Antwerp to Hamburg

The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful.  We had calm seas and pretty good weather.  We did have a lot of fog once we hit the English Channel.  In the video below you can hear the fog horn or the ship as we went through the English Channel.  Ship traffic also picked up.  After days of not seeing another ship we suddenly saw fleets in the Channel once the fog lifted.  On the radio we heard a call from an "Irish Warship".  The chief officer told me he had heard many calls from British Warships but never from an Irish Warship.  I said that perhaps they would fire some Guiness over the bow if we didn't answer.

During the night we arrived in Antwerp, Belgium. I must have slept through the whole porting because we were moored when I awoke the next morning.  We were to spend four days in Antwerp and I did not get out of the harbor area due to immigration procedures for the EU.  I read a lot and watched the loading and unloading of the ship.

 

Finally on Monday we departed Antwerp and the next stop would be Hamburg.  We also arrived in Hamburg during the middle of the night.  I had breakfast on board and gave the steward a pretty good tip.  He and I has spoken quite a bit on this trip and he had told me he had a nine year old daughter in fourth grade in the Philippines.   I told him the tip was for his daughter's college fund.

So for the first time in over 17 days I was able to get out of sight of the Rickmers Hamburg.  I had received conflicting messages over the ship's communication system that Tine would meet me at either 9:00 or 10:00AM at the ports front gate.  A fellow I was on the ship with was picked up by his relatives and they told me if they spotted Tine walking toward the docks they would give her a ride.  Well, they did and a few minutes later here comes Tine in a black BMW to pick me up.  She later told me that this black sedan had stopped on the street and she was simply told "Tine? Get in!"  She is not in the habit of getting into strange cars but she knew that only family calls her "Tine" and got into the car anyway.

The folks that picked up Tine in a black sedan and brought her to the gate

Standing with all my luggage on the side of the road waiting for Tine

 So now I am in Hamburg where we will be living for the next five months.  I will catch up later on what has happened in Hamburg since my arrival.  We will be traveling next month to Berlin, Dresden and perhaps Poland.  Keep checking back!