After a good night’s rest, we were up by 6 a.m., getting ready for a new day. Another good breakfast downstairs and then back to our room to work on this report on the computer.

Home of Fritz Mackeprang built in 1786

About 10 am, Peter Mackaprang picked us up in his car to visit with Mr. Fritz Mackaprang, born in 1906, and to see his lovely home. Peter arranged this yesterday while we visited his brother, Michael’s home. This is a farming estate that was built in 1786 by Nicolaus Heirougus Mackaprang and Fritz currently lives there with his daughter, Benigna. Even though the house is over 200 years old, making it one of the oldest in the area, it is charming to view. We were welcomed inside and saw many antique furniture pieces and old family portraits. One table we saw had the name of Hinrich Brach and the year 1644 engraved on the side. Another piece was a large chest bearing the name of Trincke Kocks with the year 1692 on it. In a sitting room was a Danish records cabinet, which was over 200 years old, that had the very old Danish insurance and tax records from this island still in it!

Fritz Mackeprang standing near table from the year 1644

The Mackaprang family photos and painted portraits on the walls are especially beautiful. We saw portraits of Fritz, his late wife, his parents, and their parents. Displayed on the walls is also a portrait of Michael Mackaprang that formally hung in the Church at Landkirchen. We saw many other delightful antiques. Their home was a most wonderful and interesting place to visit and we were very fortunate to get this opportunity.

Left to right
Peter Mackeprang, John Kostick, Benigna Mackeprang, Fritz Mackeprang

After Peter drove us back to our room, we went back to the Church in Burg so John could finish taking pictures of the house marks at the ends of all the pews. One last look at the church, and we were off looking for a restaurant. By now it was about 2 p.m. and we were hungry. We ate at the Restaurant Stortebeker in the middle of town. As usual, John had a fish dinner and I had 3-steak combination (beef, pork & turkey) dinner. We both drank Fanta, which is different from our orange soda Fanta at home. Coca-Cola Co. also makes Germany’s Fanta, but this soda has a milder taste than it’s American version. Also, note, we have found water in Germany to be much different from our water. They drink carbonated, light seltzer water (vasser) and it’s very good. But they drink it room temperature and with no ice. This late lunch- early dinner cost us 47.60 DM, which included the 16% service charge.

After eating, we reparked the car a few blocks down the street, again using the auto-mat to purchase the "parkenschien" for 4 DM giving us 2 hours of parking. We’re learning how to do this right!

Travel tip #10 - Well, we have finally done it. We’ve used a public pay phone to call the USA. This is how it’s done: Go to the Post, purchase a phone card for 12 DM (coins) from an auto-mat machine outside the post office, go to the booth in front of the Post (yellow phone booth marked SOS and designated for international calls), place the card in the slot, picture side down, and dial. Their special card activates the phone, and somehow I got an International operator, who spoke English and I placed my call! It has only taken us 3 unsuccessful tries and 5 days to learn how to use these phones. Try to learn some German or make German friends.

Now, we were going shopping. Yippee!!! First we bought John a Fehmarn T-shirt for about 34 DM. Then we went in search of lace curtains at Olderogs, where I only found clothes. Stolz is a department store that is the largest store we have seen to date. It has 3 floors (1 up and 1 underground) and carries a wide variety of merchandise. We purchased more maps for John, more film for John and two beautiful tablecloths (1for myself and 1 as a gift for our Mother). The total of our purchases came to 101.65 DM. On the way to the car, I went into a drug store and spent 6.94 DM on a few candy items. Back at the car, we then went back to our room to rest.

Judy the happy shopper

Upon entering the Clausen-Mackaprang home, we found a gift on the stairs left by Peter Mackaprang. He left us the 6 discs containing their computer program and data files for the complete Mackaprang genealogy. This represents a lifetime of work done by Ruth Mackaprang and her two sons, Michael and Peter and is an invaluable gift that will benefit everyone that uses this Website.

Harbour at Burgstaaken

We rested in our room till almost 6:30 p.m., before we decided to take a leisurely drive to see the harbor at Burgstaaken. John took a few photos and I purchased some cherries at a vegetable stand for about 14 DM. Soon, we were on our way again to find the beach. We drove around and parked at a much larger harbor at Burgtiefe. The view was beautiful at this time of day. The sun was shining brightly and we could see the top half of the St. Nikolai Church in Burg over the trees to the North. To the left of this beautiful scene, were about 7 or 8 tall, white windmills in a field directly across from the harbor. John wanted to see the beach, so we hiked around the point to the Südstrand. The beach was beautiful, although deserted at this time of night. There were hundreds of cabana-type seats on the beach in neat rows. This beach had clean, white sand and fresh ocean air.

Süderstand

On the way back to our room, we stopped at Don Giovanni Restaurante and Pizzeria for a light dinner. We shared a small salami pizza and sodas for a total expenditure of 23.50 DM. This pizza had a very thin crust and although it was good, it was different than the pizza at home.

As soon as we returned to the room, Mrs. Claussen-Mackaprang told us to phone Mr. Gossel’s house. He had a visitor, named Robin Rodriquez from Arizona, who wanted to talk to John. It seems she was talking to Mr. Gossel about researching her Fehmarn ancestors and she mentioned John Kostick’s Website to him. He told her that John was on the island and had been to his home yesterday. They called here, while we were out sightseeing. John and Robin know each other from the Website, so John proceeded to tell her that he had found some of her ancestors and would e-mail it to her when he returned home. What a small world we live in!

It’s now 10 p.m. and the sun is finally setting. John has fallen asleep from exhaustion and I’m not far behind. Tomorrow morning we take off for a day in Hamburg.

Click here to continue on to Monday

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