Blogs from Hamburg, Germany, Europe - page 34

Speaking of which, yes, they call those foods those things here, too, plus there's a tasty cookie called an Amerikaner just to keep things balanced. The last two days we've had a fantastic time seeing Hamburg. First, I must say Drea's family are as wonderful as she is. Even though her kids (aged 7 and 10) speak slightly less English than I speak German, this wasn't a problem for long. I took a wild guess at gifts and brought them each a Mariners baseball cap and an origami kit, which were bigger hits than I could have imagined. Little Lars attached himself firmly to me on all of our outings (I don't really understand this kids-liking-me thing, but once I get over the shock I find I enjoy it) and sometimes practiced his English, sometimes babbled ... read more

Four days in Hamburg meeting up with two old friends from Mannheim followed by two days of project work. 30/10/2004 German Efficiency Well, as typical of German efficiency, the whole trip went like clockwork. The plane landed on time, I switch on my phone and immediately receive a text message from Rene saying that he and George are at the coffee bar opposite the arrivals area. There are no queues at immigration so I wonder straight out and there they are. Try that at Heathrow! Hamburg Hamburg is a port town which sits on the River Elbe. The first thing we saw was the docks at Landungsbrücken (landing bridge) with cranes and ships along the river's edge. Also in the area is the old tunnel across the river, a lift takes you down to the alter ... read more

0927　ICE 672　晴 　　六人房坐了五個人，我沒有留座，幾乎中招（想是長途車關係），碰巧有人留了位而沒有上車，剛才稽查員沒有為Rail Pass打孔。 1120　ICE 672@Hannover　空氣令人窒息 　　那男人怎可能全程也在說話！剛上來一個婦人，她不斷敲打窗戶，但送車的男人看不到（"He doesn’t see me"），只能沒有焦點地對列車揮手，虛應故事一番。 1148　ICE 672　熱！ 　　好像坐了很久，剛才有職員遞來飲品（因為太熱？），我料不到有此一著，還以為是收費的，錯過了。現在右邊女人心中的飲品（雪碧？）仍然發出氣泡的聲音。 1225　ICE 672　熱！！ 　　好波！旅舍會員證還留在Haus der Jugend！！ 　　我出發往市中心時已是三時，天氣炎熱，陽光又猛烈，路過行人路與火車軌交匯處時，對面騎單車的小孩子大力招手嚷我快走，我一走，閘便下了。 　　我到了博物館避暑，館內展品大多可觀，只是我太累太睏，未能時常留心去看。訪客少得可憐，比香港的更加冷清。 　　想到Fischmarkt，結果到了港口，忍不住買了軟雪糕，幸好只要一了一個小的，它比平時OK買的還要多一倍。想依書的建議遊船河，但€9！結果只是在沿岸走走。到了Elbetunnel，剛才在博物館看圖片時已覺得很有趣，但它竟然還「健在」！我高興地走完隧道，兩邊牆皆有「海產」浮雕作裝飾，足見Hamburg真是一個以海起家的地方。我翻開書再看，才知Elbetunnel只在星期日才開放！看見有人帶了單車，一見隧道便興奮得立刻上車向前衝，換了是我也會如此吧！（十級冷氣！） 　　回到旅舍感覺怪怪的，多了一位不懂英語的德國人，我說了"Sprechen Sie Englisch?" (Do you say English?)"Ich komme aus Hong Kong."(I come from Hong Kong.) "Ich kenne wenig Deutsch!" (I know a bit of... read more

Day 8 (Editors note: prior to Day 8 my journal was written in point form with the intention to rewrite it once I returned to civilisation. The previous evening and sequential conversation with Veronica and Melanie caused me to rethink my personal objective as a traveller and as a writer. From this day forth I wrote in long-form. As previously noted this journal has altered from the original but the concepts, thoughts, opinions, activities etc. are pretty much the same.) Good morning world. Don't you just love dope? One can fry their brain with a few jolly j's until the smell and flavour of eggs is emitted from ones ears and be guaranteed that they will never be bedridden with gut rot from a bad batch of skunky draft. Nope. Smoking that leafy green substance accented ... read more