The Golden Towers of Schwerin

This week we have been heading along the Muritz-Elde-Wasserstrasse. Through small towns interconnected by the canalised River Elde. On Tuesday we arrived at Garwitz where we decided to clean out the weed filter that filters water going into cool the engine. This was done and we left the next morning thinking that the engine was a bit noisier than usual and that the temperature gauge was much hotter than usual. We checked for water coming out of the exhaust (as it should) and there was none there. Oh dear! We stopped before we could do more damage as running oin no cooling water is a potential huge problem if the engine overheats.
There was nowhere to tie up to so we stopped by some reeds and surveyed the situation. We had'nt gone far so we decided to return but we couldn't use the engine. Fortunately a knight in shiny armour came along in the form of a Dutch boat heading back the way we came. They gave us a tow and soon we were tied up alongside. The harbour master came on board and we checked the water pump impeller which was what we expected the problem was. But that was fine. We mentioned that we had checked the weed filter the night before and we quickly realised that there was an air lock in the system. A bit of water to prime the system and off we went again, shaken but not too stirred.

3 hours later the majestic turrets of the Schloss at Schwerin emerged from the sides of the huge Schweriner See, the third biggest lake in Germany. We tied up and attempted to get electricity using our extension cable which we hadn't done before. Nothing would make it work. Eventually the problem was tracked down (Actually three different problems that all needed to be rectified) and we could relax after a more than average harrowing day.
The next day was Wendy's birthday. So after a late breakfast we headed to the schloss and bought our tickets for the audio tour of the royal apartments. The Grand Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin have lived here since 1140. They fell into disrepair during the time of the GDR and are now only slowly being restored to their great glory. This is true of much of the old 'East Germany' or GDR as it was called (German Democratic Republic). Many buildings that were badly bombed in WWII were in West Germany restored to their former appearance, but in the GDR, they were normally just cleared away and concrete monstrosities built to replace them in keeping with the GDR philosophy of not romanticizing the past and keeping things cheap and functional.

After visiting the Schloss we has lunch in the old town and visited the 12c Dom (Cathedral) and the old remaining buildings in the Old Town. In the evening we celebrated Wendy's birthday with a lovely dinner in town at two restaurants and watching the sun set from the boat when we got back.

The weather this week has been poor. Cloudy in the morning and showers (frequently very heavy) in the afternoon. It has improved a bit now but still a lot of cloud. It always seems to pour down when we wanted to tie up and had to go outside.

After spending three days at Schwerin on Saturday we left to head back to Berlin and more adventures. This will take some three weeks and twe will visit many of the towns that we missed on the way up.