Hamburg

Yes, the USA hamburger did originate in Hamburg, but was not originally eaten in a 'bun'. Just one of many interesting facts I uncovered when reading about the history of Hamburg as preparation for my visit with Daniel yesterday.

Its official title is the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. This reflects its long history as a mainly independent city state. The first recorded history of the place is in an order from the Emperor Charlemagne in AD808 that a fortress be built to defend against Slavic incursion. It was called Hammaburg: Burg means a castle or fort.

In AD834 it became the seat of a Bishopric which later merged with one in Bremen. In AD1189, Hamburg was granted the status of an imperial Free City by the then Holy Roman Emperor. After that, it began to expand as a major port. It is on the southern part of the Jutland Peninsula and so has the North Sea to the West and the Baltic Sea to the North-East.

During the Middle Ages, it became the centre of a banking system linked to trade and shipping. Before the creation of Germany in 1871, it was a fully independent republic state. In the second half of the 19th century Hamburg expanded due to Atlantic trade and shipping millions of German speakers from other areas to the USA. This made it Europe's second largest port after Rotterdam.

Although incorporated into the new German state, the Weimar Republic and what followed, Hamburg has managed to maintain a level of independence and played an important part in the founding of workers movements including trade unions and the SPD.  Currently the state government is led by a SPD/Green Party coalition led by Olaf Scholz. He was a minister in the national SPD/Green coalition after the year 2000.

It is situated on the River Elbe, 68 miles/110klm from the North Sea coast but is considered to be a sea port because of its ability to handle large ocean-going vessels. In Europe it still is 2nd to Rotterdam but 9th worldwide in the volume of goods handled. It is also the most important banking city of Northern Europe.

The Rathaus/Town Hall can be seen as a statement about city pride. It is a richly decorated Neo-Renaissance building completed in 1897. The tower is 112 metres (367feet) high and the facade is 111metres (364feet) long. Go and stare at it when you visit Hamburg. It is worth a visit!

Dan-Ham

I went to Hamburg with Daniel yesterday. Can I hear anyone asking why? His father could not go so he asked me to deputize. I readily agreed. We met at Berlin Hauptbahnhof at 6.45am, went to the underground tracks and jumped into our train which left at 6.59am. The journey took three hours.

It was Daniel's first train journey in Germany and he was looking forward to the experience. We went to Hamburg to attend a  meeting of students who had received scholarships from the joint Joachim Herz and Robert Bosch Foundations. It is the 5th year of the project.

The scholarships are given to students from non-German backgrounds and/or on low incomes. Daniel had succeeded in his application to go to college starting at the beginning of September. The scholarship includes financial support for living expenses and pay college fees. It also covers payment for a laptop computer! He is looking forward to buying one.

We found our way to the 'Fischermarkt' on the waterfront, where the ceremony was to take place, and registered. Daniel joined other students to prepare for the event and I joined parents for a guided boat tour of Hamburg harbour. That was really interesting.

In the afternoon the ceremony started by welcome speeches from representatives of both Foundations before the main event. This was when each of the 110 students were called onto the stage to receive their scholarship award. Their names were displayed on a large screen and here you can see Daniel getting his documents.

After, we all relaxed over a buffet. We got talking to a student from Pakistan who lives in the next district to me! What a small world.  After more talking and eating, students and parents began the long journey to their respective homes. They had come from many areas of north Germany. Daniel and I went by bus and stopped off at the Rathaus/Town Hall to take a few shots.

At the main station we found confused passengers for a computer system controlling part of the area had broken down. Some trains were cancelled so we were very relieved when our train was announced. We left 5 minutes late and arrived in Berlin at 10.20pm. A very enjoyable and memorable day which I am happy to have shared with Daniel!

A Dram

Just opened an E-mail from Falk and Elvira. Nice photo of a glass. Guess which drink it was designed for and which country?  Okay, you give up so I will tell you. For whisky and Scotland.

Having a 'wee dram' is a long tradition in Scotland and I note the modern design of the glass. You can hold this one in the palm of your hand while talking to friends. As you do so, the heat from your hand warms the whisky and releases more flavours to add to its taste. Mmmmh.....

Off to Hamburg tomorrow with Daniel. I am standing in for his father and have to wear a tie and jacket/suit for the event! Daniel is attending a meeting of students getting financial help to study. The foundation is paying for all to meet up tomorrow.

It will be the first time Daniel has travelled on a German train. I'm taking my camera so hope to get some photos of an interesting city to share with you via my blog.

Shower

I had a new shower cubicle 'thingy' fitted two hours ago. The Silsdeners are asking "Why?" I have had a shower curtain hanging over/into the bath since I moved into this flat. It was supported by a number of metal rods which fed back to a central plastic piece which was screwed into the wall.

Is it all clear so far? The old system is okay but the weak point is the central plastic piece for the screws tend to stop supporting it and fall out. When this happens the metal rods fall into the bath along with the nice curtain you took some trouble to buy from Aldi or Lidl when they had a special offer!

I decided it was time to improve my system. It talked to a Hausmeister (Caretaker) and he found information on his mobile phone. I later went to a local company selling different kinds of showers and ordered one. Twelve days later I got a call to say it was ready to be delivered. It arrived on plan last Tuesday.

I called the Hausmeister and it was agreed he would come with an assistant this afternoon to install the thing. The two arrived at just after 2.00pm and introduced me to a new and younger Hausmeister. They asked if he could work with them as part of his training. I readily agreed and settled down to watch the installation.

All went smoothly and I noted how the Hausmeisters made jokes in perfect 'Berlinisch'! So, I learnt to listen and understand more about this local variation of German. The photos show my new facility but not with all three doors open. Some kind of 'glue' was used so I can only expand it tomorrow when I take my morning shower. Looking forward to that. 

Little Crane

Goodbye to Little Crane. He was the little brother of Big Crane at the building site opposite my flat. Big Crane was dismantled about a month ago and I posted a story.

Yesterday morning I was woken from my slumbers by the sound of machines revving up and lots of banging. I opened the curtains to see a mobile crane being set onto the ground and a number of long flat lorries lined up to take away Little Crane.

I made some green tea, rubbed my eyes, wondered why they couldn't start work at 10.00am rather than 7.00am and settled down to watch. Two men climbed up Little Crane and started the long task of dismantling it.

Mobile crane hung over the two specialists until they got the word to move away from the long part of the crane. They did this and the mobile crane took away the long part. Then the specialists started to dismantle the upper body of the crane.

Again, the mobile crane took this away leaving the 'stump' of Little Crane sticking out into the air. This was then separated and lowered to the ground. On the ground, lots of other men were busy dismantling the sections and then loading the smaller sections onto waiting lorries.

It took hours to dismantle Little Crane and I had breakfast and prepared lessons as this took place. Now we have no cranes on the building site. Other workers are on the site to build water and sewage systems, electricity/gas, and finish off construction of the flats.

I liked the comment by a reader about the toilets outside my window and can now happily tell all that they have been taken away! I now live in a Toi-Toi free zone :-)) 

A Concert

I went to a concert today. It was at the Konzerthaus Berlin which is in Gendarmenmarkt. This area is also home to the German and French cathedrals, which are all on the Tourist Map of Berlin. The concert was organised by five regional co-operatives.

One of these is EVM. This is my housing association and building the flats opposite my flat. The co-operatives decided to host a concert for members and my EVM contacted me to say I could have a free ticket to the concert and to a buffet after. This was to say sorry for having to put up with building outside our homes.

I accepted this offer immediately for I have been living with noise, dust and inconvenience for a year, as have many others! I jumped out of bed this morning and got ready for the concert. I walked to Holger and Gabi's hotel to have a cup of tea with them and say goodbye.

I then went on the public transport system and arrived at the concert hall in time to settle into my seat in the first row in the middle. Nice placing! The theme was "Broadway meets Barock". A really interesting mix and concept.  The performances were excellent and all led by the moderator Jan Michael Horstmann. A very talented musician and moderator with lots of humour.

I enjoyed the buffet after and got into conversation with a couple. They were both from Turkish parents who came to Germany in the 1960s. They went to school here, got jobs, worked and founded a family and are now pensioners.

We talked about the new refugees and how they could help. I gave them some tips, names and telephone numbers for which they were grateful. I returned home reflecting on a very full and interesting few days. More to follow as this week unfolds.

Early Christmas

Christmas came early this year. It happened yesterday. Saturday. It had nothing to do with commerce. I told you in an earlier post that my local supermarket starting selling Christmas goods in the first week of September. Unbelievable!!

Holger and Gabi drove to Berlin from Bremen on Saturday and booked into the same local hotel where Alan and Lynne stayed. They also liked the large room and facilities for the price. They called me on arrival and insisted they find the way to my flat.

They did this via a Google App which took them the long way around! At least they found me. On the telephone we had agreed to enjoy a G & T to celebrate our meeting after many, many years. We each sipped a cool glass and so started a day of talk, talk and talk. There was a lot to catch up on.

I first got to know them in Brighton almost post-uni days. They helped me to move to Bremen shortly after. Our paths went different ways. In their case they started a family. They found me on the internet via this blog a few years ago and so we re-established contact.

I recently helped them to find a family in London for their son. He is 18 and wants to experience life in another country/language. Holger and Gabi had a weekend free to hit the road to Berlin. It really was wonderful to welcome them into my flat and note they still looked younger than their age(s).

They brought me many gifts hence I thought it must be Christmas. They know someone with a Winery and so brought some bottles plus a book and a CD with music fusing classical and modern/jazz. Holger likes this fusion.

We ended up at an Indian restaurant nearly opposite their hotel and then a return to my place for more talking and drinks. It was then that I took a few photos. They were sent to their son in London. Here are two I like plus a photo of their generosity. They invited me to visit them in Bremen so watch this space in 2016 to see if I make it there!

Party Time

Last Friday I went to Kerstin's Oldie Keep Fit Class. There were four of us plus Kerstin. Four women and me. It was really great. Very quiet and a relaxed atmosphere. I could have stayed there for longer, but I had another date.

On returning home I went across the street to the party to celebrate the 'topping off' of the buildings. It was very well orgnanised and there were lots of members of the housing association there. We started by assembling in the central triangular area.

Of course most people had picked up a glass of something as the entered the complex. With something to drink we settled down to the speeches from the housing association board members and guests.

One important guest was the ex-Mayor of Lichtenberg. You can always see him on the left of my blog when he gave me my German citizen document. He is now the Senator for City Development which means building, renewal, repair and how Berlin will look like in the future.

He gave a speech about the contribution out building project would make to this part of the city. Other guests continued the theme in different ways. As they were talking I looked around and spotted Marita. I knew she planned to come to the ceremony but did not know exactly when.

She has registered for one of the flats but not had confirmation that she will get one. The list of applicants was stopped at 500. There are only 78 flats being built.  I hope she gets one. It was nice to see her and catch up on news. We had time to have a meal and a few drinks before she had to leave for another appointment.

I had one too. It was to walk over the road into my flat and welcome Prof. Dr. Sir Peter. He wanted to have all my photos taken in Lisbon. That done, we had time to chat about his future plans and completion of his doctorate. Nice to see him again at the end of a very interesting day!

Party prep

Today is party preparation day. The party is tomorrow. Guests will arrive from 12:00 noon with the ceremony starting at 12:30 pm. It is called a Richtfest which translates as a topping-out or roofing ceremony. The buildings concerned are just in front of my flat and I have shared stories and photos of this construction since it began.

This morning a new gang of workers arrived to add to the banging and shouting of the construction workers. Their task was to construct the tents/pavilions and wooden flooring needed for the party. At the moment the weather here is very nice with 25°C blue sky and sun. The tents are just in case the weather changes and we get rain.

Tomorrow morning I am going to Kerstin's Oldie Keep Fit Gang, as usual, then taking about ten steps from my door to enter the party tents. I expect a number of speeches before the free-for-all rush to the buffet, drinks table and grill area. I shall be at the back of the guests so I don't have far to run to get to the food and drink :-)

With so much munching and slurping the guests will need you-know-what. Yes, the toilets arrived after the tents were put up. There are eight of them. Four for ladies and four for gents. Guess what the toilet company is called. Yes it is Toi-Toi!  They were set up right in front of my bedroom window. Why me? 

der Tagesausflug

I have just got back from a day trip/excursion to Königs Wusterhausen. I've been there before and posted stories and photos on my blog about the town and my trips. In case you Silsdeners have forgotten it is a pleasant old town south of Berlin in the Bundesland called Brandenburg.

The main attraction is Schloss Königs Wusterhausen. It started life as a small castle surrounded by a number of farms and houses. A modest beginning. The medieval castle was later transformed into a Schloss, which in this case best translates as a country manor house. It hardly passes as a palace which is sometimes the translation of Schloss.

When the later 'Soldier King' Frederick William I was ten, his father gave him the Schloss as a birthday present. Not bad! I wonder why my father didn't do the same when I was ten. I think I got some new grey short trousers for school.

King Freddie-Willy seems to have liked the place for he spent each autumn hunting there. I don't think the deer, rabbits, wild pigs were too happy about this. When he got older he founded a Tobacco Club which met in a large room at the top of the Schloss each evening. Can you imagine the smell for there is only a small window. Phew!

I went there today with my SPD Oldies organised by Gabi who is the 'Bossin'. We had a short business meeting to nominate members to stand for various positions before setting off. We had good weather for our visit. It ended with a long lazy lunch in a restaurant on a river behind the Schloss. You must go there the next time you are in Berlin.

Tree Cutting

Some people have interesting jobs. Tree Cutting must be one and with an element of danger. I posted photos months ago showing a man running up trees to cut down the branches then the trunks to clear the ground for the building site opposite where I live.

I enjoyed the same spectacle yesterday. Different man and different company, but I enjoyed his performance. He was contracted by the company which maintains our gardens. The problem was that in the last storm some branches had knocked off tiles from a roof and were growing into a wall.

Time to call in Mr. Tree Climber. He wears a special safety harness and always works with someone on the ground. He also has saws and cutters hanging from his clothes. He climbs about like a large
monkey and clearly enjoys the work.

He saw me taking photos. I used my extra long lens to get close in. He saw me and smiled - as you can see. After clearing away all the branches near the end of the house/flats, he descended, took of his harness then sat with his workmate and had a coffee break.  I wonder when retirement age is when you have such a job?

Muscles August

Muscles has just arrived in Berlin. He sent me an interesting e-mail at midnight from Keleti railway station in Budapest. It was full of what he had done in August.

He was on the move a lot. I think I must be the only ex-Sildsdener to have been to all the places he mentioned. He went to the Basilica in Esztergom - somewhere in my blog are photos of me at the same place and many others he mentions.

He then went to the castle at Budapest, Eger, which is famous for red wine, Wien/Vienna, Szigat, Miskolc to stay with his parents, Lake Balaton to stay with his grandparents, to the High Tatra mountains in Slovakia, Bukk on a bicycle tour and Debrecen.

He met his old school friends, Denes and Csaba, who are also the subject of earlier blog posts. In Debrecen they celebrated Csaba's 21st birthday. They were also together in Eger where I think this photos must have been taken. Denes is holding a bottle of local red wine.

Looking forward to meeting you Marcel and catching up on your news. Welcome back to Berlin, your university, and lots of studying!

Fifty Thousand

When I opened my blog to post about the Fotoclub and Stefan I noted my counter recorded 50,008 hits. Hit means the number if times my blog had been accessed. I think I shall continue to write my blog. Actually I enjoy trying to match photos with text.

Lets look at the figures. Although registered earlier I actually started it in 2008. That means 7 years to get to 50,000. This is slightly over 7,000 hits per year = about 590 per month = nearly 150 per week = 21 hits a day. In fact, the number of hits has increased considerable during the last three years.

Some of you have even told me you like to look at the photos and only scan the text! This always makes me smile for these comments come mainly from people who have had a university education. I wonder what their Professors would say about that :-))

I decided to post a photo of Stefan showing his appreciation of a cool G & T. A nice way to celebrate all your visits to my blog over the last seven years. Here's to the next seven year. Cheers!!!

Stefan visit

Stefan came to visit yesterday evening. I can hear the Silsdeners saying. "Who is Stefan". He belongs to Jan's Gang who went to school together, grew up together and after university still keep in touch with each other. Dr. Peter is another member of the gang.

Stefan lives in Göttingen, which is a famous old university town south-west of Berlin. He was in Berlin visiting his parents and called to see if I would be at home. He duly arrived on his bike, with a rucksack full of electronic gadgets.

One of which was a stick containing all the photos from his recent visit to South Africa. He went to visit his lady friend who has just got her doctorate and is working there. We started with a traditional G & T which was Stefan's request. He certainly looks happy with his choice.

We talked about everything possible, including his new job and flat in Halle, which he is moving to at the end of this month. We also spent some time looking at his SA photographs. He did admit that he needed to edit them. Even so it was interesting to see a country which I have not been to.

They went on a two week tour of the south of the country taking in both coasts, mountains, wild animals, jungle areas and deserts. We had a break at 10.00pm, as you can see from the photo of me making a light salad for supper. Don't tell my doctor that I ate after 7:00pm!

It was really great to see him again and have the time to just chat and develop themes. He now only speaks English with me and has a good command of the language.
 Safe journey home Stefan and good luck with the new job and flat.

Fotoclub

On Friday evening I went to an exhibition of photographs. They were from members of my Fotoclub für Seniors - männlich/for men, which meets every second Wednesday afternoon. There is also a Fotoclub für Seniors -weiblich/for women.

I don't know why there are two clubs. Some women told me it was because the women do not like how the men analyze and talk about photographs. This may be true for they can be very critical of each others work.

The German advert for our event read: Vernissage: Fr: 11.09. - 17 Uhr. Der Fotoclub präsentiert in einer Ausstellung zum Thema "Faszination Spiegelungen" einige Arbeiten. The theme was fascinating reflections. From one of the photos you can see this for yourself.

I was surprised at how many people turned up. A musician had been engaged to play soft music on a keyboard. Again you can see this in one photograph. There were snacks, water, white and red wine on offer. Nice, and the guests seemed to appreciate that for the bottles soon emptied!

I found the photographs looked better printed out in a frame rather than being blown up onto a large screen, which is how we see them in the club. A pleasant way to end the week and start the weekend.

Lisbon - 3

Our last day in Lisbon started with a late breakfast. We then packed our bags and put them in the hotel storage room for we had an evening flight. We decided to spend the day in Belem. It was a recommendation from Jan and Arancha, and a very good one.

We found a tram to take us there via a scenic route along the coast. Lisbon was founded on a wide estuary that flows into the not far away Atlantic. The centre of the city is very hilly with the main suburbs to the north.

The area of Belem is on the estuary to the west of the centre. It is famous for two monuments. The oldest is the Torre de Belem and the other is Padrao dos Descobrimentos. The latter is a monument dedicated to the discoverers who got into sailing ships and discovered a lot of the 'New World'. There is also a nice garden area near the water and an old monastary.

You can see photos of all three here. We enjoyed the sunny weather and light lunch in the garden of a restaurant on the waterfront. We slowly made our way back to the hotel, picked up the luggage and took the underground train to the airport.

The usual boring routine at the airport. I really question all those stupid and largely unnecessary security checks. From comments made by other passengers it is clear that I am not alone in this! We finally got into the plane mainly filled with Germans.

Unfortunately we were seated near a group of passengers with lots of babies. After three hours of listening to babies screaming, we landed at Berlin. I think they should have a sealed baby and family section in all planes and so let the rest of us sleep/doze in peace!

We found all our bags and jumped into a taxi. It was strange to enter my flat and see all the familiar things. I missed Lisbon and the adventures we had - and still do. Thanks to Dr. Peter and Mutti for a wonderful week in an interesting old city.

Lisbon - 2

The day after registration for the conference, there was a big 'get together' party on the campus. On my first visit I found a few men looking at the ground.

I asked what was wrong and was told that one of them had lost his keys. I looked at the ground and pointed to where they were. Here is a photo of that moment. They were very grateful:-)

The 'get-together' party was held in the garden area of the campus. A very nice setting. I wandered into the area and stopped in surprise.

In front of me was a cook grilling two pigs! Yes, two. Look at this photo. Poor Pinky and Porky - they were now being gently roasted in front of my eyes. Other cooks were preparing green salads and a few had started to grill large amounts of sausages. I wondered if I were back in Berlin.
I managed to secure one of the last tables for us while Peter brought some much needed cold beers. It had been a hot day. During my time in Lisbon the temperature was between 34 and 39°C. Sipping a cold beer as the evening cooled was a perfect combination. Here is a photo of guests at that party.

At the end of the party I noted that Pinky and Perky were no more. All that remained were a few bones. The healthier green salad had also disappeared. We returned to the hotel with full stomachs and enjoyed a G & T nightcap before turning in for the night.

We continued to visit more tourist places until it was time for Peter to present his paper to fellow academics. He gave a very good presentation and in clear good English. One of the best presenters I would say.

 On Friday, we all gathered at the campus and took a fleet of buses across the bridge and ended up at a restaurant area under a set of linked tents.

This was the Friday evening end of conference party. We sipped beer/wine in the garden as the sun slipped beyond the horizon. Here is a photo.

It created a very calm and restful feeling in the garden.Very good food, wine and service marked the end of conference party. We enjoyed all including meeting and talking to other delegates at the party.

We took a late bus over the bridge back to the campus and then public transport back to the hotel. Next day was our last and we decided to go to Belem. More about this in the next post.

Lisbon - 1

I hope to show my Silsdeners a view of Lisbon in this and other posts. If you get the chance to go there just do it. I noticed more German and Spanish speaking tourists than those with a Brit accent. Perhaps the Brits were on the coast/beaches/sipping Port wine on the Algarve!

After breakfast we always talked about where to go and what to do. We managed to cover most of the major tourist sights in addition to conference duty. Our hotel was in the centre of the city with only a 10 minute walk to the water.

We discovered a supermarket where I could buy lemons and Schweppes tonic water. Big smiles! Guess what I bought at the Duty Free shop? Well, I also bought water and red wine at the supermarket - as you can see. Notice my trusty knife/corkscrew. An essential and well traveled tool.

 We covered many of the central tourist sights in the first few days guided by Peter who has an almost uncanny knack of direction. There is a large square on the waterfront with a white marble gate and statue in front of it. We later had a meal at a restaurant there. We got to know the local tram system. The small ones which go up the hills and through the narrow streets look to have been built in the 1920s. They are a big tourist attraction.

We found the campus where the conference was to take place and discovered it was next to a very large white marble building. It is called the Portuguese Parliament building. Yes, this is where the MPs sit and discuss national matters. Not a bad neighbour to have.

We went to the old castle on the hill dominating the city. It is called Castelo de S. Jorge. It was founded in the 11th century by the Moors. In the 12th century it became the seat of Portugal's first Christian kings and government. Now it is a tourist ruin but one which offers great views over the city.

Later we went to the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum Park. It is a very large green area with many different sized/shaped buildings to house all the 6,000 works of art he collected and left to be displayed to the public. It is an absolute must to visit.

If you want to see all of the works then I suggest you spend a week in the different buildings. Just pick your topic and see the collection. After a few hours your brain may rebel at so many wonderful things to take in, so allow time.