Day: June 14, 2022

Hamburg!

edithtedLeave a comment

Today at 7am we arrived in the city of Hamburg. Disembarking was very easy and pleasant, the luggage was already waiting for us; so we’re the taxis right outside the terminal. You think disembarking 2000 would be chaotic, but no! We got a time slot (9.50am) when to leave, so we had plenty of time for a last delicious breakfast. We packed and left and arrived at our Airbnb in the “Speicherstadt” around 11am. Easy cheesy everything!

Typical house in the „Speicherstadt“ (Storagetown). Those houses are from the 1600s, some as old as the 1300s. They have one entrance from the street, the backside of the house is facing the canal and has another entrance. Near the roof is a crane of some sort and on each floor is a big double entrance gate where the goods were brought in and out. Delivery by boat on the canal side, shipping out on the street side, hundred of those are along those many many canals in the Speicherstadt. Very unique and beautiful!
This is the inside of one of those old houses where we had lunch. The ceiling is very beautiful: handpainted beams above on the second story ceiling with information who build the house and when.

The Speicherstadt had a major fire that spread all over Hamburg in May 1842. The fire started at a house across the Street where we are at our Airbnb. A plaque on the wall of one of the houses declares that the fire started right there and destroyed almost all of medieval Hamburg including the St. Nikolas church where lots of people fled to in desperation…..

No internet, lots of fun…..

edithted4 Comments

Our time on board of the Queen Mary 2 was NOT distracted by phone, internet, searching and googling all the time. In fact, we had lots of time to talk, to play Rommé, to draw, read, sleep, etc. attached are a few of my pages from my journal…..

Those columns with numbers are usually my winning streak in Rommé. Ted is just gentlemanly loosing all the time, is he???

Every day at noon the clocks were advanced +1hour, which was weird, because my birthday ended up 1 hour short! That was disappointing to say the least…
Can’t help it but sometimes I just have to write backwards (from right to left). That works best when I write with my left hand. Is that weird?
We heard so many interesting lectures every day. The history of London, Bauhaus, Norwegian resistance fighters, street art / graffiti, Salvatore Dali, Nate King Cole, etc. And every night they had a great music or dance performance at the theatre, followed by some dance event: Big Band 20s music, Rock’n’Roll, Black & White Galas, etc. We had a lot of fun and we do have a big goal: learn how to dance properly! First, I have to get some dance shoes (with steel toes), then we can start!

„Man Over Board”

edithtedLeave a comment

Yes, it does happen and we heard it today when sitting at breakfast. I was wondering if the ship will stop, reverse, slow down, turn around (most unlikely), but so far, we can’t feel any difference. The direction, the speed, everything seems as before…..

We are on our way now between Southampton (“Soton”) and Hamburg (Hamburg) and the waters are very busy! Lots of freight ships, container ships, hundreds of wind turbines along both coasts, north and south of us. I love wind turbines!!! They are the greatest invention and should be all over the place where there is wind. And what else do you have plenty of along a coast, except water? Wind! Lots of wind! So why not take advantage of?!?

I was always amazed of the different water color. One day the sea seemed grey and mysterious, wild and dangerous, on other days it seemed beautiful, inviting, friendly and – of course – very blue!