Germany - ericgorton.com

June 15-26, 2023

Linda, David, Kylie and I visited Brian and Ina in Germany and spent time in Binz, a popular summer beach destination on Rügen Island, and then in Berlin. For Linda and me, it was our first trip to Germany since December 2016. It was David’s first trip since our initial visit in July 2012 and it was Kylie’s first trip to Germany.

David and Kylie stayed from Thursday, June 15 until Saturday, June 24. Linda and I arrived the same day and returned home on Monday, June 26.

Trip video:

Some video highlights from our trip.

Trip photo album

Trip summary:

Getting to Germany:

Linda and I took a nonstop United flight from Dulles, leaving about 6:20 p.m. on June 14 and arriving at Berlin’s new Brandenberg Airport around 9 a.m. June 15. We were in the air about 8.5 hours.
Kylie and David flew Turkish Air from Dulles and left a little earlier than we did. They had a layover and airplane change in Istanbul. They arrived in Germany around 11 a.m.
After gathering at Brian’s and Ina’s apartment in Spandau, we went to the Ibis Berlin Spandau hotel.
Following check-in, we went to a Turkish restaurant within walking distance and had a nice meal. The weather was great and we ate outside, then went back to the hotel for the night.

Friday, June 16

We ate the continental breakfast at the Ibis Berlin Spandau hotel, which was good.
Brian picked us up and took us back to his apartment. We had to walk through a rain shower to get to his car in a nearby parking deck.
We traveled to Rügen in two cars. Jan drove his car and took Linda and Ina. David, Kylie and I rode with Brian. Parts of the Autobahn have no speed limit and Brian got up to 212 kph (132 mph) at one point. The drive to Binz still took a little more than three hours.
We arrived at our condo at the Prora resort, which was partially built by the Nazis in the late 1930s, and unpacked the cars. After a short grocery run, we had dinner. Linda, David, Kylie and I had pan-fried hot dogs on buns.
We took a walk to the beach, which is not far from the condo. A nice sand path leads to the beach and we got our first glimpse of the Baltic See (Die Ostsee in German). It was breezy and cool and we did not get in the water.
That night, David and I tried watching the Orioles play the Cubs through his MLB subscription. Game time was 2:20 p.m. in Chicago, 8:20 p.m. in Germany. We hooked up my laptop with HDMI to the TV. The video did not work well and it didn’t really matter. The Orioles lost 10-3.

Saturday, June 17

Map of our bike ride on our first day on Rugen.

Downtown Binz on a beautiful summer day.

Looking back at the downtown area from the pier.

Following breakfast, we rented bikes at a shop in the condo complex and rode 20 miles. Brian had not planned on doing that, we just sort of got on the bikes and ended up making the trip.
The weather was perfect for the ride, about 70 degrees with little wind. The majority of the ride was flat, but there were a few hills.
Our ride took us through the resort area of Binz, which was very nice. Lots of restaurants and tourist shops. We walked out on the pier and saw the chalk cliffs from a distance.
We got Döners for lunch at Alanya Döner.
We went to the Edeka grocery store to stock up.

Sunday, June 18

The narrow-gauge train leaves the station at Göhren.

A bee on a flower at Göhren got Brian’s attention.

David taking a break on the Göhren pier/boat dock.

Slept in until 10 a.m.
Traveled to Göhren, by car. Parked near the historic train station and watched the train head out. We did not have time to do the train tour, but we walked around Göhren and had Döners for lunch.
Went back to the apartment for a bit and then went to dinner at Peter Pan’s in the resort area of Binz, which was excellent.
After dinner, enjoyed walking on the promenade along the beach in excellent weather.
Watched the Orioles on my laptop beat the Cubs 6-3 in Wrigley.

Monday, June 19

Rügen is known for its chalk limestone cliffs.

Linda, Ina, Brian and Jan get a good look at the chalk cliffs.

The highlight of the day was a two-hour boat trip to see the chalk cliffs, one of the features for which Rügen is known. We got on the boat at Binz.
We rode our bikes to the pier in Binz to purchase tickets and catch the boat. It rained for about the last 30 minutes of the trip, but was not bad for the ride back to Prora.
The rest of the day was spent around the condo and Linda did a lengthy walk around the complex, which includes buildings that have not been restored and have been turned into a museum.

Tuesday, June 20

Jagdschloss Granitz, a castle built from 1838-1846 and used as a hunting lodge.

David enjoying the ride back to the top after our first run.

The renovated section of Prora joins the historic part that has been turned into a museum.

Brian and I rode bikes to Jagdschloss Granitz, a castle built from 1838 to 1846 for hunting. The 14.5-mile ride was great in warm, sunny weather. It featured a mile-long hill up to the castle, which Brian wanted to sprint up. First, he rode to the top with me (I stopped once, not far from the top) and then he went back down and raced back to the top in about 51/2 minutes.
Following our bike ride, Brian, David, Kylie and I went to a park where we rode “Alpine sleds” down a roller coaster-like track and had lots of fun making four runs apiece. In the trip video at the top of this page, I say we did two runs. The was the original plan and then we decided to do two more. Linda and Ina stayed at the condo.
I walked around a part of the Prora complex that has not been restored to take some photos.

Wednesday, June 21

We headed back to Berlin and got settled into an apartment Brian and Ina rented for the six of us for the remainder of our stay.
We walked to the Viet Bowl restaurant for dinner. The food was very good.
Following our meal, we walked through Volkspark Hasenheide and then headed to the apartment for the night.

More to come.