Warnemunde: Jane returns to her birth country

My dad was in the Air Force and my parents were stationed in France when my mom was pregnant with me.  Because their AF base did not have a fully functional hospital, the pregnant women were sent to Wiesbaden Germany to give birth.  So even though I lived in France for a brief part of my babyhood, I was actually born in Germany.  I had a dual German/American citizenship till I was 18 and had to "make a choice." I really wanted to keep both!  Funny, many years later when I married Rich at age 50 and went to change my name with the Social Security Department, I was told that I still had a dual citizenship and needed to declare that I was an American.  Seriously!  I told them I'd done that when I was 18, but I had to do it again.  :)

We also lived in Germany, at Rhein-Main AFB near Frankfurt, when I was 10 to 14  years old.  I have fond memories of living in a German town and hanging out with American and German kids, learning to speak enough German to get by, playing baseball and soccer with our neighbors, playing in the woods, buying brotchen from the bread man who came down the street or from the bakery around the corner, traveling around Europe with my family, and lots more.  But it's been many, many years, so I was very interested in seeing what Germany was like today. 

The ship was to pull into port at Warnemunde but there were tours available to surrounding areas and a trip to Berlin. When I lived in Germany in the '60's, Berlin was still divided into East and West, and because of my dad's job, we were not allowed to go to Berlin at all.  When we were planning this trip, I thought all along that we would take the bus to Berlin but after the fiasco in London, I became more and more convinced it would be the same thing--6 or more hours on a bus for 2 to 3 hours in Berlin, if we were lucky.  I just didn't think I could deal with being on a bus that long and not getting to do much anyway. So we decided to forego the big trip and just have a leisurely day in Warnemunde, a very cute little seaside town. 

It was a pretty day, if a little chilly.  I really thought it would be warmer on this trip but it was still a bit cold once we got past Spain and Portugal.

 Fishermen

 Lots of flowers in bloom, though!

 We walked along the sea wall, where it was super windy!

Two lighthouses

 Lighthouse

 Church

 Lovely fresh fruits and vegetables

 Charming houses

 Look!  More locks of love! 

 Musician on the boardwalk

Windmill