Meandering in Mecklenburg - June 7

Leaving Usedom was as tricky as entering it. While the Germans did bother to put up a bridge, it opens once an hour to let sailboats through. After enjoying the lovely countryside for an extra 20 minutes I was on my way. I decided to head north, towards the coast and found a town called Stralsund. This turned out to be another member of the Hanseatic League and once again had the same funky architecture as the others (some day I'll have WIFI again and post pictures). It also hosts several tall ships, among them the Gorch Fock I, which was the sailing school ship of the German Navy. Its younger sister is still currently in use. I moseyed aound, had a hering sandwich for lunch and headed further up the coast.
The north of Germany is very flat. Lots of meadows with cows. Also, most of the country roads a lined with trees. I'm not sure what that's all about. It looks pretty neat, but it doesn't seem like a particularly safe pactice. Somewhat un German. Maybe the Vikings started it? The next stop was a little fishing village called Barth. I stopped for coffee and cake, a German habit as ingrained as British High Tea.
On to Wismar, yet another Hanse Stadt, my target to stay for the night. I didn't want to repeat the previous night experience of finding a place to stay at 20:30, so I had reserved a room at the "Alter Schwede" (old swede) restaurant, which also has a few rooms to rent. Insider tip from the friends from Kiel. Wismar is very well restored and has the hanseatic architecture on full display. Solidarity tax money well spent.
The "solidarity tax" is money the west Germans have been paying since the reunification. The result of this extra tax has at times been dubious, but certainly in some instances it's very obvious where the money went.
After failing to score an outdoor seat in any of the town restaurants since it was a holiday weekend, I wound up at a great Kneipe (pub) across from the local, requisite, monstrous red brick church (St. Nic). Awesome find. Had a nice local fish, a couple of beers and chatted with the patrons at the bar. I called it a night and retired at my room at the old swede.