Hamburg

We moved from Gustrow to Hamburg yesterday. We are staying with the parents of our foreign exchange kid. They are nice folk who, like everybody else in Germany apparently, eat lots, stay up late and get up early. I'm having fun, but this trip is wearing me out.

The dad, Wolfgang, found us No Problem at the train terminal. Then he took us on a short tour of Hamburg. We ate lunch on the harbor. Went down into the tunnel that runs under the Elbe River connecting the two sides of Hamburg. Visited St. Michel church, a very large (what else) Baroque-style building. Cool, but I personally prefer Gothic over Baroque. Went up the tower for a great view of the city and climbed all 452 steps. Went down into the crypt and, among other things, saw the grave of Johann Christoph Bach - the older brother of J.S. Bach. J.C. Bach was the choirmaster at the church. Then one of the cathedral workers found out I was a priest and offered to take us on a private tour of a "secret" passageway that is not open to the public. Okay, so maybe he does this for people on a regular occasion, but it was still kind of cool.

After that we stopped in what Wolfgang called "the old part of Hamburg." This is an area of the city from the 16 - 1700's that has been preserved. It almost didn't feel real; like we were walking through some staged reproduction in Disney World. But it was.

From there we went to the memorial site of St. Nikoli. This was, at one time, a huge Gothic cathedral; but it was bombed during WWII and all but destroyed in the resulting fires. The shell of the building is still mostly standing, as well as the tower (which they've installed an elevator and many bells). The building has been left as is and is still smoke damaged from the fires. It has since been turned into a memorial for all war victims, and is probably the building that has come closest to moving me to tears.

Then we finally made our way home through Hamburg rush hour traffic. I'm telling you . . . Nothing makes you miss a small town like rush hour traffic. And rush hour traffic with German drivers is . . . what's a good word . . . exhilarating. Yeah, that's a good word -- exhilarating.

We had another great dinner, good conversation, met the rest of the family, and went to bed late (of course). And now we're off for another day in Germany.