On the second day of my trip, I woke up early for my hostel's continental (either appropriate or redundant, considering where I am) breakfast. Once I left the hostel and was on my way, I was glad I had. The morning had brought a beautiful stillness to the island.
Even the morning sun was gentle, but present.
And place that would normally be fairly crowded, even in the off season, were almost empty.
There were still people on the beach, enjoying the morning hush.
Out on the boardwalk, it seemed as though you could see a long way.
Sometimes, the clouds made things even more beautiful. And they seemed to made the island feel very silent.
After visiting the tourist office, I decided that I would hike to Sellin through the woods, and go on a crane tour in the afternoon. The woods were incredibly colorful, and unlike the minihike I took on my first day, the trail took me through the thick of them.
I also visited the Schwarzer See. A sign next to it explained that it is a very unusual body of water. If I understood correctly, it's because it's between a mid-marsh and high marsh ecosystem, and has unusual plants. However usual or unusual it was, it had some gorgeous fall color.
And at first, I had the lake to myself.
I wanted to keep going to Sellin, but I was pretty tempted by these seats by the shore of the lake.
Finally, the trail came closer to the coast. The foreset goes almost down to the water, so I was still hiking between trees and over piles of crunchy leaves. Something funny happened a little while before I got to this lookout. An older couple was hiking in front of me. They were quite a bit older-I would guess they couldn't be younger than seventy. Of course, I was quickly catching up to them. But before they noticed I was there, I saw the woman grab her man's butt and start to kiss him! It was pretty cute.
One of the downsides of a nearly private island is there aren't many people to take pictures of you.
Here, the trail wound down through the woods all the way to the water.
And soon after, I arrived in Sellin! They have a very impressive boardwalk. And at the end of it...
There's a chamber that submerges you in the Baltic Sea! I was actually disappointed in it. Most of the time underwater was spent with the windows closed watching a film, which is not what I paid for.
The traditional architechture of Rügen can still be seen all over the island, and new houses are still being built with these roofs! They remind me of the traditional thatched roofs of Japan.
After a little time walking around Sellin, it was time to go on my crane tour. Every year, tens of thousands of cranes stop their migration on Rügen for about eight weeks. They're drawn by the shallow marshy areas, perfect for sleeping, and by the corn they can glean after harvast. This is Breege harbour. From here, my boat set out for one of the main sleeping places.
Here it is. We had to stay at quite a distance, because cranes are incredibly shy. One major sleeping place was abandoned just because a kiteboarder got a little too close to it. But as long as the ship stayed at a distance, the cranes weren't afraid. My little camera was too weak to get pictures of the cranes themselves, but thanks to a rented pair of binoculars, I had a wonderful veiw. They came flying over the marsh towards us, sometimes in small groups, sometimes in hundreds. Their calls were amazingly loud through the cold night, as if they were all around us. They kept coming until nightfall, and if you adjusted your binoculars, you could see some of them standing at the water's edge. Then they huddled in for the night, with wet feet, but safe from the predators of the field. If you're ever in northern Germany during the few autumn weeks the cranes migrate, I think it's worth any trouble to go see them.
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