Wunderschon Hamburg!
Ahhhh! Hamburg! Hands down the best trip I've undertaken since my arrival on this continent.The Layout: I landed special rate train tickets on the ICE (yes, that's the really fast one) and a week later had my first experience in a train compartment with strangers for 5 1/2 Hours. There were a total of 6 of us, and it was fascinating to observe the compartment dynamic. Who talked with whom, how they picked and shuffled seats, and what they thought of everyone else on the ICE train.
I was picked up by Lena and Peter, 2 Business students in Hamburg who turned out to be my guides for the Night Life. Lena is the granddaughter of the retired couple I was lucky to land a room with for the week. Peter is her well chosen boyfriend. Together they restored my faith in the possibility of healthy dating relationships between Uni students.
After an exciting Hamburg-by-Night tour from Lena's VW, I met my hosts, the Ewerts (some of you know them). Close friends of both my American grandparents and my unbelievable 94 year old Great grandmother (a German born, too), the husband is a retired Bank Director. Both grew up during WW2 and its aftermath. Every now and then I was entertained by a story about their experiences (i.e. Jurgen described to me what it was like to walk thru the rubble near the main city square as a 12 year old and gawk at the British tanks holding position outside the capitol). Hamburg is the 2nd largest city in Germany, stacking up at 7 Million. Its also the largest port in Germany, and one of the top 5 in all Europe. As such it was leveled during the war - to the extent that all non-essential residents were sent to the South for protection against the fire-bombs. Consequently a tour thru Hamburg today will reveal that the majority of the architecture is contemporary, lending it a more American West Coast feel than I've seen anywhere else in Europe. A huge contrast to my last city, Passau.
Today the city is a bustling Port with more Consulates than Berlin. The people are cosmopolitan, diverse, and open. Fish is the order of the day.
Perhaps the best part is that they don't speak Bayrisch (the South-German dialect). Perfect High-German. I noticed that my comprehension increased by a good 40%, and was later discouraged to return to an incomprehensible greeting from a Kitchenmate in Regensburg. I've apparently picked up some of the Southern dialect, as the Hamburgers (TeHe!) periodically laughed at some quaint phrase or odd word order I'd never recognized as Bavarian.
So what exactly did I do for an entire week?
- Stayed out till 5 at a Hamburg University Business School party
- Explored a couple of Weinachtsmarkten (Christmas Street Markets - very popular and essential in German culture - every city has one)
- Became an honorary family member at a couple of big get-togethers
- Wandered the Innenstadt (Downtown) and Altona (the student/international district)
- Visited Blankenese (hundreds of beautiful old houses clustered on the Banks of the Elbe where all the old Ship Captains used to return after their voyages)
- Caught some ships acting as busses in order to check out the Harbor (everything runs 24/7 there, perhaps the only place in Germany!) - its an astounding experience to float past a container ship the length and height of a stadium
- Went running along the beaches of the river Elbe
- Roamed the beautiful and immaculate Botanical Gardens, literally across the street from where I was staying
- Walked under the river Elbe. Yes, under. They built a big car and pedestrian tunnel system under the river between the 1st and 2nd World Wars. Very cool.
- If the Hard Rock Cafe went political, it would be a restaurant we patronized in the Business District
- Observed the famous Fischmarkt at 6AM (its a mile long of bartering, trading, yelling and strange products every Sunday morning along the Elbe, near the Harbor), after coming straight from:
- St. Pauli and Reeperbahn
posted by Jason @ 11:55 am
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