Lifting bridge

This bridge was right by our hotel and we saw it in operation on Friday lunchtime just after we'd arrived, to allow bigger boats to get in and out of the canals where they are moored.

Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny, after a great sunrise from the hotel room. We had another wander around the harbour and front area, with the huge brick warehouse buildings, most of which currently stand empty. Stralsund is a bit of a work in (re)progress, after it depopulated by 50%, yes you read that right, 50% after 1989 and German re-unification in 1990. Its industries were destroyed and it just in the process of reinventing itself as a destination, rather than as somewhere that people pass through on the way to Rügen. It doesn't have a university, unlike Greifswald, and that is both a problem and a bonus. Greifswald is dominated by the 25 year old cohort, because people come to study and then leave afterwards as there is no work. Stralsund's population is more balanced, and our impression from sitting around in the sunshine drinking coffee is that there is a much more varied population.

Anyway, after the waterfront, we packed up and took a taxi to the station, where we left the bags for a couple of hours while we walked back into the old town to see a few more streets and to have lunch. Back at the station, we started the long trek home. In fact, after a shaky start, everything worked smoothly. The shaky start stemmed from my failure to manage the Deutsche Bahn website effectively, as a result of which we had tickets for the ICE to Berlin, but no seat reservations. I asked a woman (in German I would add) who was staffing the DB information desk about seat reservations, and she was incredibly unhelpful. In fact, I not only think she has passed the porters' exam, but she probably even devised the whole damn thing. Basically - too late to get reservations, it's Saturday, it's an ICE so the train will be full, no, can't help you find out where you might free seats, so get lost and stop making me work. Thanks, love.

Anyway, the staff member we encountered as we got on the train was a whole lot more helpful. One carriage down, she said. There's lots of unreserved seats. Everywhere else is full. Fine. We found seats, and the journey was pretty quiet and smooth to Berlin, where we changed onto an initially packed regional train to Schoenefeld. We sat waiting for our final train on the top level of the Hauptbahnhof on the old 'East-West' platforms of the old Lehrter Stadtbahnhof, looking towards where I took last Sunday's blip. Full circle! Check in and security were fine, and apart from my continued inability to find plugs in Schoenefeld airport (which really is a national disgrace), nothing disturbed our serenity. We left on time, arrived early in Edinburgh, and were in a taxi home 15 minutes after our scheduled arrival time, with our bags and a little shopping from Simply Food to see us through.

A long and exhausting day, and quite a lot of knee pain to boot. But at least there's (hopefully) an end to the latter in the not too distant future.

Overall, a very interesting trip away. I am happy we've had a chance to visit that part of Germany. It's one of the few that I hadn't previously visited. So glad we chose to return on Saturday evening, rather than trying to stretch out the trip for the whole weekend. I need Sunday to get my head together!