Germany 12: The Valentin Submarine Pens and Helgoland Day One

   The drive from Lubeck to Cuxhaven was made extra long due to traffic surrounding Hamburg.  The Valentin Submarine Pens looked interesting enough to visit.  There was a free circular tour, beginning with a memorial and plaques indicating to approach with the mindset of respect.  Plaques lined the walk, with information about the history, as well as quotes from survivors of this forced labor camp.  The idea was to make submarines that would change the tide of the war.  They would import premade parts from hamburg and bring them in through a giant opening in the side of the building.  No submarines were ever actually completed here.

  Cuxhaven was a cute harbor town.  I tried to park my car that night, but the parking lot for the ferry was closed.  As it was a Sunday, the grocery stores were closed.  Instead, I opted to walk to a nearby gas station to eat from their convenience store.  I woke up early the next morning and reread an email that I had received from the ferry company.  It wrote about a delay for the ferry to 10:50 AM.  Upon rereading it that morning, I realized that this delay was actually for the return trip and not the departure.  I quickly gathered my bags, parked the car at the lot, and walked the fifteen minutes to the departure port.  

  I chose Helgoland for a few reasons.  The island is super small and walkable, advertised as having no cars, is fairly remote and not visited much by foreigners, and had an odd history.  Of course, like most towns that advertise as being no cars, there were a few exceptions.  Police had cars, there were a handful of taxis, and there were small vehicles to haul supplies.

  I was allowed to check in early and had picked a hotel along the side of town, a great compromise between the front area near the port and the steps to the higher ground of the island.  My room was on the first floor, and with the window open, someone could literally step into my room.  The room, otherwise, was great, except for the fact that the curtains were nearly sheer and so intense light was let into the room from very early in the morning.

  In the evening, I decided to walk the path around the island.  The cliffs were red, but not particularly tall.  There were a few spots that served as viewpoints

Domesticated sheep roamed the upper cliffs.

Dune Island in the distance

I believe these to originally be crab stalls.

  There was one perfect spot for watching the Gannets of the island.  What struck me instantly was that the place looked like a bird graveyard.  There were dead babies and adults alike.  I found it incredibly disturbing.  There was one mother freaking out that its baby was not waking up and it was ringing its neck constantly.  I didn't take photos of it because it was so upsetting to me.  The next day, i went into town to find out what the cause of all of the death was.  According to them, avian flu came to the island four weeks prior.

  I also noticed a ton of pollution around the birds.  There were, what I assumed were cut fishing nets and remnants.  One of the birds had it loosely around its neck.  In any case, I spent quite a while amongst the birds.  For most of the time, it was gloomy out, but there was a short time where the sunlight burst out of the clouds.

  After birding, I continued the walk around the island.  The small supermarkets and convenience stores were almost always out of ready made food, so I settled on an Italian restaurant with high ratings.  You told them the table that you intended to sit at, ordered and paid at the counter, and then they brought out your food.  I ate vegetarian lasagna, and ended up eating here every night.  The problem with their process was that sometimes there was a long line, and a table that was empty when you entered the line, may be full when you place your order.  This actually happened once, and I had to go back in and give myself a table reassignment.