We wandered throughout most of its acreage before succumbing to exhaustion. We also managed to slide in the aquarium house – jellyfish, sharks, snakes and frogs! We spent almost 5 hours at the zoo and loved every minute.
They have a polar bear enclosure that puts Winnipeg to shame.
The big cat area was great – we saw adorable wild cats as well as lions and tigers. There is a nocturnal animals area where their day is lit for night. Lots of small mammals: bats, aardvarks and mice.

We drove up to Rostok on Sunday. Michael got his share of autobahn driving in. I went with Kelly and Klaus so I wouldn’t drive him crazy.
The weather was volatile, but cleared a little at the beach. We had lunch at a Sea Lord restaurant, complete with a pirate statue. The streets by the shore are narrow and full of cobblestones and lots of tourists. The beach is lovely, and they have cabana-like structures that you can rent. Closer to the lighthouse are bars and restaurants on the beach. There are beautiful four poster type beds with white linens and pillows you can also rent. Even though the wind was cool, there were many people napping on them. You can have your drinks ordered from these beds too!
The sea was reasonably warm, but I think the wind would have given you hypothermia. There were Swedish cruise liners slipping in and out of port not far from the beach. Apparently raw amber sometimes washes up along the shore.
We found a few trinkets in the stores and a pair of shoes for me (thanks Kelly!) before heading into the city market place. Unfortunately, it was the end of the weekend so the market had pretty much closed up. We walked the streets and admired the buildings and the fountains.
The drive back was “interesting” for all of us. The rain poured down and we had to concentrate on seeing Klaus’s car and watching the changes in the traffic flow when it got hard to see. Michael drove wonderfully and we had a quick drink in Hotel Fritz’s bar before retiring.

On Friday, as part of the rainy wandering through Schwerin with Danny and Birgit, we found a small museum for old fashioned stone grinding/cutting. Danny translated for me so I got most of the story. It was several hundred nears old and had made items for the castle. One story was about a man who ordered a sarcophagus and died almost 15 years before it was ready. Then his son decided it would be used for someone else. The guide then skipped outside to “turn” the waterwheel on and raced back to throw grist and water onto a stone set up under the saw. It was a wall of sound. Apparently stone grinders go deaf after a couple weeks. They also stand in ankle to knee deep water for up to 16 hours a day. Not a fun job.
Saturday afternoon Birgit and Danny left us to head back to their respective homes. It was wonderful to meet a few more of the folks that helped Michael complete his Camino. Birgit is doing another one next Tuesday. Maybe she will meet Doreen.
The Geltmeiers took us to a local 10 pin bowling alley – it was a lot of fun – and Kieran emerged victorious! Kelly and I were the cheering (Michael’s comment – she means heckling) squad. Afterwards we ordered in pizza and watched part of an absolutely appalling movie called Gamer.

Well, we started out easy enough…
After catching a very nice train under the Chunnel, we ended up in Brussels. We got on the right train to Cologne but after that… let’s say we panicked and ended up on the wrong train. Our bit of luck was that Cologne has two stations within the city limits but by the time we returned, our train had left the station. We had had an eight minute time frame and we blew it.
Michael took charge immediately and found a very helpful Deutsch Bahn attendant who told us we could ask for our tickets to be switched to another train that was heading to Hamburg. We then took the new tickets to another attendant who told us she didn’t have to validate them – yes, there were two attendants in total for this procedure – but she would. We were obviously incompetent tourists and she took pity on us.
We boarded the next train without problem. We had a nice four hour ride to Hamburg. There we caught a regional train to Schwerin. We checked at least four times that we were on the right platform too. 
Just as we started to pull into the third last stop – Schwerin Sud – the automated announcement system cut out, leaving me frantic, and Michael stoic. We did get off at the right station and grabbed a cab to Hotel Fritz.
Then we hit a small snag at the hotel. As in “I’m sorry, you booked in for tomorrow night”… By weird luck, our apartment had been vacated early by the guests who should have been there and we moved in with the help of an angelic hotel staff. We are very pleased with the hotel and would recommend it to all.