We landed in Rostock and headed for the city parking lot by the port, which accepts campers for a fee.  It was a lovely location in easy walking distance of the Old Town and after we were organized (and early enough for a prime waterfront spot), we walked into town to have a look and had a coffee and an apple strudel (shared).

Rostock is not high on the list of scenic towns in Germany, but parts were very pretty.

The next day we headed to the Marienkirche, the Church of Saint Mary.  A first hall church was built there in 1290, rebuilt as a three nave church and basilica in 1290 and completed in 1398 and 1454. 9https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary%27s_Church,_Rostock)

It is quite an amazing church, with a huge organ from 1770. The organ has has been rebuilt several times. 

We were able to hear it for three short pieces and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Many European churches have fold out, triptych paintings or carvings, often placed behind an altar. This one was the main altar of the church of Saint Nicolas. The Saint Nicolas Church was badly damaged during the war.

Things you find in the basement. Not much is known of the origin of this painting on wood, but zoom in and you can find almost every Christian moment/message/symbol, even the Shroud of Turin. Today it rests on one of the walls, a reminder that medieval churches were literally Bibles in stone for people who could not read.

The Church also has an amazing Astronomical Clock from 1472. 

It is wound daily, by hand, and still runs on the original medieval clockwork mechanism, which was restored in 1977.  At noon, the Apostles visit the Jesus, but they are so far up, you can barely see them. There there is a calendar plate with information on the day and year, with time, zodiac, solar altitude, and phase of the moon.  The calendar plate has been replaced four times.

The gentleman in the picture on the left is pointing to the date and time of our visit. You can’t wear it, like a Rolex Day/Date, but it tells you so much more. Note the reminder – June (IVNIVS) has 30 days. Did you remember the I – J and the Y – U shifts? Fans of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade will get it. And watch their step.

While at the Church, we saw a leaflet for a choral concert on the Friday evening.  A visiting choir from Schwerin was to sing a dozen settings of “Songs of Praise, Psalms and Prayers”.  We decided to extend our time by a day so that we could attend.

We headed for a currywurst as a late lunch followed by an ice cream extravaganza on the street.

Then we went off to wash the camper as it was dirty. It had proved hard to find a car wash that could handle a camper. We followed a gentleman washing his tractor trailer in preparation for a show! Fortunately he could explain how everything worked.

The following day was laundry day and grocery shopping day.  Both at the same place and great fun.  The grocery store was huge and had absolutely everything.

Rain was forecast but fortunately stopped, just before we left for the concert.  The visiting choir consisted of 24 singers and they sang a selection of settings to psalms and other sacred music from Gabrielli to Stravinsky, Mendelssohn to William Mundy (1529 to 1591).  Everything was a cappella and the pitch note was given by their director using a tuning fork against his head. He often sang the notes of all four parts. Really quite amazing and beautifully sung.

We decided that our next stop was to be Lutherstadt Wittenberg, part of the Martin Luther Trail.