Hallo und willkommen zurück!
Hello and welcome back!
I had a busy week all the way through last night, thus the delayed post. The last thing I wanted to do when I got here was just sit around the apartment. We were both sick the previous week and went nowhere and did nothing, so we made up for it this week.
On Monday we had the pleasure of attending a performance of “The Hunchback Variations” at The English Theater with our friend David. This absurdist play was an absolute delight. After the show, the two actors came on stage to discuss the play and answer questions from the audience. One of the things they noted was that the play resonates differently with British and German audiences (ours was a mix of both, along with a lot of Americans). The Brits/Americans tend to enjoy the absurd humor, while the Germans tend to read a lot more into the dialog and the existential questions posed by the characters.
The English Theater was founded in 1976 by two Americans, and is the oldest professional English language theatre in Germany. It’s a real gem and I’m glad we got to experience a live stage production that we could fully appreciate without any language barriers.
On Friday, we attempted to get some answers regarding our visa situation, but the Hamburg Welcome Center was unexpectedly closed (this seems to happen with some regularity within German bureaucracy). We did get to speak with some nice folks who technically weren’t working with the public (well, Clarke and our German “sister” Claudi talked; I just listened to a lot of German words…. 😐). Unfortunately, we didn’t get much in the way of answers, but the excursion did move the needle just slightly forward. Basically, Clarke needs to get some sort of a job, and I need to pursue a different type of visa than the one I currently have in the works just because of timing. If I don’t get a visa other than the tourist visa I currently possess, I have to leave the country on November 26.
Since it wasn’t raining (something one expects this time of year in Hamburg), we decided to take advantage of our circumstances and went to lunch at the Olivio Bistro, a lovely little Italian cafe – obligatory food photos below.
After lunch we went for a walk down to the Alster. The Alster is the second most important river flowing through Hamburg (the Elbe being the main shipping channel). The Alster is a slow moving river that forms two lakes in the city center, surrounded by shopping venues and residential buildings. We saw a lot of swans on the water. Swans are very important to Hamburg’s culture and history, to the point that they are gathered indoors for the winter and then released back into the water in the spring.
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| (Yes, it was very windy….) |
We also took a detour to see the famous Rathaus (Town Hall), something that is on my list of places to tour. The architecture is something to behold. It miraculously survived the bombings of WWII, and is one of the few completely preserved historical buildings in the city. I will write more about this magnificent building once I get the chance to tour it. Meanwhile, I’ll include a photo of the front exterior, and a second one of us in the foreground just because we looked cute. 😁
Since much of Hamburg as destroyed during the War, many of the buildings are newer within the past 70 years. Some may have historical facades, but a lot of the buildings are more minimalist with little architectural detail and a lot of red brick. However, there is also a wide variety of very interesting architecture here, and one building caught my eye as we wandered around. This office building has this amazing woven metallic facade that I found intriguing.
Hamburg is definitely a study of contrasts between the old and new, and I expect to write a lot more about the architecture as I wend my way through this amazing city.
We capped off the week with a dinner on Sunday at our friends’ home in Norderstedt, a suburb directly north of where we live. When you hear about three-hour dinners on Germany, it’s not an exaggeration! We had a lovely time eating, laughing, and discussing the woes of the world (and practicing our Deutsch). We hope to do some entertaining in our home once we finally get some furniture (hopefully soon!).
That’s all for this week. Take care and be safe, especially those of you in the States. We try to keep up with what’s going on there, and we are truly concerned for your safety.
Until next time,
David