Up she gets. All on her own. No alarm required. Cause she’s exciteeeed.

It’s a new day, and the sun is shining, and a tight time schedule is waiting. A schedule waiting to be figured out at least.

I shall not try to make another failed attempt at a coffee today. I shall just go down to the breakfast that awaits me.

I go to the breakfast door and in the midst of confusion am told to sit anywhere I want. The woman comes back again, after finishing up with another couple, and realizes that the table I chose is not clean yet and seats me somewhere else. But I wanted to sit by the windooow. Okay.

I am the only person who’s alone. I kind of expected that. But it’s a bit awkward to be sitting in a 4:11 ratio (women:men) and being a woman on her own. Especially that that table of men over there keeps looking at me. For whatever reason. Ugh. I’m too happy about everything to care though! I just give them a look and don’t look back.

Breakfast is lovely and simple. Bread, butter, cheese, jam. A hard boiled egg. Coffee. Enough to suit my morning needs. What is causing me anxiety is the planning of this day, as I figured out yesterday that the bus I was planning to take to reduce the distance does not drive on Sunday.

Once I head back up to my room and retry planning the trip on a bus-base, it fails entirely. No matter what bus I take, the distance will still be too long to cut in a day. An option would be to take a risk and hope I reach a certain area and take a bus from there. But I don’t even know 100% if that bus will actually be there. So with some sadness, but also with relief, I admit to myself that the best way to go would be to take the train. And to just have a round-trip here instead. The train leaves in the afternoon. I plan the trip very fast, very spontaneous, so I might be in for some surprises.

I head out at 10:00. Checking out, the man at the desk is sweet. He asks me if I am taking the Pilgerweg (the pilgrim’s path). It’s not what I’m taking, but it crossed roads with me so often that I want to explore it further in the future.

I first want to see a tiny bit more of the city. I think it has charm, and on komoot a certain Liebesinsel / “love island” is recommended by a lot of people. I take a look at it, make some photos and watch a couple taking photos of each other.

I admire the morning sunlight reflecting off the water, but I honestly crave to see more than what I am seeing. So I proceed on my path soon enough.

First, I am led along a very long and busy street, which eventually leads me to a hiking path parallel to a field. It’s so hot that I have to stop and change into a T-shirt. It’s the first time I walk with a T-shirt on this trip. I deeply regret not having my cap with me, but I am optimistic about the rest of the trip. After this short break I use to also eat up some snacks, I keep walking.

I pass many health resorts, and many playgrounds by the water, with kids running and screaming. I feel a little out of place, but I don’t care so much as much as I care about the heat.

My temptation to swim is still very present, but I tell myself that another opportunity on another day shall arise.

Eventually it gets calmer and emptier. I am led through forests, where I don’t see anyone for a long time. I enjoy the rustling of the trees, mixing with the music of Ruby by Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté.

A field in the distance, showing through trees, was glowing so strongly with sunlight. It was beautiful.

This is what it looked like once I reached it. I stood there for a few seconds, breathing in deeply, taking a moment to let it all sink in, feeling connected with the Universe around me.

In other spots, you often find freshly cut trees stacked up together. I was amazed at the amount of trees here, as well as the pattern they show all stacked up together like that.

Since there are barely any possibilities to make your own coffee, let alone sit comfortably on a bench, I am trying this method to relieve my coffee cravings during my walks. Why not? It seems like the perfect situation to use this in. And I sure enjoyed the first bite, as much as the second bite, as much as the aftertaste.

On the way back I passed by this part full of bushes of yellow flowers. It was heavenly. I stayed there for a few minutes, watching happy bees doing their work, lucky enough to catch a picture of one.

At the end of my energies on this hot day, walking the last kilometer, I pass by this part of the city which has an outskirt “American” feeling to it that I can’t quite explain. I felt like I’m in a street from American Beauty.

With a big sense of relief and a craving for shadow, I reach the main station, a very shabby, old place I sadly didn’t make any pictures of and end up taking this old, charming train, full, loud, hot, but cute somehow. Everyone is tired, but the kids have endless energy and don’t stop excitedly talking and jumping from one seat to the next for a minute. They’re also not wearing any masks.

I change trains at Neustrelitz, where I end up in one of the modern trains, which is empty and air conditioned. I get a chance to spread my legs and eat up a yoghurt I had bought (don’t ask me what I was thinking buying it).

Finally, we’re at Waren, where I fortunately only have to walk a few meters to reach my hotel. Check-in is fast and simple, and I’m led to my big, spacey room with character.

It’s the nicest one I had so far. I like the light green walls and the wooden furniture. I also love the fact that it has three windows, which let in so much light.

I’m starving after this long day though – I find a pizza place over google maps and go for a takeaway pizza to eat up by a spot by the water that I also discovered over google maps… and figured it would be very nice.

I was right. Look at this beauty.

And a pizza all to myself. I couldn’t eat it up in one go though. So I carried the rest with me all the way home. Where I landed in bed like a chunk of wood. I’ll be staying at this city for 2 nights, which means… I can sleep in tomorrow… :-)

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Trip stats:
16,4 km – 3 hrs 21 minutes (in motion) – 4,9 km (average speed)

If you’re interested to see the path I walked on komoot, follow this link:
https://www.komoot.de/tour/262292274