Wismar Schwedenfest 2009

[wlbox]

We will be visiting Wismar and Schwerin during our port stop in Warnemunde. We planned on going to Wismar first and then taking the train to Schwerin and see the garden festival and castle.

 

I just saw on the Wismar website Schwedenfest 2009 will be held August 22, the day we plan our visit. The website in only in German. I cannot read German and only suspect it will be a busy and fun day for a visit.

 

I would love to know some of the details of events that are occuring that day. Can anyone help interpret the highlights of the celebration.

 

thanks

[HeinBloed]

We will be visiting Wismar and Schwerin during our port stop in Warnemunde. We planned on going to Wismar first and then taking the train to Schwerin and see the garden festival and castle.

 

I just saw on the Wismar website Schwedenfest 2009 will be held August 22, the day we plan our visit. The website in only in German. I cannot read German and only suspect it will be a busy and fun day for a visit.

 

I would love to know some of the details of events that are occuring that day. Can anyone help interpret the highlights of the celebration.

 

thanks

 

Help yourself with

 

http://babelfish.yahoo.com

 

and you get a rough translation

 

According to their programme:

 

http://www.schwedenfest-wismar.de/sf/programm.html

 

The best would be stay around their market square to observe the "Swedish" soldiers...

 

That's all activities in pink.

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[penchele]

Well, since you can't take a website translation program with you, I suggest you do what we did and take a Friends of Dave Tour. We were so thankful to have him with us on our tour day, most everything everywhere was only in German and he was the best. He did everything for us and made sure we had a great day - and negotiating the trains is NOT as easy as Heinblod makes it seem, especially when the tracks get changed and all the announcements are only in German.

 

I just looked at his website and he even has a tour to Wismar that day. He's an American who speaks German and knows the area and its history really well. As much fun as he was on our tour, I can only imagine what a hoot he would be during a festival. If you want a great day...check him out! http://www.facebook.com/l/;sites.google.com/site/friendsofdavetours/

[HeinBloed]

Well, since you can't take a website translation program with you, I suggest you do what we did and take a Friends of Dave Tour. We were so thankful to have him with us on our tour day, most everything everywhere was only in German and he was the best. He did everything for us and made sure we had a great day - and negotiating the trains is NOT as easy as Heinblod makes it seem, especially when the tracks get changed and all the announcements are only in German.

 

There are daily thousands of cruisers world-wide who are doing their shore excursion tours in countries without English as their language.

 

So it's nothing specifiic which has something to do with German as language if there are changes which are not normal.

 

Some of you are able to handle the situation in foreign countries ...

 

and you seem to someone who need to be pampered and need to have a kind of nanny to be taken around.

 

If you are willing to spend 115.00 EUR (currently 162.00 USD) per person it's fine. Other cruisers do not have the budget for such amounts especially they are not travelling alone.

 

Should they just stay onboard.

 

Nothing against tour operators. I am using private tour operators as well.

 

But it's interesting to observe how every friend of Dave is trying to bring someone to business and make his business running.

 

But I do not agree anymore with the arguments:

 

A good performance is a good recommentation.

 

But to make fier is not the way I like to read here..

 

I joined here in 2006 and there were thousands of cruisers who did it all on their own before I was here. And changing the trains and operation disruptions were standard as well. The difference is that a lot cruisers pay less since I gave them access to domestic train offers.

 

If you are checking for other cities world wide: none is warning about trains in Italy, France, UK, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Spain, Norway, Sweden and you never read that someone is recommending to book a private guide just to beware of a train disruption.

 

There is something called natural instinct: if everybody moves from the platform after an announcement then normally your instict will tell you to follow the others and to ask around for more details.

 

So I will NOT stop to help all cruisers who are not willing to spend money for a ship's tour or a private tour guide. Athough you are trying to devalue my work.

 

No one on limited budget deserve to stay on board or just in Warnemünde.

 

I will get them around that they will have a great day in Germany as well although they do not spend the money for any ship's or private tours.

 

I have my full-paid job and I am not shareholder of German Railways (only as tax-payer) or Hertz. All I am recommending is this what I liked others to recommend me on other places in the world.

 

HeinBloed

[penchele]

There are daily thousands of cruisers world-wide who are doing their shore excursion tours in countries without English as their language.

 

So it's nothing specifiic which has something to do with German as language if there are changes which are not normal.

 

Some of you are able to handle the situation in foreign countries ...

 

and you seem to someone who need to be pampered and need to have a kind of nanny to be taken around.

 

If you are willing to spend 115.00 EUR (currently 162.00 USD) per person it's fine. Other cruisers do not have the budget for such amounts especially they are not travelling alone.

 

Should they just stay onboard.

 

Nothing against tour operators. I am using private tour operators as well.

 

But it's interesting to observe how every friend of Dave is trying to bring someone to business and make his business running.

 

But I do not agree anymore with the arguments:

 

A good performance is a good recommentation.

 

But to make fier is not the way I like to read here..

 

I joined here in 2006 and there were thousands of cruisers who did it all on their own before I was here. And changing the trains and operation disruptions were standard as well. The difference is that a lot cruisers pay less since I gave them access to domestic train offers.

 

If you are checking for other cities world wide: none is warning about trains in Italy, France, UK, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Spain, Norway, Sweden and you never read that someone is recommending to book a private guide just to beware of a train disruption.

 

There is something called natural instinct: if everybody moves from the platform after an announcement then normally your instict will tell you to follow the others and to ask around for more details.

 

So I will NOT stop to help all cruisers who are not willing to spend money for a ship's tour or a private tour guide. Athough you are trying to devalue my work.

 

No one on limited budget deserve to stay on board or just in Warnemünde.

 

I will get them around that they will have a great day in Germany as well although they do not spend the money for any ship's or private tours.

 

I have my full-paid job and I am not shareholder of German Railways (only as tax-payer) or Hertz. All I am recommending is this what I liked others to recommend me on other places in the world.

 

HeinBloed

 

 

Mr Heinblod,

I have been a lurker at Cruise Critic for over a year and never posted before yesterday. Comments like yours are a big reason why. How extremely rude you can be when someone posts something opposite to your point of view. To say that we need to be pampered or need a nanny is not only presumptuous, but shows you to be very prejudiced.

 

These forums do not belong to you and yours is not the only valid point of view. While I do not know what people post about the trains in other countries, I know that for months leading up to my trip I had to navigate page after page after page of your posts walking people through the German train system (with pictures) so it is obviously not as easy or simple as you stated in your insult to me. I did not want to deal with all that on vacation and it is indeed one of the reasons we booked a tour. The other was the language barrier; which is what this thread is about - or I thought it was. I wished to give my opinion, not discuss yours.

 

As for Dave's friends, well, once you travel with Dave you do become his Friend. Hence the name. The reason so many people are coming and talking about him is because he provided me and my family with one of the best tours of our entire 10 year cruise lives. I know that others feel and felt the same and you should get used to hearing his name. He is something special and a breath of fresh air. We are recommending him for exactly the same reason we come here to talk/read about cruise lines, ports, and tours guides. We want to share our super experiences.

 

As for the cost, we and others we spoke with, found it to be a bargain in light of all that we got and the high quality service from start to finish that we received. I seriously doubt anyone able to make a Baltic cruise is so poor that they would want to deny themselves of a super port day to save 50 Euros; because in the end, with all the food and drinks and extras we received, it was a great bargain.

 

I may return to lurking, or I may just become Dave's champion because it seems clear to me that you do not like anyone stepping on what you feel is your turf. Sorry, but Cruise Critic belongs to all of us.

[freenetharry]

Mr Heinblod,

I have been a lurker at Cruise Critic for over a year and never posted before yesterday. Comments like yours are a big reason why. How extremely rude you can be when someone posts something opposite to your point of view. To say that we need to be pampered or need a nanny is not only presumptuous, but shows you to be very prejudiced.

 

These forums do not belong to you and yours is not the only valid point of view. While I do not know what people post about the trains in other countries, I know that for months leading up to my trip I had to navigate page after page after page of your posts walking people through the German train system (with pictures) so it is obviously not as easy or simple as you stated in your insult to me. I did not want to deal with all that on vacation and it is indeed one of the reasons we booked a tour. The other was the language barrier; which is what this thread is about - or I thought it was. I wished to give my opinion, not discuss yours.

 

As for Dave's friends, well, once you travel with Dave you do become his Friend. Hence the name. The reason so many people are coming and talking about him is because he provided me and my family with one of the best tours of our entire 10 year cruise lives. I know that others feel and felt the same and you should get used to hearing his name. He is something special and a breath of fresh air. We are recommending him for exactly the same reason we come here to talk/read about cruise lines, ports, and tours guides. We want to share our super experiences.

 

As for the cost, we and others we spoke with, found it to be a bargain in light of all that we got and the high quality service from start to finish that we received. I seriously doubt anyone able to make a Baltic cruise is so poor that they would want to deny themselves of a super port day to save 50 Euros; because in the end, with all the food and drinks and extras we received, it was a great bargain.

 

I may return to lurking, or I may just become Dave's champion because it seems clear to me that you do not like anyone stepping on what you feel is your turf. Sorry, but Cruise Critic belongs to all of us.

 

You should post more often, because this was very good.

 

Mr. Heinbloed, although he provides good information, should learn from

people like Dave. I don't know him personally but invited him for a beer or two when he will come back from Warnemuende to his home town Braunfels, which is close to my home town, after summertime.

I was really impressed reading such excellent recommendations he received from a lot of people from the US. Heinbloed should not try to disturb his new upcoming business, he should do his 'job' and should learn to become more polite to his 'customers' .

People who are keen enough to do excursions by their own should do,

others should take Dave and enjoy a relaxing day.

If I would live in this area, I would improve my english and start a similar

business like he does, I will do only on august 15. for 6 americans and my wife for free. (Thanks for information I took from Dave and also from Heinbloed).

[wlbox]

I asked this question because we want to explore Wismar without a guide. I appreciate all the help we have received on this forum. I do not need a sales pitch for a guide. What I needed was a explanation of what the festival was about.

 

I do not want an expensive day, just a fun time to explore a new city.

 

thank you HB.

[HeinBloed]

I asked this question because we want to explore Wismar without a guide. I appreciate all the help we have received on this forum. I do not need a sales pitch for a guide. What I needed was a explanation of what the festival was about.

 

I do not want an expensive day, just a fun time to explore a new city.

 

thank you HB.

 

I am not grown up in Eastern Germany. So I know only from TV that it was because of the Swedish era in Wismar. Therefore the major attraction of the event are the events around the soldiers.

 

Here are some links which might be helpful for you:

 

http://www.sailbaltic.com/news-events/events-detail/show/201.html

 

http://www.hanse.org/en/hanseatic-cities/wismar-tourism

 

Both are in English.

 

Somehow it's crazy... A city is UNESCO world heritage city and no English website.

 

Unfortunately I am not returning home this weekend and going on cruising myself. Otherwise I could have scanned their brouchure which I took from the tourist office and scan it for you. Sorry.

 

Regards,

HeinBloed