I am sorry for being so late with my updates, but I have been busy! Last week the Frau and I tool a trip to Stralsund and Rostock. These two cities are located in the former DDR. I really like visiting the former DDR and find it very interesting. Maybe it is because it was once our enemy or maybe it is because I was once forbidden to get withing 5 Km of the border, forbidden fruit so to say. Anyway, I really like the former DDR. It is interesting to note that even though it has been 24 years today since reunification, the former DDR is still relatively "run down". Everything is be renovated or is under construction.
We took a regional train from Hamburg. I really like riding the trains here. They are always on time and the stations are usually in the middle of the city instead of the outskirts like airports.
Our train to Rostock
The trains are very comfortable and quiet. Our car was a double-Decker and we sat in the upper section.
The Frau seems quite comfortable on the train
As our train traveled east we left the western part of Germany and entered the former DDR. It is very noticeable when the former border is crossed. You can still see mounds that were use to hide activities and the former administrative offices of the army, secret police and other governmental institutions. Today those buildings are in ruin and decay.
Burms at the former border
Administrative offices at the former border
This part of the country is still run down from the DDR time
We had to change trains in Rostock and we arrived in Stralsund in the late afternoon. It was a beautiful day by northern German standards and we had a lunch of Doerner (shaved lamb in the Middle East, shaved pork in Germany) in the Neuer Markt. Afterward we found the Hotel zur Post and booked our room for the evening. We then visited the Marienkirche which I had visited in 2006. At that time there was construction equipment in the church doing renovations. The church is still undergoing renovations, but the equipment has been removed.
The Marien-kirche altar in Stralsund
We then strolled over to the Alter Markt where the Rathaus and Nikolai-kirche were. The renovations here were almost complete and this part of the city had been very much restored.
The Rathaus and Nikolai-kirche
The Nuerer Markt
Inside the Nikolai-kirche
We then went on to the harbor. Stralsund has a small harbor that is used mainly for recreational sailboats and ferries taking people to the various outlying islands. This area also has some Kneipes (cozy bars) where one can quench his or her thirst in the evening. The kneipe that we spent the most time in (the Hafen Kneipe) had been in operation since 1332AD!
The harbor in Stralsund
Stralsunder Pils vom Fass
Stralsund is a photographers dream. Here are a couple of unprocessed street scenes right off the card.
Street scene in Stralsund
Street scene in Stralsund
The next day we had a wonderful breakfast that included bacon and eggs, a rarity in a German hotel, and prepared to leave for Rostock. But first we visited a monument built to honor those Russian soldiers that "saved" the East Germans from the west.
Monument to Russian soldiers
A symbol of the old days
The train to Rostock from Stralsund takes only about an hour and we were going to spend the afternoon there and then return to Hamburg. The city of Rostock is under renovations and we were disappointed that we could not see the Rathaus. It is said that the Rostocker Rathaus is one of the most beautiful in Germany. Oh well, a reason to go back later I suppose!
Rostocker Rathaus under renovation
Rathaus Platz in Rostock
Rostock has strassenbahns! These are electric trains that run on rails embedded in the streets. When I lived in Augsburg in Bavaria I would ride these to get around in the town. They are fun!
The Strassenbahn
The Frau had read something about an around the clock reading of Walter Kempowski's Das Echolot. This is a collective diary written by eye witnesses to the Third Reich. The book was being read twenty-four hours a day for a week in the Marienkirche. The Frau wanted to see and hear this, so it was the first place we went. The church was having a mid-day service with organ and stayed. The organ was beautiful and loud. It was one of those organs that can vibrate your chest when it is played in the lower registers.
The organ in the Marien-kirche
The Marien-kirche
As luck would have it one of the readers had to cancel and the Frau was able to take their place and read from Das Echolot in their place. She was in Seventh Heaven. Getting to read this in a church like this was like a dream for her. I was very happy for her!
The Frau reading Kempowski in the Marien-kirche
Finally, after about three hours, I was able to extricate the Frau from the church and we could see something else of Rostock. It is a pretty city. In the Universitaets Square there was a small band from Sweden playing, what else, Abba songs!
Well, with that we returned to the train station for our trip back to Hamburg. For some reason, I do not think this will be our last trip to Stralsund!
So! I have been in Hamburg for two weeks and I am starting to settle in to the life here. One of the first things I did with Tine was go to the Hofbrau Haus. The Hofbrau Haus is better known as a Bavarian institution, but there is a Hofbrau Haus in most large German cities. Hamburg actually has two. My wife is northern German and cannot understand why I like the Bavarian style so much. I call the Hofbrau Haus the German Embassy just to make her mad.
Ziguenerschnitzel, pommes frites, and a mass beer at the Hofbrau Haus
Those that know me know that I am an ardent Freemason. I needed to find a lodge to attend for the next five months and I did! In the middle of Hamburg there is not only a lodge, but an English speaking lodge to boot. We went in and met a couple of the brothers. I was warmly welcomed and this will be a big part of my time here.
My lodge in Hamburg
The Logenhaus Restaurant
Looking for photographs to add to my "Gone, But not Forgotten" project I spent a day in the Ohlsdorfer Friedhof. The Ohlsdorfer Friedhof is the second largest cemetery in the world that is not a National Cemetery.
Graves of World War II soldiers
A soldier's tomb
The Islamic section of the cemetery
Mostly the frau and I have just spent this time just settling in and meeting with family that we have not seen in more than a year. It has been nice to be in one place and just do things like shopping in the market and walking in the town.
The frau shopping in Norderstedt at our weekly farmer's market
This weekend we are planning on traveling to Stralsund and Rostok. Both are cities in the former East Germany. It has been years since I have been there and I am looking forward to seeing the progress that has been made.
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!
On Saturday, August 31, the captain of the Hamburg authorized a party and all crew, officers and passengers were invited. At first I really didn't get what was going on or the scope of this thing. I was invited to the party in about seven different accents. At first I thought it was just a little get together. I was wrong! About four o' clock I began to smell something grilling outside. That's unusual in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I looked out my window and down on the A deck I noticed the crew roasting a pig! I grabbed my camera and went to investigate.
Pig roasting on the high seas!
There was a young Filipino with a pig on a spit and he was rotating the pig with something that looked like a steering wheel. He had done this before! Where has this pig been the last couple of days? There was also meat being grilled on the pilot deck. There was chicken and lamb being grilled by the officers and other crew members.
The ship's chief carpenter offering me some lamb
Party supplies had to be transported from the lower decks to the pilot deck. That would have meant a lot of walking up a lot of stairs but, remember, these guys were sailors and expert crane operators. The supplies were lifted by a set of ropes and pulleys in a laundry basket.
Bringing up the party supplies
By six that evening the party/feast was read to begin. Since females were in short supply the karaoke machine provided most of the evening's entertainment. These guys loved the karaoke, but that does not mean they were good singers. There was no dancing despite what you may have heard about sailors.
The guest of honor
An impressive spread
If karaoke was not your thing you could always just go out onto the deck and enjoy the fresh sea air and listen to heated discussions in Filipino.
Later that night I went to the pilot deck and you could see millions of stars. I located the North Star and it was very high in the sky. At my home in Asheville, NC I am more used to it being closer to the northern horizon. I spent a lot of time speaking with the Chief Officer. He is second in command of the ship after the Captain. He was from Estonia and had served in the Russian Army. We discovered that we had both been the army at the same time, just on opposite sides. We both thought about our it was funny that 30 or so years ago we never would have thought that we would be partying together at sea. We decided it was not our problem, but the politicians. He proposed a toast to "all of the f***ing politicians on both sides".
The crew enjoying themselves
I went to bed about 11:30PM but the party was still going strong. The next morning it was very quiet at breakfast. Most of the crew and officers were sleeping in.
The crew amused themselves in other ways too. In the afternoons they would have heated basketball games on the A deck. A net would have to be strung up to keep the ball from going overboard. They really weren't very good (I never saw anyone make a basket) but they ran around a lot and seemed to be having a good time!
Basketball at sea
The net seemed to be greased and indeed it was. One of the crew members told me this was to keep the salty sea air from destroying the cotton netting.
We were getting closer to Antwerp, Belgium and the crew began to get more serious about the arrival. A lot of work had to be done before arrival. We would be in Antwerp for four days and most of it would be spent unloading and loading the ship. That will be covered in my next post.
There isn't really much to say about crossing the Atlantic on a freighter. Most of the time is spent reading and writing. There was only one English DVD on the ship: CSI: Las Vegas, Seasons 1 & 2. All the other DVDs were in Swiss German which is difficult for even native speakers of German to understand. However, there were a few times it got interesting.
On the second day at sea the Chief Engineer gave us a tour of the engine room. The ship is powered by a seven cylinder diesel engine. The Chief Engineer and his crew must be able to carry out all repairs needed in an emergency at sea. They had a set of tools I could not believe. I have tools at home, but these were something else. The largest wrench I have at home is a 24mm. The engineering team on the ship had a 74mm wrench and I suspect some were larger. Even though there was high tech equipment everywhere, the crew had made a container from a butter cookie can to catch oil from a small oil leak in the engine!
The engine of the Rickmers Hamburg
The injectors
The Chief Engineer
Home made oil pan
On the fourth day at sea we had our lifeboat drill. There are three types of lifeboats on the ship. The first type is used when we need to leave the ship, but plan on returning. These are circular, inflatable boats that are covered for protection from the elements. They literally explode from containers that look like 55 gallon barrels and we descend to them on rope ladders from the deck. The second type of lifeboat is the "man overboard" boat. This is a small fiberglass boat with an outboard motor. This boat will probably never be used because if you fall overboard you will probably not be missed until the steward notices that you have not been showing up for your meals. By that time the ship could be miles from where you went overboard and you would never be found. The third type of boat can only be used by command of the ship's captain. This is the "abandon ship" boat. When you get in this boat you are not coming back to the ship. It looks like a large orange shoe and can hold up to 36 people. Everyone has a certain place to sit assigned by your number. I was number 30. We had to enter this boat and adjust our seat harness. In case of an emergency there would be no time to adjust it before launching.
Lifeboat containers for inflatable lifeboats
Man overboard boat
Abandon ship boat
Well, that is enough for this post. Tomorrow or day after tomorrow will post about fun and recreation aboard the Rickmers Hamburg.
Well, it has been some time since I updated this blog simply because we had no Internet access aboard the ship. Needless to say the ship finally arrived in Philadelphia and we were finally able to board.
Philadelphia skyline from the ship.
My cabin was quite nice. I had my bed, bathroom, a desk and a sitting area. There was also a television with a DVD player. In order to pass the time (I had a LOT of it) I watched CSI: Las Vegas seasons 1 & 2. It was the only DVD on the ship. I also read about four or five books including Dan Brown's Demons and Angels. Make a note to yourself to not start a Dan Brown book unless you have at least three days to spare. I literally could not put the book down until I finished it. Sleep deprivation would set in. Reading his books are exhausting!
My desk and work area
The sitting area with television and DVD player
My sleeping area
The bathroom.
As you can tell from these photos my cabin was simple, but quite adequate.
The first day on the ship I spent mostly in my room or on the pilot deck watching the loading operations. Loading a ship like this is like watching a choreographed dance between cranes, trucks and people. Everything had to happen at just the right time and the cargo had to be moved efficiently.
The Rickmers Hamburg moored in Philadelphia
The ship has its own cranes
Loading the Rickmers Hamburg.
Finally on Monday evening the tugboat arrived and we were to set out to sea. The trip down the Delaware River takes about six hours to the Atlantic Ocean. We departed Philadelphia at 10:30PM so that meant that when I woke up the next morning we would be at sea!
The tugboat arrives!
This part of the trip will have to be broken into several posts. Our entire voyage from Philadelphia to Hamburg took 17 days. Over the next several days I will post some more about this once in a lifetime (at least for me) experience. Stayed tuned!
