Stralsund

Above is the route of Hanseatic League cities tour in Germany.  Other countries like Poland, Denmark, and Netherlands are also part of Hanseatic League, but I want to focus first on the ones in Germany.  Last time, I featured Bremen.

A more efficient way to traverse the Germany Hanseatic route is to start all the way in the East in Stralsund, then to Rostock,  pass by Schwerin for its castle, before heading back to the main Hamburg station.  All these city stops are around 1 hour train ride from each other, so it’s quite convenient.

This is the beautiful brick gothic rathaus or cityhall of Stralsund.  The rathaus of Stralsund is composed of 7 spires, which is quite similar to the modern reconstructed 7 spires pink rathaus in Rostock.  I find the rathaus in Bremen the most beautiful though.  All of them has a similar center area where locally grown organic vegetables and fruits are sold from time to time, and they all have an al fresco dining type of restaurants around.

Above is the bird’s eye view of Stralsund covered with its well-preserved brick gothic houses.  This is the view from the top of St. Nicholas church.

We visited a merchant’s living quarter museum nearby.  This is a typical grand door of a merchant’s house. It’s usually ornate, higher than our modern door, and has double opening.   Some of the goods are stored on the upper level with a hoist that brings the merchandise up or down.  Other goods are stored in basements.  Many merchants also live in the same place as their warehouse.  I suppose this is a good idea, as who can guard your most precious belongings but only yourself.

We went to another museum that showcases a typical  home during medieval time.  It was nice to see a mini-piano and an oven that looks like chinese porcelein.  But what I found interesting was they showcased a sewing machine and flat iron that are still being used in the Philippines at current time.  I actually know how to use them.

During the 90’s, we had brown outs in the Philippines practically everyday.  This was during Corazon Aquino’s presidency and we had  energy shortage and were still recovering from the long Marcos regime.  We would use coal and fill out the inside of the flat iron and light up the coal and fan it for several minutes before using it.   We used to buy coal by the sack as it’s also used for cooking, for ironing, and for taking away the smell and humidity in our cabinets.  Coal can also be used to filter the water.  But most of the time, we just boil our drinking water first.  Anyway,  this is funny as an 18 hour plane ride from Manila to Germany takes me towards 100 years into the future of the Philippines.  Maybe…

Rostock and Warnemunde on next article…