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!
