I’ll Have a Hamburg and a Side of Fries
June 12th, 2004 • Marshall Memorial Fellowship
So, I’ve been in Hamburg, Germany since Wednesday. The flight to Hamburg was uneventful so it was good. I had just sprained my ankle on Tuesday so I was suffering. Fortunately, I have a great bunch of fellows that I’m travelling with and so they took care of me and my stuff. That evening we had dinner at a great Asian fusion restaurant (Henssler & Henssler). In fact, this was the best meal I’ve had so far on this trip. They gave me a phenomenal potato soup.
On Thursday, we hit the US Consulate in Hamburg. Susan Elbow (Consul General for Hamburg) was absolutely great. She had a great perspective on Germany and the U.S. We had a few other meetings but the most important was at the newspaper Hinz & Kunzt. Hinz & Kunzt is a Hamburg newspaper that is sold exclusively through the homeless or low income individuals. The most interesting part of the meeting was talking with two of their vendors who were not homeless but definitely low income/welfare individuals. One vendor, Ulrich, also had quite a number of paintings that he did at the Hinz & Kunzt office. I must say they were quite good and insightful. Hopefully he’ll get discovered one day as an artist and escape his current situation.
Wednesday started out with a bang. We had a meeting with the Hamburg Waterways Police. The session was informative and then we got a ride in a police boat. Now talk about a fun ride.
Friday night another fellow, one of the coordinators, her sister, and myself went out to dinner to Krameramtsstuben am Michel. The restaurant is in one of the few undestroyed medieval streets in Hamburg. After dinner we hit the Reeperbahn district. We walked around a bit (quite a feat for me at this point) and saw some interesting sights. If you know what the Reeperbahn area is, you’ll know what I’m talking about. We didn’t actually go into any of the establishments but we did end up at a bar for a few drinks (”Purgatory” in case you’re wondering).
Today (Saturday) we went on a boat tour of Hamburg. We saw a bit of stuff with the waterways police but we did see a few new sights. Plus the sun was shining a lot more today than yesterday. We’ve got dinner tonight and tomorrow and then I head off to Spain on Monday.
Also, I got an email from some folks wondering if I had sprained my other ankle and if I was being hauled around in a wheelchair. I, in fact, have not done something so stupid but thanks for the words of support. I’ll get the folks responsible for the comment when I return. I have been pushed around in a wheelchair during the last few days. First time I’ve ever had that happen.
Also, in terms of first time experiences - I’ve finally used an ATM machine. That’s right, I had never used one up until recently. I’ve now used it once in Brussels and once in Hamburg. I definitely see the convenience of having an ATM card. Not sure I’ll keep using it when I return though.
I probably won’t post anything more until Monday or Tuesday. Hope all is well. My ankle is getting better so I’m happy.
