Ex-pat Newlyweds

The dock of our hotel at the Plauer See.

It was our first weekend in five weeks free of visitors. We don’t mind having everyone here — it’s been lovely to make new friends, better friendships and catch up with old ones, but it gets hard. We’re excellent hosts and part of that is being game for doing anything your guests want to.

I can do the tour with my eyes closed, timed out by number of paces or pedals on my bike. I can tell you who built the Holocaust Memorial (Peter Eisenman), when the Brandenburg Gates were built (1788) and the significance of the parking lot near the state representative offices (site of Hitler’s bunker). I will go out to the break of dawn or while away an afternoon shopping*.

But five weeks in a row of this is quite enough — so Josh and I took leave of our little inn and went north to the Mecklenburger Seenplatte on the border of the states of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Lower Pomerania or the Land of Ladybugs.

Really, they were everywhere.

We stayed in a little hotel next to the Plauer See that not only included breakfast, but also a bowling alley and a petting zoo — complete with baby goats! Yes, you know why I picked this place. We drove up Friday evening, enjoyed some fresh fish at a local restaurant and walked around the town with our ice cream dessert from the local hotspot — Janny’s Eis.

Baby goats!

Saturday’s rain led to a not-so-well thought-out drive to the city of Schwerin, where a difficult parking situation led to a drive-by of the castle and a game of mini-golf, which I lost.

Josh lining up a shot that probably put the ball in the hole two shots earlier than mine.
Nature!

Germany can be very un-PC. Also: Canoe translates to German phonetically: Kanu!

Kanu time!

Finally giving up on the city, Josh and I drove back to our little town to rent a canoe and zigzag across a river as we tried to figure out how to steer the paddle boat. We made it work and managed to fit our little adventure into the exact two hours that held no rain for the area. Success. Finished the day with a trip to the hotel’s bowling centre for three rounds… which I also lost.

Probably resulted in another gutter ball.

Sunday’s morning showed promise and we resolved to go to the biggest lake in the area, the Müritz See, for some Kayaking. For the last three years, Josh and I have made a point to go kayaking in deep cove in the summer. This was nothing like that — there were no seals or jelly fish but there were also no motor boats and between camp grounds, no signs of human life on the shores.

Water so still.
Over rougher seas.

We paddled over the Caarpsee, Woterfitzsee and Lepensee, each lake (see) connected by the most peaceful water you can imagine. We saw fish, loon, swan families and a hunting hawk. But what made this the German wilderness was that there were no places to pull up and enjoy a quiet picnic — the shores are guarded with reeds that keep paddlers out of the surrounding forests. However, where you can pull up your boat are German camp grounds (re: Car camping and small cottages) complete with an Imbiss where you can order a bratwurst in a bun.

German wilderness is just that: non-existent. Germans love coming to Canada to see the wilderness, to drive for hours without seeing a town while worrying if they have enough gas in the camper van to get to the next one. Yes, they actually find this thrilling and thousands flock to Vancouver or Calgary every year to do just that and explore the Rockies.

Germany has 237 people per square kilometre, while Canada has a mere 3.62 people per square kilometre. If you were to put Germany over Canada, our little European nation would cover a little more than half of Saskatchewan, yet has 80 times more the population than that province. You’re starting to get the picture of why “wilderness” is a term used generously here.

The weather held out as Josh and I paddled back up through what we called the bayous, deciding that we were definitely better kayakers than canoers. We ended our trip with an hour on the shore of the Müritzsee, reading books and eating apple turnovers.

Daydreaming by the lake.

Sweet treats. Not pictured here: multiple Speedos spotted.
You’re welcome for not posting those.

We came back to the city relaxed after a weekend of doing just what we wanted, recharged for the next round of visitors (they come Thursday!).

*Seriously though, if this is what you want to do, you’re welcome anytime.