Maiden trip
, written:

Maiden trip

The weather was not the best for our maiden trip to Stralsund. The wind was stronger than forecasted. Thus, the waves were pretty high and we were often listing heavily. I couldn’t eat breakfast – unlike the girls. I even had to puke (just water). Afterwards, I felt better. Also, the sea calmed down because we went into an area that was shielded by land on both sides. So I was able to go under deck without getting sick.

Rügendamm

We ate cereal in strong wind but under sunshine because we kept singing „Liebe, liebe Sonne“ to bring the sun back out. Despite the rough ride, all of our girls took naps during the sailing trip, lying on the floor, on the bench above deck or on Mama =o)

Even Wilma got used to her swimming vest and safety belt. Together with her sisters, she crawled through the cockpit, practised standing, played with hooks and lines. It is really hilarious when she rocks her whole body while she’s standing.

We had some great help by our neighbours with parking on a red but free spot. Risking that the permanent user of this spot would come back at night and chase us away was the only way to stay in this busy marina, so close to the city centre of Stralsund. Our neighbours had given us this advice. They also hadn’t found any free green (available) spot. Later, they decided to go to a less busy marina further away because they wanted to leave their boat for one week in Stralsund.

market square
town hall
St. Nikolaikirche
St. Nikolaikirche

We stayed and even went for a first city tour because the harbour master said, it shouldn‘t be a problem for the owner of our spot to park on one of the free red spots next to us. It was great that we found a playground soon, so the kids could move a little. There were at least as many hollyhocks as there were brick buildings in Stralsund. Their blossom colours ranged from white and yellow to pink and almost black purple. Since it was already so late, we decided on a lazy fast-food dinner: a croque, which was nothing but a boring salami baguette with way, way too much sauce, a tasty Turkish pizza with Kebap, and a pizza Margarita. Everybody was satisfied. Even Wilma ate the vegetables and meat I picked out for her :oD On the way back to the boat, we bumped into a former colleague of Alan’s *crazy*

Walking along the pier, Alan spotted a free and green parking lot. So we decided to quickly repark. I was done with my small line job, when I suddenly lost balance on the only 30-cm wide landing stage and fell into water. Luckily, I could quickly swim to the pier and crawl on the wall to a ladder where Alan and some pedestrians helped me get out. So I got away with some scratches only and I had enough energy to be mad about my stupid incapability and the additional work I had with my laundry :o/

The next day, we had an uncomfortably rushed breakfast because it was already so late that the Ozeaneum, a sea museum, was opening and we didn’t want to wait in line forever. Due to vacation season and weekend we did end up waiting for 30 min – not too bad. The Corona restrictions made us wear masks for the entire visit and some interactive items were not available. We enjoyed looking at all kinds of sea animals: fish, sharks, sea stars, crayfish, sea cucumbers, birds, seals, sea horses, urchines, penguins during feeding time… Still, the highlight was a spiral light house slide =oD

Ozeaneum

We went on another small city tour along the city wall.

city wall

After the girls‘, small nap, we had a playground sandwich dinner: playground, dinner, another playground. At a Vietnamese restaurant, we ate rice noodles in soup (I didn’t care for the coriander! But Magda had one spoon after the other), fried rice with beef, fried noodles with shrimps (Erna‘s favourite!), and fried fish with vegetables. The food was good, but we were so thirsty afterwards!

On the „after-dinner playground“, Magda learned how to slide down some sloped metal rods, one under each arm. Another girl was also trying to figure out how to get down, so they learned together and made friends – even officially: “I’m Rosalina, do you want to be my friend?” Magdalena was super proud and happy. We walked a bit behind Rosalina and her grandpa on the way back and the girls waved each other good-bye when Rosalina entered her flat. *cute* Magda was a little upset when we told her that we wouldn’t stay much longer in Stralsund. Papa Alan was able to cheer her up by saying “You never know if you meet somebody again at another point in your life, just like I met my former colleague last night, far away from home.”

We decided to take a shower in the public facilities since we had paid for their use anyway, but not for refilling our boat’s water tank. It was quite a mess! Wilma wasn’t happy, even after breastfeeding her. So we left Alan with a crying baby to… wait for 20 min (!!!) for a free shower cabin. Unfortunately, two out of four showers were closed due to Corona restrictions *aaahhhhh* There was only some dry floor outside of the small cabin. So that’s where we got dressed. When I was still busy with myself, the kids already ran out on the landing stage *dangerous*

In the area separated from the water by the handrails and walls, I didn‘t want to forbid running for the kids. Unfortunately, Erna fell so hard that she ripped holes in her pants *poor girl* At least, the knee wasn’t injured. I guess, we should consider the wearing of long pants, protecting our girls’ knees, an advantage of the unusually chilly weather =oD Magda keeps asking “When does summer come? My birthday is coming up and then I thought the weather should be hot!?”

The kids enjoyed watching ducks and were very busy with pointing out jelly fish (Ohren-Quallen) to us. There are more than in Greifswald. Whenever you search a bit, you spot one floating in the harbour water *great* Erna saw „three“ ducks with Papa in the morning: „two Mama ducks and two baby ducks“ ;oP

Toilet routine the next morning: Erna said she was ready to pee. Unfortunately, I hadn‘t seen that she had only pulled down her pants, not her underwear. So she managed to pee her underwear although she was sitting on the toilet =o/

We had breakfast with rolls and bread from different bakeries in the city centre, under a little bit of sun that helped ease the chilly wind, and accompanied by nice street music from a tuba and trombone. Especially the girls (even Wilma) were busy clapping hands and didn’t get tired of reminding us to do so after every song to make the musicians play on *sweet* On the way back, we saw a hedgehog sitting by a busy street *wow*

Erna complained about her pants sliding down. „Do you want to have a belt?“ „No, they just slide down when the sun shines.“ *aha*

On our first playground stop, there was finally no cold wind and only a few clouds so that we dared take off our long-sleeved shirts and wade through the small pool.

St. Marienkirche

We visited ‚St. Marienkirche‘. A ceiling with wooden portraits impressed us most. The kids had fun colouring and hiding at a playing church that offered desks and a large cave underneath *nice*

In this summery weather, we enjoyed some ice-cream and splashing water on the market square.

Afterwards, we went by the ‚Johanniskloster’ and another playground. Spontaneously, we decided to have dinner at the Turkish bistro once more: chicken Döner and Dürüm Kebap.

Johanniskloster

Both Magda and Erna sometimes pull the trolley and enjoy holding on to Wilma when she‘s crawling or standing in the trolley during the ride or on the couch under deck.

The big girls also like helping storing the groceries. We all build a human line from the landing stage over the deck, down the stairs under deck :oD

Stralsund skyline

We started sailing to Hiddensee around 4 am, when it was just getting light. Due to too little wind, we soon had to add some motor power to go at a decent pace.

Rügendamm

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Großartig, dass Ihr losgesegelt seid. Covid hat Euren ursprünglichen Plänen wahrscheinlich auch einen Strich durch die ursprünglichen Pläne gemacht. Wir sind auch statt Mitte April erst Ende Juni los von Elba, haben dann richtig Gas gegeben und sind nach 1100 sm jetzt auf den Griechischen Sporaden. In ein paar Tagen treffen wir hoffentlich in der Nähe unsere Kinder. Alles weitere hier:
https://sailing-amazing-grace.com/

Liebe Grüße und Gottes Segen auf der Fahrt

Ich folge immer noch eure Reise.
Wir wollten vorher nach Mittelmeer mit euch zu treffen. Aber nach Mittelmeer braucht man vielleicht doch mehr Erfahrung als was wir haben.
Ich hoffe wir treffen uns noch mal irgendwo.

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