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German Roots Trip 2003 - Contents

SEEKING OUR GERMAN ROOTS

Chapter III    
May 16 - 20, 2003

MECKLENBURG
Schwerin

Friday Afternoon, May 16

Today we were heading for the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which is von Pressentin country. Mecklenburg is pretty much due east of Luebeck, so we had to go back around that city, and found it very slow going, with many highways merging and heavy truck traffic. Our route took us east to one of Mecklenburg’s major cities, Schwerin. Since our plan was to return the Peugeot to the Hertz agency in Schwerin next Tuesday, we thought we would do some reconnoitering, locate the Hertz office and also our hotel, which was located right next to the main train station.

Big mistake!! First, we never did see the Hertz sign coming into the city; next, driving to the train station was exciting, since our car had to share a narrow street with a trolley and other two-way traffic. We made it into the hotel’s underground parking lot where Karen figured out the automatic parking fee machine.

Ah, but the most amazing example of German automation awaited us in the train station. With our policy of planning ahead, we went over to the Bahnhof to purchase an advance ticket for our next rail travel, which would be from Schwerin to Cologne on the 21st.

While there, we decided to use their pay toilets. I guess what we were paying 50 pfennigs for at the train station bathroom was the "marvel" that unfolded as I was about to leave the stall. I heard this odd whining, grinding sound behind me. When I looked back, the entire toilet seat was revolving above the toilet bowl, deforming itself and changing shape before my very eyes! It revolved about half-way around the top of the bowl. Meanwhile, the seat was presumably being sterilized as some kind of fluid was squirted onto it. I dissolved in hysterical laughter at this sound-and-motion show going on in the toilet stall. Of course, I had to call Karen over and make the toilet seat do its thing twice more.

Our business in Schwerin now finished, we optimistically drove out of the parking garage and faced a conundrum--how to get back onto the highway leading east and out of the city? Faced with traffic signs saying "no right turn" or "no left turn" or "dead end" we found ourselves getting farther away from the main highway and deeper and deeper into Schwerin’s "Old Town" with the usual narrow, cobblestone streets.

All of a sudden, the huge Cathedral loomed up ahead of us, and we found we had blundered into a "pedestrian only" street. Aaargh! Karen later said she was sorely tempted to take our bags out of the car, lock it up, head for the train station and tell the Hertz folks where they could find a pretty silver Peugeot!

Luckily, a narrow little exit street suddenly appeared, and after another unpleasant fifteen minutes of crowded city driving we managed to extricate ourselves from Schwerin.