Rostock; Tuesday, 24 July, 2012

I needn’t have worried too much about sticking out a like a sore thumb, as after my little episode with the passport checks someone got on at a stop further down the line and proceeded to much on raw garlic.

Over the next 30 minutes or so it was clear that most of the carriage was getting irritated by this. It was a hot day, the train was stuffy and only a couple of windows would open, fine when the train was moving, but when it regularly stopped at stations, and at some of them for some time to let other trains pass, the smell started to become decidedly unpleasant.

I did think that it was all going to kick off into one gigantic Teutonic row (to some extent I was hoping it might do that), instead most of the people just sat their tutting in a decidedly English way.

Eventually the Garlic eater got off, unfortunately at the same station I had to get off at to change to the S-Bahn into Rostock, and to make matters worse it was clear he was heading for the same train as me.

Thankfully, I had a heavy bag, had to use the lifts and was therefore able to carefully avoid the carriage he got into.

30 minutes later the train pulled into Rostock Hauptbahnhof and I quickly changed onto the tram out to the hotel. After a quick checkin and dropping off of luggage I headed back out to the train station and caught the train out to the costal suburb, Warnemünde.

I had a long wander around the town, taking in its sight, including from the top of the main lighthouse, and then enjoying a pleasant boat trip round the harbour. As most of the restaurants were pretty busy, and as I had a day ticket, I popped back into Rostock to grab dinner and have brief wander around the town centre, before heading back to the beach to catch sunset.

After watching the sun go down I headed back into Rostock and back to the hotel for a quick drink (whilst I let the air-conditioning work its magic on the room) and then bed.