Home Again, Home Again

Our last day

Our last day in Hamburg was a bit more leisurely.  We slept in and had another nice big breakfast involving fresh bread and lots more cheese. And then we went on an epic quest to find a place to return our rental car in order to save time on Sunday morning.  After a few false starts, we ended up at the train station and returned the car there.  We ended up starting our day about 2 hours later than expected, but that's OK.  

Frank took us through Hamburg and showed us many of the old buildings as well as the harbor and how it's growing.  It is the 3rd busiest port in Europe, and it is clearly a wealthy city as a result.  Much of the downtown area is relatively new as the city sustained some pretty extensive bombing damage during the war.  He then took us north of the city to show us an area that was originally populated by retired sea captains.  When he described it, I envisioned cute little bungalows and cottages overlooking the sea.  It's actually a bit different, with large homes all connected by a set of intertwining cobblestone alleys and walkways.  All lead to the sea. Today this is very exclusive real estate. But as Frank pointed out, it can be challenging to live there since every time you go to the market, you have to take everything home over the cobblestones.  There is no way to drive to your home.  It reminded me of some of the areas in the city that are accessed only by staircases.  We also went downtown to see where the floods had been.  The streets were still wet, and filled with debris that had been brought in by the water.  But for the most part the flooding had already subsided.  It was pretty impressive to see just how high up the water had gotten in one day.

We also stopped in to visit Marion's store.  She has now 2 clothing shops in Hamburg, so we wanted to visit and see what she does.  We also dropped Berger off with her so we could explore the market easier.  From there we walked to the Christmas market.  It was our 12th, and final market.  At the footsteps of the Town Hall, it's in an open plaza also near the water which made it a bit colder.  However the throngs of people kept it from being miserable.  This was by far the most crowded one we had been to, which made sense because it was Saturday night.  Most people had not been able to shop the previous week because the weather had been so bad. I was glad that we had done all of our shopping already as it was nearly impossible to get down each of the aisles because of the crowds.  After a few rows, we decided to call it a night, and go back to Marion's store to get warm and say goodbye to Laura, Benny and Max.  Then we were off to a final dinner with Marion, Frank, Hans, Renate, Mark and I (and of course Berger!) at a traditional steak house.  I ordered the salad with American dressing because I was really interested to see what others think America tastes like.  We pretty much taste like a less sweet version of what we call French dressing, but we're white and also have tarragon.  Good to know.

So after a day of flying yesterday, we have made it home safe and sound.  I was delighted to run into my friend Wendy in Frankfurt's airport and share stories of her journey that I have been following on Facebook.  I was also delighted to see that after dozens of croissants and oodles of cheese, not to mention sausages and gluwein, I lost 4 pounds on the trip. I guess it's true what they say, shivering burns calories!  So it's back to work for us this morning, and the only thing left to do from the trip (other than laundry) is to wait patiently for the baby Jesus to arrive some time in the next week or so from Germany :)

Linda

More Family Time

Yes, the storm for the ages arrived. But it actually wasn't bad where we were- it was more focused in Hamburg proper. The problem is that the winds were quite exceptional and they whipped up the waves in the Baltic which then spilled into the Elbe which is what caused flooding. The second highest waters in a century or something like that. The damage to the city was not bad because they learned a lot from the last time this happened, and have taken precautions to protect people and businesses from the water. But, it's all about us. And for us we woke to alternating rain, snow, wind and sun which of course is perfect for Christmas markets. We started with a huge family breakfast to fortify us for the day. I'm not sure how I will be able to have breakfast anymore without cheese... Our original plan was to go to Lubeck, an ancient town, first and then back up to Hamburg. We had to change plans though once we started peeling back the onion that is Lubeck. It was maybe a 40k drive through the countryside to this old town. As we approached Alstadt (old town) you could see brick buildings, churches and an ancient Tor (gate). They are clearly old, and you can see how the buildings are starting to list one way or another and in the case of the Tor, the towers on either side are starting to collapse in towards one another. This is a famous edifice as it used to be the image on the 50 Deutschemark.  We found our way up the narrow, winding streets towards the top of the hill, and stopped in a small handicrafts market in a church on the way. Then to the top of the hill where there was an open plaza surrounded by amazing old buildings. The market was nestled into these buildings. So a little shopping, a little gluewein (or in my case more fire punch!), some sausages and we were happy. We thought we were done, but Marion told us there was another section to explore. And there was- in another courtyard sort of a Ren Faire version with some guy playing the lute. And then there was another courtyard with children's activities, and antique dioramas of fairy tales. And then there was more. Down another pedestrian plaza with cobblestones to another open area with a Ferris wheel. On this plaza stood an old church that we followed the crowd into. Inside was an indoor Christmas market with stalls throughout the main room, and musicians entertaining as we entered. Then you go into a side hall that was lined with stalls, about 4X8 with low ceilings, each with someone displaying their wares. I would say there were at least 20-30 of these stalls, all surrounded by the church walls with their art and stained glass. It was pretty amazing. And frankly it was nice to get out of the cold. By then, I think my core temperature was somewhere around 3 degrees C.  Given the time and the weather, cold and getting windy again, and the fact that it was getting dark (at 4:00- sigh) we decided to forego Hamburg and head home for a last dinner before Al and Jen left. It was good we did as the roads were incredibly icy on the way home. Trucks were sliding all over, and we had trouble getting traction, so it was a long trip home at about 10k per hour. It only took me about an hour to warm up once we got home as we relaxed for a bit before dinner. I'm still sick which is probably why I'm feeling the cold more. I'm just hoping to hold off on that horrible coughing stage until I get home. Cross your fingers! Mark continues his weight gain journey with more currywurst yesterday, along with some burnt almonds, lots of bier and even some fries yesterday with ketchup that tastes suspiciously like curry/ketchup. Also, I love that Berger can go with us everywhere, including restaurants (though I'm not really sure how clean that is). She just couldn't go into the churches that had the market stalls but that makes sense since she has a huge tail that could wreak havoc wherever it goes. One more day in Hamburg and then home for us.  Linda

Family Time

Your trip report is a bit late because your intrepid reporter was sleepy after our marathon 4 hour dinner last night. More about that later! As you recall from our last installment, we were expecting the storm of the century near Hamburg, so needed to get an early start to hopefully get there before it hit. So, after one more bowl of quark (kind of like a combo cheese/yogurt) Renate was ready and we hit the autobahn. Yes, it's fun driving over 100mph. And actually it's more satisfying doing it in a car with the speedometer in kilometers because it feels even faster to hit numbers like 160 and 170. But you can't drive like that forever, you have to slow down with each town, and highway interchange so it's not like you can cover the distance in lightening speed. We had good weather with some increasing winds as we got closer to Hamburg, but not bad. It was almost 4 hours and as we got close, we checked in with Jen and Al who were already here and they suggested we meet them in Luneburg along with the rest of the family. Of course we were missing texts from each other, and couldn't actually reach Al (we did get his replies an hour later) So hilarity ensued, GPS was recalculated and we found them. 

OK so this "family" thing is complicated. I'd draw a diagram but I don't have visio on my iPad. Renate has one remaining blood related cousin, Hans. He lives near Hamburg and will be 89 next year. There is a family here that he is very close to. He is godfather to one of their daughters and vacations with the family all of the time, and basically he's part of the family. When his goddaughter Marie was in high school and wanted to come to the US to study, he reached out to Renate to ask how it was done. Al and Jen decided they would like to host her, so she came and lived with them a couple of years ago for a year. Now, they are second mom and dad to her. So the families are intertwined even more. This part of our trip is for Renate and Hans to see one another, and we have come to stay with Marie's parents, Marion and Frank. Al and Jen came too from Prague, and picked up Marie on the way as she's living and working in Berlin right now. So we had a short visit with her before she had to go back on the train this am.

Yesterday we didn't do much Christmas marketing as the markets were all advised to close in the afternoon to prepare for the storms. We did stop for coffee and to warm up before heading home for a bit. We enjoyed the German afternoon tradition of caffe and kuchen (coffee and cake) as we all sat around the table talking and laughing in German and English, or in what I like to think of as deutshlish. 

For dinner last night Hans had planned a very special night for us in a local restaurant. We had a private room, and I would guess it was originally the parlour of a very old home, which was lit with candles and set for all 11 of us (including Laura, Marie's sister, her boyfriend Benny and their baby Max who, truth be told, really just slept in his pram in the corner the whole time). There were no menus, just the chef's specialties coming out for hours. There was truffle flatbread, and different tartare dishes, homemade ravioli with braised beef, fish and veal, and bottomless wine, including a delicious prosecco they are making themselves. All the while the storm started outside where we could see the trees bending with the wind, and the snow blowing sideways. Fortunately when we left 4 hours later the snow and wind had slowed for a safe drive home. 

This morning the snow is falling pretty heavily as I finish writing my daily missive with Berger the giant, gorgeous Bernese Mountain dog for company. This would have been faster to write if I hadn't regularly felt an insistent paw on my arm begging for some more attention. Luckily mama just came downstairs and now there is oodles of drama as she gets ready for her morning walk. Today we are hoping the markets are open as it's Jen and Al's last day in Germany and she still has an item or two that she wants to pick up. Wish us luck!

Linda

Wise Men Still Seek Him So What Does That Make Me?

Throughout all of our stops in the Christmas markets I have been in search of just the right krippe (nativity scene) for our house. I had seen some that I liked last time I was in Germany when I was 17, and I had hoped to find one this time that I liked now that I can actually afford to buy one. We've had a bevy of Goldilocks moments. This one is too big, I don't like the faces on that one, or what's up with the garish paint job? Today, as the first rain drops fell on our trip, I spotted one I liked. Mark and I looked closer, and we both liked it. And then we had to decide which animals and people. Of course you need a camel, but really, do we need a ram? I don't like that shepherd... the other one can represent all shepherds, right? We made our choices, and plunked down a small fortune. And then Tina talked the woman out of a donkey for us since we spent so much. Yay! We had lunch, shopped some more and then drove an hour back to the hotel in the rain (yes, the damn rain finally caught us!)

Packing up our goodies to hit the road to Hamburg I decided to admire just one of my new pieces. Ah, I opened the camel first. Such beautiful work! But hmmm. There are 4 packages, and the camel was by himself. Did she really cram the other 12 figurines into 3 packs? I started to have a small bit of concern. As I continued to unwrap all of the carefully wrapped parcels now, it was clear we were missing 5 pieces, including Jesus, Joseph and a wise man. Sheesh! I mean really Joseph is ancillary to the story, but you really do need Jesus to make it qualify as a nativity scene and not just a random collection of people and animals from "olden times". Oh carp, what to do now? Apparently, it was time for me to seek Jesus yet again. I texted Tina to see if they were still in Munster- no luck they were already on their way home too. I looked at the receipt and it had no phone number. Yikes. If all else failed at least we could drive by there on our way to Hamburg, but we were hoping to get a really early start because they are expecting a huge storm in Hamburg tomorrow. Finally I found the company's phone number that makes the pieces in Austria. We called the owner (I dialed and I had Renate do the negotiating in high German). He gave us the name and number of the woman working the market, with a bit of swearing thrown in when he found out which pieces were missing. He assured Renate that they would send all pieces missing free of charge wherever we wanted them sent. Then we called Edith, still at the booth to give her our address and make sure she still had the pieces. She was beside herself with joy that we called. She noticed the mistake after we left the booth and went looking for us- at the largest Christmas market in Germany. She even had it announced over the loudspeaker. Well at least she can rest now, and we can hope that Jesus finds his way to my doorstep by Christmas Eve.

Tomorrow we head to Hamburg for our last stop, and will meet up again with Alan and Jennifer. Tonight Renate and Mark and I grabbed a bite at our hotel and were laughing about some of the weird adventures on the trip, like losing Jesus. When we went to the fancy schmancy Mozart dinner they set down our plates for the main course, and as we started to tuck in, Renate was trying to put her finger on what was different about her plate. Then she realized, they forgot to put the actual main course on her plate. We've also marveled at the heartiness of the toilet paper. I think each square could probably be used as a coaster. Everywhere we went for dinner in Austria the Krampus and Father Christmas showed up, including the Mozart dinner. We felt like we were being stalked. And of course when we arrived in Iserlohn, the GPS kept trying to make us drive up a walking path. Tomorrow night we are supposed to have dinner in a restaurant on the Elbe river in Hamburg, though they are expecting flooding, and incredibly high water levels. We may have more adventures to share then! I included a sad picture of Mary for you too...



Linda

The Woman of the Hour

Today was all about Renate. Several of her school friends have been eagerly anticipating her arrival, and planned a reunion at a famous pastry shop. I can get behind people like this! We had some time to kill before the reunion so we went in search of her grandparent's home which is near our hotel. Then we drove by the house that she grew up in, and then motored into Alstadt (old town). She pointed out to us places where she worked, and where friends had lived. And the current pedestrian shopping mall, was also one back in the day. And she and her girlfriends used to go there to check out the boys. I see nothing changes. She then took us to where the public bathhouse used to be. For my Bay Area friends, this is a different kind of bathhouse. After the war a lot of people didn't have running water and if they did it may not have been enough to accommodate the number of people living in their home. So people went to the bathhouses to get cleaned up. We found the original town wall, and even a building that she has a painting of in her home that she did years ago.

We got to the shop early, but she was nervous about being the first one there. She wasn't sure she was going to recognize most of the attendees. Once we saw the organizer though it was all good. There were hugs all around, and eventually about a dozen women around the table with Mark as the token male. Most spoke enough English to allow for some conversation with us. And even with the language barrier it was fun to watch this group of women who had known each other for 60 years or more. It's amazing how much you can infer about someone's personality just by watching them. Who was the clown, who was serious, who was popular, etc.

Once the party broke up, Renate, Mark and I went to one of the women's homes along with another friend so that we could see her husband. We sat around chatting (well Mark and I trying to look interested) At some point Renate mentioned that Mark and I would like to get some Iserlohner bier glasses, and asked where we might find those. Well, Ingabore (sp?) was like a dog with a bone. The phone book came out and she started making calls, including to a guy she knows who recently closed a restaurant so he might have a good line on them. We finally learned that the only place to get them is at the brewery from 8-1700 hours. It was almost 1600 so I said we would go by there tomorrow. Before Renate translated that, they were asking me who was going with her husband to pick out the glasses? He would drive us. Uh, OK. So Mark and I climbed in with hubby (I still don't know his name) and took off. Now while he is a senior, he does have exceptionally good and firm reflexes with the brakes. And I do mean sudden. When we approached the brewery it was really unclear where we were supposed to go. He drove all around the buildings with no luck. We were about to give up when he saw an intercom attached to a wall. Through that he made arrangements and we got the glasses. Mark and I were joking that there was no way we could avoid buying them at that point!

While it was starting to get dark, he offered to show us the tower made famous by the design on the glasses we just bought. So up the hill we went to get a commanding view of the valley and the sunset to the west. The hills were still fall-like with leaves of many colors everywhere. But as we climbed many yards did have a light dusting of snow even though everywhere else looked like fall. We returned to homemade lasagna and I was entertained by the easy banter of these friends of so many years. We finally took our leave. Renate was exhausted after being "on" all day, and I worke up with a cold this morning- the same one Mark has had for several days, so it was back to the hotel early to get some rest. Tomorrow Munster with Karin and Tina again. So far no rain, but it is forecasted for tomorrow afternoon possibly. Cross your fingers that we miss it!

Linda

Just Planes and Automobiles

We bid a sad farewell to Salzburg this morning early enough that we weren't able to enjoy the yummy breakfast buffet complete with several yummy, creamy, stinky cheeses. Bummer. We were happy to see that the day dawned dry again as we headed to the Salzburg airport for a quick trip to Dusseldorf. Off the plane, we reunited Renate with her cousin Karin that she hasn't seen in 13 years. They cried and laughed and hugged a lot. And they totally looked like twins with similar haircuts and coats on. Karin's daughter Tina was with her, and helped us get our rental car situated and then we followed them to Tina's apartment for second breakfast. They actually called it that, and I don't think it was a Hobbit reference. I love these people.

This trip in general, and our breakfast in particular reminded me what dumkopfs Americans are when it comes to languages. The conversation swirled between German and English with Spanish thrown in for good measure. And of course I can barely follow the English part. Now, all day Renate keeps speaking to me in German and it takes her a minute to realized she's not speaking English. Even in the Christmas markets, I hear the vendors easily slipping between multiple languages. 

Today was all about Renate and Karin getting to visit. So they spent a lot of time catching up, and we decided to head into town to check out the Christmas market (of course). Tina has only lived here for 3 weeks so she didn't even know how to get to downtown really. So we loaded into our rented station wagon, and set the GPS. After parking in the world's smallest parking spot (I actually had to climb into the passenger seat to get out of the car) we followed our noses to the market. It was a crisp day, but not cold, so it was great fun to explore. I finally tried the "burnt almonds" I had been smelling at so many markets. They are essentially like a sugared or toffee almond cooked in a vat and served in a paper cone. They were delish and less sweet than toffee almonds actually so quite good. This market had some goods we had never seen yet, and we bought a few items that we'll struggle to fit into our suitcases. Still no nativity scene or carousel for me... but there is still hope. But it might have to fight for space with my new metal wisemen now!

It was finally time to get on our way as it was getting dark and we needed to get on the autobahn to get to Iserlohn, Renate's home town. So after hugs and promises to meet in Munster on Thursday we loaded up and headed out. We managed to get here fairly quickly and we only experienced minor delay when our GPS seemed to think we should be driving up a pedestrian-only path to get to our hotel. We put our heads together and figured out what to do in spite of the technology and found Hotel Vierjahreszeiten in the pitch dark. Yay us! Only a minor glitch after that... they didn't have our reservation. Boo Booking.com! But they did have a room and honored what I had booked since I had a paper confirmation to show them (rub in their faces). So it's early bed for us and a big day tomorrow. Renate has a reunion scheduled with the girls she went to school with back in the day. If we're lucky, we will slip out for a bit to tour the Iserlohner brewery.

Linda

All Music All Day

Today we decided to get some culture on which involved modern art, Mozart, his balls, and the Von Trapps. Perhaps I should explain. Today dawned crystal clear and sunshiny, though it was still pretty chilly. Before Jen and Al headed out to Prague, we decided to check out the view from the terrace of the Museum of Modern Art. We had heard that the view is pretty amazing. So we found the elevator cut into the hill, and rode up to the Museum to check it out. You get a panorama of the city and the nice thing is that the picture includes the fortress as well. We could have opted to walk back down actually through the wooded trail, but time was a ticking and Al and Jen hoofed it to the train station. 

The rest of us dove into Mozart with both feet today. We toured his residence, where his family lived as he was making a name for himself and growing up. Many of his manuscripts as well as his father's are there. His sister Nannerl was also a talented pianist in her own right, and you have the opportunity to see and hear more about her in this museum. They also enjoyed a game like darts that included cleverly painted boards with targets, built to specifications. He ordered one with a man turned around and dropping his pants while another man kisses his arse. Rather cheeky, no? We also visited his birthplace which is a more modest dwelling, located in Old Town. There were fewer displays here and it was about as hot as the surface of the sun, so we escaped before we passed out. 

We took an afternoon detour into pop culture with the Original Sound of Music tour. Because it's offseason, there were just 5 of us total on the tour. So we were in a small van and had the ability to alter the trip based on our interests. We visited several sites throughout the city and surrounds that were used as backdrops for the movie. The most interesting was how they filmed the backyard scenes. The house used as the exterior shots is different from the terrace used for the scene when the kids turn over the boat in the backyard pond. They are actually a few miles apart. Next time you watch the movie notice how they cut from one view to the other. You never see the terrace with the outside of the house at the same time. We drove through the Lake Country again, using a narrow mountain drive which was just gorgeous. This time we stopped in the village of Mondsee which included some of the picnic scenes from the movie as well as the church where they married. It was dusk as we arrived and the town was lit up for the Christmas markets. It was very charming, and right on the lake, so very beautiful with twinkle lights everywhere. We returned to the city with the whole van (well maybe not Mark) singing I am 16, and My Favorite Things.

This evening we treated ourselves to some real culture and went to St Peter's Stiftskiller for dinner and a Mozart concert. The room was decorated beautifully and the restaurant is the oldest continuously running restaurant in Europe having been mentioned in 872. And no I didn't forget a 1 before that number! There are numerous rooms that you can eat in, but the concert is in the fanciest. The musicians and singers were fantastic, and the menu was taken from vintage recipes that have been updated for modern tastes. They weren't updated quite enough for me, but it didn't matter as the music and setting were magical. 

Tonight we packed and are flying to Dusseldorf tomorrow where we meet up with cousins once removed or something like that. And I didn't forget to pack my balls. These are famous chocolate covered balls with marzipan in the middle. While most people opt for the red because it's ubiquitous, the original (and best!) are the blue ones. So obviously the 8th grade boy that lives in my head not only wanted Mozart balls, but he wanted blue balls. 
Linda