Usedom, now there is a strange name for an Island on the Baltic, or Ostsee as it is called in these parts. Trassenheide was our first objective where Hector had located affordable accommodation in the very comfortable Pension Bernstein (Bahnhof Strasse). The bags were dumped and we were on the train to Zinnowitz where we changed for the main reason for being here – Peenemünde – the infamous locus where the V1, aka the Doodlebug, and the V2 Rocket were successfully tested back in 1942.
Our train ticket up from Berlin was on a Quer-Durchs-Land-Ticket. This was a new one on Hector, a Rail Ticket which crosses boundaries, the freedom of Germany for one day! As it was offered to each Bert/Doris inspecting our ticket, so they added their stamp without comment. The ticket did not say anything about our destination, nobody ever asked.
On the flight to Berlin two days earlier, Marg and I had watched the first half of Operation Crossbow, the Carlo Ponti movie with his Dear Lady, Sophia Loren, in the starring role. That she and Tom Courtney are dispensed with mid-movie, and the cast all spoke Deutsch when appropriate, were both seen as firsts. The Sophia Loren role apart, the story is told with an acceptable degree of accuracy.
The RAF paid a courtesy visit in 1943, yet the Power Station, the largest building on the complex survived. There was a solitary V1, V2 and Launch Ramp for a V1 on site. The Museum was poor, a low-tech affair given that what took place here was once at the forefront of technology. There was little encouragement to try and visit the V2 launchpads, or the site of the Concentration Camp, maybe there was nothing to see in the overgrown east side of the peninsula.
The sky cleared as we ended the tour of the site enabling better photos than on our arrival. And so it was back on the train to Zinnowitz. Here we would spend the evening. Zinnowitz is stunning, every house, every garden was sheer perfection. One could smell the affluence. We arrived at The Strand from a route that only a Hector could find and took the traditional walk to the end of the Pier. Bier was calling. At the start of the Pier lies the Düne Cafe, separated from the rest of the World by a low fence. Rostocker Dunkel (Rostocker, Rostock) was the only means of delaying the inevitable Pils. I should have had the Pils.
Next stop was a Indian-Italian Restaurant which was very popular given the number of folk sitting on the terraces outside. We had passed the Indian Villa on our way to the Pier and had resolved to return. The Curry, such as it was, is described as ever in Curry-Heute, however, if Bier-Traveller is to live up to its plan, there had to be a Bier. The Lübzer Pils (Brauerei Lübz, Mecklenburg) enhanced the Curry no end in as much that there was no competition. Cold, yellow and fizzy, one may speculate as to whether a pint of Tennents Lager may have gone down better, but as one has not consumed the latter in half a lifetime, one is not qualified to compare. It is fare to say that the Lübzer Pils was Bland. Marg had a Weinschorle, which was not what she ordered.
Returning to Trassenheide sooner than I had hoped due to an unforeseen gap in the train service, we found ourselves in what could easily have been the only place in town to get a Bier. Two different Pils were on offer on draught, I asked Bert which was better, he shrugged his shoulders.
Hasseröder Pils is one that I have seen advertised so the brand was familiar. Once more this was a completely innocuous Bier, one wonders why they bothered making it.
And so there was an early night – Hector continued reading his Holiday Tome – ‘Target London’ by Christy Campbell, an up to date account of all that took place at Peenemünde and thereafter at Halle. At least the place names now have much more meaning. Usedom, where on Earth is that?
Bier outlets visited today:
Düne – Strand Strasse, Zinnowitz, Usedom
Indian Villa – Neue Strandstrasse 33, 17454, Zinnowitz, Usedom
Gastätte Nordwind – Strandstrasse 2, Trassenheide, 17449, Usedom