In Warnemünde town centre is a sculpture of a man and two women in a boat. It is the Pilot’s Monument for Stephan Jantzen, sailor, harbour pilot and life saver.

A nearby plaque bears information about the sculptor, Reinhard Dietrich Lotsenehrung. It also says, “1976 Beton, Eigentum Hansestadt Rostock.” (1976 concrete, Property of the Hanseatic City of Rostock.)

In another side street there was this unusual fountain:-

Which bore this plaque:-

The small park had a pillar containing books acting as a library:-

The children’s play area had this delightful ride a (working) digger:-

Third stop on our Baltic cruise last year was Warnemünde, North Germany. It lies at the mouth of the River Warnow and is effectively the port for Rostock, of which it is administratively part.

We could have taken trips to Rostock – or Berlin – but decided not to. The Berlin one involved a long bus trip would only have allowed a few hours in the city and Rostock wasn’t particularly attractive.

From the dockside on the River Warnow you have to cross an inlet to get to the main part of Warnemünde. Looking north:-

Looking south:-

Warnemünde is a nice wee place with quite a lot of modern architecture but in the town centre mostly older type buildings:-

One of its tourist attractions is this lighthouse, which is not beside the sea:-

I also spotted this windmill up a side street:-

The Verdant Works Dundee is a museum of the city’s heritage of jute production, housed in a former jute mill. It’s somewhere we had meant to visit for a while but when we’re in Dundee we’re usually busy doing something else or going on somewhere else. The cruise ship docking there gave us the opportunity to pop in for a look.

The guide was a former jute worker who operated all the machinery for us. The noise of each one was very loud. Considering that the machines are only third-size it made you realise what a cacophony the real environment with twenty or more carding, rolling, spinning etc machines on the go must have been. Many people went deaf.

Jute bales:-

Interior from upper floor:-

Verdant Works ceiling:-

Upper floor and ceiling. The wood is lovely:-

Beam engine which used to power the machines:-

Photo in the Verdant Works of the Art Deco Taybank Jute Works, Dundee, Spinning Department, opened 1949. I have photographed this building myself in 2009.

The first stop on the cruise we took last year was … Dundee! It’s only about twenty-five miles or so away from Son of the Rock Acres but it cost £200 less, each, for us to board at Newcastle rather than embark a day later at Dundee. No brainer.

The ship’s docking point in Scotland’s fourth city did give me a view of the Tay Bridge I hadn’t had before, though.

To the extreme right of the above photo is the new V&A Dundee, better seen in the photo below with RSS Discovery and Discovery Point beyond V&A:-

Wandering round the city centre I came across these stone penguins having a wee daunder:-

Nearby was this plaque commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of the Great War. “Dedicated to the glory of god and to those men and women who in all corners of the world gave their lives in service of our beloved country. We Will Remember Them, 11th November 1989.”

I know the Little Mermaid is Copenhagen’s most well known (iconic?) site but the good lady and I didn’t bother seeking it out as we’d both seen it already many moons ago before we’d even met. The adjective “little” is highly apposite, by the way.

What I did notice as we made our way back onto Langelinie Pier was a statue of a polar bear with two cubs:-

And so back to the ship – which was always referred to on the PA system as “the beautiful” Magellan. (There was another, larger, block-of-flats type cruise ship berthed immediately in front of her):-

We were able to enter the Kastellet via the King’s Gate and stroll through it amongst soldiers walking around in fatigues and who paid us and the other civilians using it as a thoroughfare no attention at all.

At the farther end, nearer to the ship’s berth, I found this memorial to Denmark’s International Efforts 1948-2011:-

The Dedication is laid into the ground and reads, “Monument for Danmarks Internationale Indsats Efter 1948. Rejst aft det Danske Folk 2011. (Monument to Denmark’s International Efforts After 1948. Erected by the Danish People 2011.)”

Edited to add (17/6/19): I meant to say I liked that word “efter”. A Danish and Scots link showing itself there.

Moving on from the memorials to individual soldiers from Denmark I found the Memorial I had spotted from the Gefion Fountain.

King’s Gate entrance to the Kastellet behind:-

The Memorials’ inscriptions are Vore Faldne (Our Fallen) followed by,

I Dansk og I Allieret Krigstjeneste 1940-1945 (In Danish and in Allied War Service 1940-1945) and then,

Rejst af det Danske Folk. (Raised by the Danish People.)

From the top of Copenhagen’s Gefion Fountain looking over the canal/moat round the Kastellet (first picture in that post) I could see off to the left in the middle distance what looked very much like a War Memorial, so made my way in that direction.

However, on the way down towards it, after passing St Albans Kirke, I came across three memorials to individual Danes.

Memorial to Thomas Dinesen. Private Dinesen, 1899-1979, became a member of the Quebec Regiment of the Canadian Black Watch, and was awarded the Victoria Cross in World War 1 on 12th August 1918. Inscribed “Opført af de Allierdes Danske Vaabenfæller.” (Constructed by the Allied Danes brothers in arms?):-

Memorial to Anders Lassen. Born on 9/9/1920, Major Lassen won the Victoria Cross, Military Cross and two bars. Inscribed, “Faldet for danmarks frihed i allieret tjeneste,” (fallen for Denmark’s freedom in Allied Service) “9 April 1945,” and also “Opsat af frihedkampens veteraner (erected by the veterans of the fight for freedom) 9/4/1987.”

Kaj Birksted Memorial. Per Ardua ad Astra, Wing Commander Flying, Lieutenant-Colonel Birksted, DSO, OBE, DFC, krigskorset m Sverd og Stjerne p p (the war cross with swords and star) Flying Ace. Erected by the Kaj Birksted Committee, 5/5/2010:-

The Kastellet (citadel) is a military bastion near Copenhagen harbour.

This view of the canal that surrounds it was taken from the Gefion Fountain (previous post.) The winged structure just to the left of upper centre was actually our ship’s funnel:-

The water and banked earth round the Kastellet reminded me of Naarden in The Netherlands.

This is a view of the moat from the exit bridge nearer the harbour:-

As is this, looking in the opposite direction:-

Right by that exit bridge bridge this bird was nesting. It refused to lift its head so that I could get a good photo:-

This impressive fountain is quite near to Copenhagen harbour.

Detail:-

Gefion Fountain from above (St Alban’s Kirke to right rear):-

Gefion Fountain and St Alban’s Kirke:-

Fountain upper detail:-

Video of fountain from below. (Click on picture to get to video):-

Video from higher up:-

Close-up video:-