I first came to Germany 23 years ago. I was 15, and my grandma, who was born and raised in Mannheim, told me that if I studied German, she would take me to Germany. That seemed like a no-brainer. Part of our trip was spent in Lampertheim with her childhood friend, Martha. Martha's granddaughter, Christine, and I became fast friends. We've stayed in touch since then, and when she and her dad visited the United States shortly after my Germany trip, they stayed with me and my family in Omaha. I'm spending the first couple of my days in Germany with Christine in Hamburg, and so far we've had a blast. It's like no time has passed.
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Note: for many more photos, please check out Instagram or Facebook. Christine took me on a walking tour of Hamburg today, and we got in A LOT of miles -- 11.4, to be exact. First, we had to get sustenance for our long day ahead, so walked a few steps out of her apartment to grab goodies from the nearby bakery for breakfast. (We smelled them baking last night when we walked down to the Alster, a tributary of the Elbe that was dammed to make a lake — just blocks from her apartment.) Yum. I have absolutely fallen in love with the city. One of the most haunting and impactful sights from the city walk was St. Nikolas’ Church. It was destroyed by bombs in 1943-44 (during World War II), leaving just the skeleton of the steeple and outer walls. It now serves as a monument against war and a memorial to the victims of violence and terror. We continued on our walk toward the Port of Hamburg, a port on the Elbe River, 110 kilometers (68 miles) from the North Sea. It was founded in 1189 and is one of the largest in the world. How cool is the Elbphilharmonie? We went up on the plaza — between the brick and the windows — for some incredible views. Look at the size of these boats! We stopped by the beach for a bit and continue on our walk, which was now more of an evening stroll. We went through a couple of more “alternative” neighborhoods, including St. Pauli (the red-light district) and Sternschanze, where there are lots of left-wing activists. There were soooooooo many interesting sights! My new favorite Fußball team is St. Pauli, which is super community-focused and politically active, as you can kind of see via the signage on their stadium. The last photo is next to where they play and is a former air-raid shelter — it’s high up in the air, but the concrete walls are several meters thick, and it used to have anti-aircraft cannons on top. Now, I believe it’s being converted into an independent music venue. After a long day of walking, we stopped by a brewery for dinner and then headed home. It was the perfect day.
I'm writing this post as I sit on an ICE train from Frankfurt to Hamburg, a trip that will take around 4.5 hours. This doesn't seem like too long, but I left my house yesterday at 1:00 p.m. -- 22 hours ago. It was quite a day of delays -- that culminated in me missing my final flight. Originally, I had planned to fly to Berlin (my final destination) and then take a train to Hamburg to see my long-time friend, Christine, the granddaughter of one of my grandma's very close friends.
But, my flights were so delayed that I missed my flight to Berlin entirely, and the people at the airport were less than helpful. I thought I had a slim chance of making the flight, so I scooted off the plane, made a mad dash for immigration, went through security all over again, and sprinted to a different concourse -- only to find the plane had already left, and on one was at the gate. My final flight was with Lufthansa, so I found their service center, but they sent me back to my original concourse since Air Canada (one of their umbrella companies) booked my flight. That would have been just fine, but there an Air Canada customer service station did not exist. I went between the two concourses a couple of times, found a random flight attendant, and tried to go where she directed me -- through immigration again. That obviously was not going to work (and the man at the booth was like, what?!), so I finally, near tears, gave up and left the secure area. I found a super long line at the Air Canada ticketing booth, decided to say a big ol' heck no to that, too, and walked to the train station. I was hoping they'd take pity on a "poor little American tourist" and replace my Berlin-Hamburg ticket with a Frankfurt-Hamburg ticket, but alas, they did not, and I shelled out another $100+. It was worth it, though, to just have a plan. (Note to self: splurge on the refundable ticket, especially when there's a global pandemic and a hot mess of flight situations everywhere.) (Another note to self: work on a strongly worded email to Air Canada as well as a convincing claim to travel insurance to get some of this money refunded.) Also, it's worth mentioning that the flights I did make -- Minneapolis to Toronto and Toronto to Frankfurt -- were quite interesting. For the first, my standard-size carry-on suitcase did not fit in the overhead bin, so the flight attendant literally got down on her hands and knees to shove it under the seat in front of me. And my duffel bag "personal item" was stowed several rows back. While the overhead bins were much larger on my second flight, they were jam-packed, and I had to do laps around the plane to find a spot to put it -- it finally ended up in first class (but on the opposite side of the plane). I really did not love not having my belongings in sight. The train just passed a soccer field that was empty, save for one young man juggling the ball. Now, a woman just jogged by on the trail adjacent to the tracks, while cows grazed just behind her. It's an idyllic scene -- and quite the way to experience the country. Here's to hoping the rest of the trip goes much more smoothly! |
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