Auf Wiedersehen Europe

Our luncheon complete and our shopping trip finished, we trooped back to our tour bus to leave Hamburg, with a bus back to Kiel and an overnight cruise return to Copenhagen. We knew that our SAS flight home would be waiting for us the next afternoon. After the longest vacation in our lives, it was time to head home. Across the walk from where our bus waited, I saw the hand graffito seen here, and I high-fived it before boarding.

Rather than explain or reminisce about the final image from the trip, I thought I would post a handful of poems from the days of the departure and immediately after. The only note here is to explain that folks do not say "good bye" in German: "auf wiedersehen" means "until I see you again."

Auf Wiedersehen, Europe!




AUF WIEDERSEHEN HAMBURG

We looked at the Rathaus, we saw the canal and its locks;
We noticed large homes with manicured lawns and gardens and
We rode round both lakes created by and for the canals.
We remarked about how different from crowded Berlin it was;
We noted how graffiti-free it seemed in comparison.
We checked out the Reeperbahn and the Beatles statuary and
We had long tasty Bratwurst and Beer aboard a tall-mast museum.
Most of all we had a local guide, filled with stories and jokes; we
Met shopkeepers and other Hamburgers with such smiling faces
That as I leave Hamburg and say ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ I mean it.
Literally.




NOT SO DIFFERENT AFTER ALL

Corn or beans, wheat or canola in field after field,
Cows or horses in every pasture we pass by,
Sunshine and puffy white clouds on bright blue skies,
Cold beer and tasty red wine with lots of hot food,
Dozens of museums and public buildings and statues,
People who respond to a smile and a thank you.
Eight countries away from home and nine hours early
Only to learn once again we are not so different after all.



LONG LIST

Eight countries, 18 days, 7600 pictures taken and sorted,
Rough drafts of 29 poems onto the laptop on the way home.
So why am I intent on returning to Northern Europe?
After spending some cruise time in Mediterranean areas,
Will I ever want to see some of these same countries?
Yes, indeed: Let me count the ways I wish to return:
Kensington Palace, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh.
Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Museums, Normandy,
Most of the Louvre. Paris and Berlin at night, lit up.
Stockholm’s suburban palace, lots of Tallinn haunts.
St. Petersburg’s hundred palaces and excesses not seen.
Sparakoff’s Beer Tram in Helsinki. All of Amsterdam.
More of West Germany, Belgium, perhaps little Luxembourg.
The long list of things we were not able to make time for
On our breath-taking two-and-a-half-week whirlwind tour.

That list, along with pretty much everything we did see,
Which we could stand to see again. And again.





THANKS, EUROPE

Little words we teach our kids can certainly mean a lot:
Most of the trip was in England or on the cruise ship,
Places where “thanks” is easy to use and well-accepted.
The word-lover in me made me try “merci” in Paris,
“Danke” in Berlin and again later in Hamburg.
Each use earned me an appropriate reply, returning the
Respect my choice had given the Frenchman or the German.
In Russia I tried a word I confess to having learned from a
Billy Joel concert album; several times I said “spassib” and
Again received respect, Russian this time, from the beautiful
Human beings I had the pleasure to visit.

Aboard the Yacht

The morning of our last day on the continent included a luncheon and some time for souvenir shopping. While we had found some souvenirs for the grandchildren in Denmark and Sweden, we were looking for some Germany items as well. We were told we would have an hour after lunch, which was about 45 minutes more than we had spent on the quest for the perfect toy.

Meanwhile, we were dropped off at a wonderful restaurant aboard a yacht now tied to the dock permanently. Thuringer-style bratwurst (I did not know there was such a thing) and cold beer were wonderful. The search for souvenirs was not so wonderful. Traipsing over seven blocks of shops filled with postcards and not much more, we did finally find a small shop with some trinkets and got back to the bus in time.

My so-long, not good-bye, to the continent in the next post.

Different Neighborhoods

We saw the narrowest street in Hamburg in the last post, and we return there for a shot that is not an optical illusion -- the second story windows are truly close enough for folks to visit window to window in a normal speaking voice, or to be able to toss an apple to a friend, gently. At the further end of the street, a taller high-rise of four stories completely closes the vista, making this street the coziest street I have ever seen.

Back on the bus, we drove downtown to more familiar architecture, the clearly European-feeling array of buildings in a rank along a river or canal, each with its own color. We will visit an interesting restaurant in the next post.

Narrowest Street

A short walk took us to the narrowest street in Hamburg, certainly the narrowest street I have ever seen, in a quaint part of the city. The many tour groups intending to visit the street were staggered in their time as there was room for fewer than 50 people to crowd into the street and look around. The only way out was back the way we came, with another group trouping in.

The entire street was picturesque, but I loved the double twisting chimney. Wonder if it can blow smoke rings?

Rathaus

More views of the exterior of the Rathaus, the main governmental meeting and office building, and of the fountain in the courtyard. After all the historical capitols we had visited, as mentioned in an earlier post, we were impressed at the ornate and beautiful sculpture, architecture, and fountains in Hamburg.

More from Hamburg in the next post.

Hamburg's Downtown

Having raced down the Reeperbahn, our bus took us to the government center area downtown, centered around the Rathaus. The 'meeting house' as it translates, it is a wonderful meeting of ceremony and efficiency. Still a government building and meeting place, it has statuary and decor harking to the past.

Since Hamburg was the final stop on our 18-day, 8 country odyssey, it was imperative that the sights we saw were powerful and interesting. Six of the previous cities are major world capitols and St. Petersburg was previously an additional capitol. Hamburg was the last stop, and it had to be excellent to stand up to comparison and fatigue.

It stood up quite well. More downtown pictures in the next post.

On the Reeperbahn

Our final stop dropped us off in Kiel for a bus ride to Hamburg. As I had not been able to visit Liverpool while I was in the UK, I was hoping to see some of the area where the young unknown Beatles played in 1962. Our tour was the Hamburg Top Ten, and my fingers were crossed.

It turns out that the famed Reeperbahn, kind of a tame place in bright daylight, is in a pretty rough neighborhood at night, and since the Star Club no longer exists, all we did was drive down the avenue and see where the Star Club had been. Look closely and you will see four figures in outline, a shiny outdoor statue as a reminder of the Beatles in Hamburg. As we were driving by on the street, I shot and hoped as we saw the artwork from behind.

On the left you see Paul McCartney, the left-handed bassist, with Ringo Starr at his drum kit immediately next to him. Further, centered, you see George Harrison playing lead with John Lennon at the far right, in his characteristic athletic stance, perhaps shouting out the lead vocal on Twist and Shout. While it was not much, it was enough to count it as a Beatles visit!