I had a lot more energy today than I did yesterday. I’m not jet lagged, but for some reason yesterday really did me in. It must’ve been the questionable 2.9 km that I ran. Can anyone convert that for me? I’m guessing it’s around 2 miles? Anyway I was so tired after the German Gym last night that Anne & Peter dropped me off at my apartment around 8:30 and all I did was sit on the sofa and unwind. As I was typing yesterday’s entry, I was falling asleep. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. And as a result, I went to bed around 11-11:30 last night…that’s early for me. Even Anne knew that was early for me. I woke up first at 5 am, then at 6, then finally at 8 (just before my alarm). I was pooped!
Today was rather enjoyable. It felt more like (a NY) October (or an AZ February) than it did July. It was 63 degrees, cloudy and breezy. But I survived with no more than a sweater…no jacket needed. I am in shock. I suppose I’m just enjoying the break from the humidity and 95-100 degree days that await me back in the sandbox (I mean Tucson…). I stopped to have breakfast with Anne and we dropped Henry off at his grandmother’s (she lives downstairs from Anne) and she and I were off to the city for the afternoon. First I had to drop off a copy of my “proof of Catholicism” paper at the church where the christening will be held (which was easy…I just handed them the paper and that was it), then we walked to the train station. It was much easier to get around today without poor Henry and his stroller.
We first stopped at the Hamburg Rathouse (City Hall) for about 10 minutes while we waited for our bus to come. It’s actually the background photo to this blog. What a beautiful hall! I don’t remember if we had gone inside when I was here in 97. When you’re a teenager you don’t care about such things. Haha. We caught the bus and were headed towards the harbor portion of the city. Apparently the busses run on Peroxide from what Anne told me. Why can’t we do that in the US? What ever happened to that Corn fuel? The bus was a Mercedes Benz…..all public transportation is Mercedes…even the taxis. They’re inexpensive here.
We reached the harbor area and it reminded me a lot of the Baltimore Inner Harbor. It’s being built up and Anne said a lot of apartments are being built to help revitalize the area. They are building a Symphony Hall that looks like a cube. It’s HUGE. (Google the Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg). Hamburg residents are apparently upset because it is taking much longer and of course more money than anticipated to build the hall. On the other side of the harbor was a small exhibit about the hall and there were small cones sticking outside that played different pieces. It was pretty neat. Speaking of music, when Henry was crying this afternoon I pulled up a Baby Beethoven video (Für Elise) on my iPhone and he LOVED it….he was captivated and had a huge smile on his face. That made me really happy!
After our walk around the harbor area, we met with Anne’s sister, Sonja. Wow, has she grown up! I haven’t seen her in about 10 years. She helped us find a place to have lunch and then had to return to work. We ate at a restaurant on a canal. It was pretty tasty. They really loved baked potatoes with sour cream here. Who knew? That and of course Schnitzel and Wurst! Hahah.
We headed back home and after dinner I went shopping with Anne & Peter to get supplies and food for Sunday’s christening. Peter’s mother has a membership to a store that seems similar to BJ’s or Costco, but at a smaller scale. It’s actually for restaurant owners or those that are self-employed. We then stopped at another store that carries Trader Joes goods but it wasn’t an actual Trader Joes. It looked like a grocery outlet but it really wasn’t. Anyway on our way through the store they picked up “American Cookies” (aka Chocolate Chip cookies….that made us laugh), then I found Peanut Butter. I was in shock because they don’t eat or sell Peanut Butter here. Anne tried it back in 1996 and hated it. I think it was a texture thing. But I told Peter that Peanut Butter and Nutella go together well but he doesn’t believe me. He also found “Bagels” (…from Great Britain—although there were stars and stripes on the package, it said it was from England. What do the Brits know about Bagels?!). I can’t wait to see how those taste.
After shopping the three of us watched Chuck and Larry. I hadn’t seen it and they were happy to discover it can be played in English. They added subtitles for themselves (in English). Another “gay role” by Dave Matthews. ::sigh:: I was told that we are having breakfast at Peter’s parents place in the morning, about 10 people (he’s got a big family). This should be fun. It’s great exposure before the christening. Anne said there would be about 40 people there on Sunday. It is supposed to rain all weekend, but most of the nasty weather will be on Saturday.
Until tomorrow!!
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