Usedom

Some weeks ago in May, I planned with my man to go to Usedom for a week-end. It is an island north of Berlin, 3 hours with the train, at the Ostsee (sea of the east). There are things I want to come true since a long time. In my first german school book, the image of a strandkorb on white sand and blue water always made me dream. A strandkorb is this very particular german basket specially made for the beach. It is a very common here (because of the climate, you need to protects yourself from the wind) and It is very comfortable for 2. You rent it for an hour, a day or a week and it closes with a key. So here I am, checking the meteo for a week. They said It won’t be bad with a cool weather on Saturday and sunny on Sunday (of course). Friday evening, we took the train ticket, very easy to use. It’s called the “Ostsee ticket” and for 36 euros, you can travel, return, to the island, whenever you wish, on every train. We decided to walk up early, I wanted to enjoy so much the week-end. We are in the train at 6:30 and the journey lasts 3 hours. The thing is that when we left Berlin, It was sunny. The more we travel north, it becomes grey and starts to rain reaching the point. I am very sad to see that but just a little check up at the hotel, put some warm clothes and so here we are on the bicycles riding on the beach heading to the forest. There is nothing else to do anyway. But It’s a good way to discover the island. It is a never ending beach of about 40 kilometers. Of course we did not drive the whole way but enough to have a good view of the place. Very interesting indeed, fresh (and good) air, stops by the sea and discovery of the surroundings. To come back, we decided to drive through the land and what is very interesting is the fact that the land is surrounded between the sea and lakes. I let you imagine the richness of the wildlife there. You never can have enough. Back to the hotel, we had a nap. When we woke up around 8:00 p.m., I noticed that almost all people are going out of the restaurant, meaning they already had their evening dinner. When we decided to go out around 9:00 p.m., we just found nothing to eat, and even less something warm. All is closed, even for a Saturday evening. Walking, we reached the next village and found again nothing, outside a cold fish sandwich, luckily with a glass of wine. We tried to go farther to the next (what we thought) the trendiest village of the coast but everything was already closed as well. So we walked back by the sea and found next to the hotel a bar, opened late (let’s say it like that, It was even not 10:00 p.m.) because there was a football match. But once It was the last minute of the game, the bar closed. So It was bedtime. It means of course that the next morning, Sunday, we can wake up very early. What we do of course, thanks to the good air of the sea. I even can see the people already making their exercises on the beach when I even don’t have my breakfast. Anyway, same weather as the day before, so we rent the bicycle again and this time drive to the south in Poland. It is incredible to see that the frontier still “exists”`in a way. I must say that It is a strange feeling to cross a border on a beach driving a bicycle reaching the forest. But the barriers still are into place just for you to make you an idea of what It was before. We decided to drive farther in Poland until the end of the island, down south. It is a small town but at least It shows more life than on the German side, which has been confirmed later on. Tip : if you wish to spend some time on the island of Usedom, go to the Polish side. It is maybe not that nice (though It’s getting better with renovation but It is much cheaper and the bars are opened. I checked the price of the cigs but I didn’t change money (Poland still has Its own currency, though in European community). So I paid in Euro but It is not that interesting. I think next time I’ll change some and see the difference. So here we are driving back to Germany and planning to head back on Berlin because the weather is a bit better but not enough to stay one more day. We give back the bikes, we pack the bags and go to the station. Half way in the train, the sun comes out. Because you are never far from the beach, we decide to stop where we are and to put our feet in the sea, then facing the sea in the Strandkorb (already talked about it before). Sun lasts so we decide to stay one more night. Again we must have dinner early so after a quick shower and put warmer clothes because of the wind, we chose one of the two pizzerias on the main place where we were the last ones. A little “after dinner” walk teaches us that there is nothing else to do so back to the room we watched planet of the apes that I didn’t see for a long time. The next morning, back to Berlin. Next time I guess, if ever I go to Usedom, I will try the polish side. I heard there are more things to do there than on the German side, at least to have a drink in the evening.