Zoo day

Today it's Mother's Day in Poland plus a national holiday (Corpus Cristi) so with such a combo we just couldn't stay home. There are quite plenty kids around in our friends circle so we went in a bigger pack to see Ebrswalder Zoo.
Quite a lot of beasts to look at but the kids liked playgrounds the best. Nevertheless it was sure quite an educational trip. I really recommend this place as a family day out destination.

Life is awaking

We have been blessed with good weather lately and it shows around in the nature. Flowers blooming, bushes waking up after winter, just the perfect setting for a morning stroll. Have a look at this little collection of spring macro photos I took this season.

Rügen Day 4: Binz, Jagdschloss, Naturerbe

Our last day on Rügen island turned out to be the best in terms of fun places to see. We directed our steps first to Binz - yet another lovely seaside resort - where we took a little train to Jagdschloss castle. Of course, beach and ice cream first :)

Jagdschloss was pretty interesting with all the antler, guns and, most of all, its openwork circular staircase that led to a tower that gave us the view on Rügen surroundings. Boy, I'm too heavy for this amount of stairs! And what Wojtek enjoyed the most was a fancy playground at the courtyard of the castle. Well, everyone had a treat.
Afterwards we came back to Binz for more beach, more ice cream and some lunch.

Our last part of the day was dedicated to Naturerbe Zentrum which is a national heritage here on Rügen. I guess it was one of the best attractions we saw here. We took the little train again, but there was no need to do that (better would be to take our car).Anyway, this centre is built in a forest and it's an educational path (suitable for handicapped people - how cool is that?) that teaches you about various aspects of forest life. But that's not the end... With not even one step to cover you find yourself at a remarkable altitude of 40m over the ground where, above the tree tops, you can really see the whole island. Amazing for adults and for children! See yourself.

That final circular tower was a real treat. It was built around a tree (that was one awesome idea) and I could feel like I'm in Avatar world a bit - tree centric. This maybe a little joke but there sure is some truth in it. I mean, I really felt the power of nature in this place and I felt like it was respected.

Rügen, we'll be back! 

Rügen Day 3: Sassnitz, Jasmund and chalk cliffs

The next day was supposed to be the prettiest of all journey. It sure was charming but if the prettiest? Jasmund National Park is the smallest national park in Germany and is well known for its Kreidekusten - chalk cliffs that go as far as 10 km outside Sassnitz. So of course, power of nature is always interesting to me. However, in my current state I wouldn't be able to walk along the cliffs so we chose to have a ship cruise instead. But first, we headed to the port that was like 200m away from our place.

Being on a ship instead of walking down the cliffs had both advantages and disadvantages. With a baby (or two for a fact as our friends were travelling with a 10-month old) it was sure easier. Also, we could see the cliffs from a perspective of the sea which was something different. However, I felt like I was not close enough. I think I would prefer a stroll but that was out of question for me. What a pity.

The ship went as far as the Königsstuhl (King's Chair) cliff which seems to be the most known (I don't know why, it's not prettier than the others). It's possible to get on a top of it from the ground but we didn't do it as that also required some amount of walking. But we had a good view from the sea.

Our next attraction was more of a sight for the guys - we visited HMS Otus - submarine that now serves as a museum. Boy it was tight in there!

Afterwards we continued our walk up the panoramic bridge that showed us the whole port area. Sassnitz itself was nothing special (or at least we didn't see anything special where we walked), however I really liked the little stone beach that we visited at the end of the day.