Rügen - Germany's largest island!!

Rügen (Ruegen in English) is Germany's largest island. It is located in the Baltic Sea, measuring an area of 926 sq.m (double the size of our Pondicherry) with a population of 73,000 (one-tenth of Pondi's 808,000). Rügen is located in one of the most popular holiday and recreation areas within Germany and has more tourists per resident than any other location in Germany. It was a dilemma whether to spend the entire weekend or a day at Rügen, but due to team's majority decision ( mine & Arasu were on the minority side), we went for a day (First mistake of the trip, there are so much to enjoy at Rugen, one day is the least)!
Left our home (awesome Hamburg) at 636AM on 25-July-2009 to reach Sassnitz. Sassnitz is a town on the Jasmund peninsula, home of the famous largest chalk cliffs of Germany, the so called Königsstuhl ("king's chair" in English). These cliffs are up to 161 m high above the Baltic Sea. The undisturbed beech forests behind the cliffs are part of the national park, consisting of only 30 sq km, the smallest national park of Germany. Again we did a good planning (me and Pradeep) and it was worthy. The travel time to Sassnitz was 4h30mins and we were there at 1100AM. Caught a bus to Königsstuhl and got down exactly middle of the forest, I trusted on the DB plan (DB is the German's national carrier and its site gives plan and timing for anyplace in German), we saw the driver and all the co-passengers giving a bad look, but we got down, it was drizzling too (Second mistake of the trip - believing DB timetable)!! No one was there in the vicinity and there was an old forest checkpoint, where there was a lady guard, sorry she was a lady Hitler to say, I had never seen a rude lady in German like that, she must have wondered what these 5 Indians doing in the middle of the forest!! She guided (not even one word in English) to walk 2kms from there to reach Königsstuhl! Rain started heavily and there is no cover to run, I thought a wrong day to come Ruegen; nowhere a Bus came and the lady Hitler said : get into this bus and reach Königsstuhl; the bus travel was 10mins, rain was pouring down!! Spoke with a co-passenger (English speaker), and they suggested to walk a distance to reach Victoria view point and then walk down 450 steps to reach the bottom of the cliff, the Baltic sea shore. We were singing "rain rain go away...come again another day..." and walked up towards the Victoria view point.

It was a beautiful view of Baltic sea, we can see the complete horizon, rain at few places and drizzle at few places over the sea, wondered how it would have been if it was a bright sunny day!!! Took the wooden steps and touched the Baltic sea shore, a beach which is 90% transparent, without a wave and of complete marbles, no sand, strange isn’t it!! The beauty of White Cliffs from there was magnificent, enjoyed the view with umbrella in the hand and it was a different experience. Came back to Königsstuhl bus stop and took Route # 20 to Sellin, it was a 1h30mins drive crossing Prora and Binz. All were dossing, I didn’t, I was thinking why the weather is playing spoilsport, there was no enthuse among the guys, all dropping and shrugging, and wondered whether this trip will become a flop (Third mistake of the trip - worry towards a flop)!!
A common rule through out Germany: don’t take granted that the weather is bad or good, it may flip-flop at anytime, we too faced the same! Got down at Sellin, sun started peeking out of the clouds, there was a sudden hope in air... walked across the Wilhelmstrasse (Brigade road of Ruegen), magnificent buildings, posh bungalows, unique restaurants, souvenir shops (Arasu clicked this snap when I was checking how the cow boy cap fits me, thanks to him, it was perfect). The Wilhelmstrasse leads to a 40 meter high cliff where there is a steep staircase or an elevator to the promenade or pier to the South Beach. The sea and the bridge, a magnificent view, with the Sun started smiling together with us, the trip came alive!
The pier (sea bridge) is of 394 meters, longest pier on the island of Ruegen. The beach was beautiful, perfectly arranged matrix of Strandkörbe (roofed wicker beach chairs which are a very common German tool on beaches), a funfair with kids drives, shops selling sausages, hotdogs, a perfect location for German summer vacation. We walked to the end of the pier and enjoyed the walk; it was amazing to stand 0.3Kms from the shore of the sea on a wooden bridge! Our plan was to catch the return train from Bergen, the capital of Rügen at 725PM, for that we should leave Sellin at 550PM, again a bus drive of 1hr. There was an advertisement for 10mins RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) Safari, a drive propelled by Yamaha engines (2 x 250 hp) with a Maximum speed of 100 kmph on the cold Baltic Sea! No one was that daring to take it, except Arasu. He was damn crazy to enjoy it and by that one group left the pier towards the sea (below snap is taken at that time). On seeing the stunts the pilot did over the sea, our little hopes of taking the ride faded, really... but Arasu was so adamant, he decided to take it alone, the whole team had a dilemma and finally with dual thoughts, we accepted. We went and spoke with Kathy (the lady who was organising the trip), she was a native English speaker and I was happy that she spoke real good UK English; she said we have to wait 30mins. I casually started discussion and came to know that the team lives in Sassnitz and leaves for the day to Sassnitz at 6-630, sudden change in plan, asked her why cant we join with you back home and catch the train from Sassnitz at 705PM. She was reluctant and said will discuss with Alex and get back. Alex is the pilot and when he got back a team to shore after an awesome show, told OK and we were ready for a drive not for 10mins, it was for 20mins from Sellin to Sassnitz, the same distance was traveled by bus for 1h30mins. We decided to meet at 615PM and started playing in beach. The water was shallow, transparent, and clean, a superb weather added glamour to the evening and we enjoyed in the sand cliff at the beach! Reached back Kathy and the team, they were also ready for closing the day, Kathy distributed a pair of wind-jacket and life-jacket to all of us and we were thrilled to start the drive. Introduced with Celicia from Canada and she was so helpful. All set and done, a crowd of 100+ Germans swayed their hands from pier saying tchüsse (bye in German), I told Arasu "it seems this is our last bye and so many have come to see that!!". We were standing behind Alex, having a good view of his navigator, controls and especially the speedometer. He pulled the throttle and we zoomed into the Baltic sea, speed was 30, slowly he increased the speed, it was 50 and I can see that the water is moving faster than 50kmph, was confused, but dint think much, enjoyed the drive: bright sun shining on you, a 10meters inflated boat raising its nose now and then a meter high over the big waves of Baltic sea, and often the water spilling on my sun glasses. The drive was more than 20mins and Alex did some stunts on the way like: lifting the boat nose, raising to the left and then at once to the right, 270 degree turns, it was an awesome experience, thrilling but real fun!! Once reached Sassnitz, I enquired his speed, he said 50 KNOTS, a sudden rush in my thoughts-how did I calculate a speed over water in KMPH, really stupid, may be the thrill made me to think idiotic! Made a rough calculation (50*1.8=90), it was 90Kmph, over water! Rushed back Sassnitz bahnhof to catch the train back home, a thrilling experience at Rügen, will never erode from our mind!
Most of us would have read "The 3 Mistakes of my Life" novel by Chetan Bhagat. He dint end the story with an appreciation for the mistakes or decisions. But our trip was different, even though we did three mistakes (see above) but it ended in a very happy thrilling note, we appreciate it...