snow on sea

It had snowed in Berlin on Thursday, I was flying in on Friday - so when there was an option to drive to the coast, I jumped at it... Could there really be snow on the sand all the way down to the water? I was keen to go back to one of our former summer holiday destinations; the island of Rugen, Usedom, or even Zingst? But when I was promised a surprise to somewhere new, for both of us, I was very excited.

The bonus that I realised later was that it would be a wellness retreat at a truly luxury hotel. The Grand Hotel at Heiligendamm represents a wealth of history and tradition. It was opened as the first German seaside spa in 1793 by Franz Frederich 1, the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg and has seen significant aristocratic and political activities since then; most recently the 33rd summit of G8 leaders met there in 2007 and I remember seeing aerial shots of the gorgeous white buildings along the vast beach.

So we approached the resort from the sea and I was so impressed to see the usual sand dune grass against a snowy backdrop - there really was snow covering the sand all the way to the water's edge. Given there are no real tides in the Baltic Sea, it was claer that the gentle waves took away the first layer of snow, but I was surprised to see the icicles covering the line of wooden posts heading out to sea, and around the base of the long piers.

After a walk around the neighbouring Kuehlungsborn, we checked in to a suite larger than my apartment in Oxford, with sea views all the way around to the roman style Kurhouse. There was a little exploration of all that we could enjoy before we headed down to the wellness suite. We started in the superbly modern gym, followed with a swim in a large 20m indoor pool and culminating in a stunning sauna complete with salt and honey... It was all so impressive that we had to use it all again before our luxurious sunday morning brunch.