Some Reflections about Meck/Pom

At a restaurant in a nearby village
At a restaurant in a nearby village

This photo brings back happy memories about spending time in Mecklenburg/Vorpommern with my brother and sister-in-law. This photo was taken on Monday, 12th November 2012.

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Today is Ash-Wednesday, 13th February 2013.

I am thinking back to our stay in Meck/Pom. The eight days with my brother and sister-in-law were packed full. They showed us around nearly every day. A lot of historical sites were included as you can see from some of my recent posts. Since I did not post anything at all during our stay in beautiful Meck/Pom, I had planned on catching up with it at a later time. Well, now I finally did it.

At least I sorted out all the pictures from that time. These pictures were bound to trigger a lot of memories. I am happy I was able to post a lot of the pictures as well as what they mean to me. As far as the history of Mecklenburg is concerned I must say I find a lot of it very intriguing. I became especially interested in the personal history of some of the historical figures and the social conditions over the past centuries. But of course I only scratched the surface. There is an immense amount of material at your fingertips to study.  A lot of caring people see to it that all this material is preserved for future generations. The castles and historical sites in the area attract every year many visitors. My brother and his wife knew all these places already from previous visits. Joyfully they took us to all these places. Apparently they love to go there again and again.

We saw as much as possible within the short time of our stay. During our other visit there in June 2010 we saw some  different and also very interesting places in the area. I am sure there a lot more still to explore. I’d love to be able to go there again. However the main thing for hubby and me was really to spend time with Peter Uwe and Astrid. We had hoped they would come and visit us in Australia. Sadly it looks now as though they’ve given up on this idea.

Hohenzieritz, Queen Louise Memorial Site

In 1771 Carl II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz visited his sister, Queen Charlotte. During his visit in England he became aware of beautifully landscaped gardens. He organised for Archibald Thomson, a brilliant English landscape gardener, to establish a landscaped garden at Hohenzieritz. This wonderful park-like garden still exists today. We had the pleasure to wander around in it.

We also had the good fortune to take a glance inside Hohenzieritz  castle where two rooms on the ground-floor can be seen as a memorial to Queen Louise. Since Louise died in Hohenzieritz this place is mentioned in all the history books and visitors can find out a lot about Luise’s life at this historical site.

Louise married Friedrich Wilhelm when she was 17 and he was 23. The first years of their marriage they lived in peace and loved each other very much whenever they could be together. The last peaceful year was 1805 for them. The following years they had to flee the French army under Napoleon. They lived in exile in East-Prussia till they finally could go back to Berlin at the beginning of 1810. The winters  in East-Prussia were bitter cold. Louise and her children were sick frequently. Towards the end of the war years Louise was totally run down and often depressed. She suffered a lot of fevers and breathing difficulties. Plus she had born her last two children in exile. She had had ten pregnancies in all during her marriage. However only seven children survived.

A lot of people surrounded Louise while she lay dying in her father’s study room where a bed had been brought in for her. There’s a picture of her deathbed in Schloss Hohohenzieritz. She died on the 19th July 1810. Friedrich Wilhelm sits at the bed beside her. Her two eldest sons kneel at her bedside. At the foot of the bed are Louise’s father (Carl II) as well as her brother George. At the bed’s top-end are Dr. Heim, Countess von Voss and Louise’s friend Caroline von Berg.

This is a memorial in the room where Queen Louise died. Her burial place is in Berlin.
This is a memorial in the room where Queen Louise died. Her burial place is in Berlin.

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The Louise Temple, dating back to 1815 in the Park of Hohenzieritz
The Louise Temple, dating back to 1815 in the Park of Hohenzieritz
A Memorial dating back to 1798
A Memorial dating back to 1798
Many children apparently died in infancy.
Many children apparently died in infancy.

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Mirow, Mecklenburg/Vorpommern

On Friday, 9th November 2o12, the day after our arrival in Meck/Pom, Peter Uwe and Astrid went with us to Mirow. We were to visit there the ‘Palais of the three Queens’. On the way we stopped somewhere for lunch. I had Zander ,  a very delicious kind of fish. My meal was a bit expensive, but well worth it.

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A street in Mirow

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The ‘Torhaus’ building dates back to 1588.

Barock Castle from 1760 in Mirow
Barock Castle from 1760 in Mirow

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We had fun pretending to be a knight and a lady!

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Peter took photos of all these English translations.
Peter took photos of all these English translations.

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Another view of Peter Uwe's and Anstrid's 'Dorfstrasse'.
Another view of Peter Uwe’s and Anstrid’s ‘Dorfstrasse’.
Another view of the apple tree at the back of their house.
Another view of the apple tree at the back of their house.
Some borders along their property
Some borders along their property

Röbel/Müritz

Röbel/Müritz ist eine Kleinstadt im Südwesten des Landkreises Mecklenburgische Seenplatte in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern am Westufer der Müritz.

The above I googled. It means that Röbel is a small town belonging to Mecklenburg/Vorpommern. I think ‘Seenplatte’ means that a lot of lakes are in this area. You find Röbel on the west side of Lake Müritz. Lake Müritz is the largest lake in Germany.

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Beautiful Meck Pom

Another part of the "Dorfstrasse".
Another part of the “Dorfstrasse”.

I loved our stay in Mecklenburg Vorpommern. As I said, we stayed at the place of my brother Peter Uwe and his wife Astrid. We had a really good time with them as you can see from all the pictures. A lot of their surroundings and their lifestyle reminded me a bit of our life in Australia. They took us on many outings. We saw quite a few castles in the area. Castles like the ones in Meck Pom for sure you cannot find anywhere in Australia. It shows how there is a totally different historical background.  To experience a bit of their history by visiting these castles was quite intriguing. A lot of the castles are lovingly restored and are great tourist attractions.

Wherever we went we were able to get good tasting meals at reasonable prices and with excellent service. Astrid proved to be a wonderful cook too whenever there was a chance to cook something at home. Remember we were on the go a lot. When we had been eating out during the day, Peter Uwe and Astrid served for supper usually some lovely rye bread and a choice of wurst and chesses. Astrid often prepared a salad to go with it.

We had the unit on the second floor right next to our hosts’ unit. For breakfast early in the morning we would go over to their dining room. They usually had breakfast already waiting for us. Peter Uwe always helped his wife with the preparation of breakfast. We had our own well supplied kitchen in our unit. However we never had to use it for cooking. But it was good that we were able to make us coffee or tea.

In the evening we usually stayed with Peter Uwe and Astrid in their unit, just talking about a lot of things, looking at photos or watching a movie. We didn’t spend all that much time in our own unit. But when I felt a bit tired after a long outing during the day I could lie down and rest for a while in this very quiet beautiful bedroom of ours. By the way, the bedroom had a huge wardrobe and ample drawers to put things away. There were more bedrooms above our unit. But of course, we did not need to use them at all. The place was large enough for four to six people, so my brother told us. When Corinna, Peter Uwe’s daughter,  visits with her whole family, there’s always enough room. In summer extra guests can be accommodated in a little hut further away from the main-house.

Where the little hut is there’s also a laundry. Under its roof there’s space to dry the washing in the open. On average plenty of sunshine reaches this hut. This is why solar panels were placed on the hut’s roof rather then on the roof of the main-house which doesn’t seem to get quite as much sun. Peter Uwe explained to us that these solar panels save on electricity costs for all three building. Yes, there is a third building, which used to be a barn and which is a huge comfortable dwelling for one family now.

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This is "die Dorfstrasse", village road.
This is “die Dorfstrasse”, village road.
They go for an excursion through the village.
They go for an excursion through the village.
My brother loves this dog who belongs to one of his tenants.
My brother loves this dog who belongs to one of his tenants.
A short walk towards one of the lakes.
A short walk towards one of the lakes.
We cannot walk through here
We cannot walk through here
We take a shortcut
We take a shortcut
We arrive at the lake.
We arrive at the lake.
Peter discovered these flowers near the fence.
Peter discovered these flowers near the fence.
One of Astrid's sumptuous meals: Filled mushrooms and a platter of vegies.
One of Astrid’s sumptuous meals: Filled mushrooms and a platter of vegies.
One of the castles
One of the castles

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The solar panels
The solar panels

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At a restaurant in a nearby village
At a restaurant in a nearby village
We had this for desert
We had this for desert

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Mecklenburg/Vorpommern

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DSCN5400I still didn’t publish anything yet about the Bode Museum in Berlin. But before I do this I want to finally start publishing something about Mecklenburg/Vorpommern where my brother Peter Uwe lives with his wife Astrid. We spent some lovely eight days with them just before it was time to travel back to Australia.

Peter Uwe picked us up from the Hansa Viertel in Berlin with all our luggage. This was on Thursday, 8th November 2012. They live in a small village in Meck/Pom. In my post about Berlin-Borgsdorf I published a sign near a street in Borgsdorf which indicated that this street was a bike-track leading right through to Kopenhagen, Denmark. Well, this bike-track leads actually also through the little village where Peter Uwe and Astrid reside.

If people want to take a week’s rest in beautiful Meck/Pom they can book in at my brother’s place. Peter Uwe used to have a number of units available for holiday makers. But most of them he has rented out now to permanent residents. The unit, where Peter and I stayed, is usually reserved for holiday makers.  A board indicates when it is vacant.  One day we noticed the ‘vacant’ sign was still up. We pointed this out to Peter Uwe. It took him just a sec to turn the sign over indicating ‘occupied’. Peter said, that they had made sure anyway that the unit would be reserved for our stay with him and Astrid.

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