Brrrr.... it‘s cold outside

Winter has arrived.  It was 32 degrees when we got up this morning with an expected high of 45.  We knew it was coming, but we went from pretty nice weather to yuck in just a couple of days.

We have finished Week 5 of our language class and it was a busy week.  On Wednesday, our landlord Bernie invited us to meet his family and cooked dinner for us.  It was a fun and relaxing evening.  Then on Friday after class, we went with our classmate Justin to a local brewery, the Altes Mädchen.  Justin is from New Zealand but has lived here with his German girlfriend and son for the past seven years.  He showed us around the district near the old slaughterhouse, the Rindermarkthalle which has been converted into a food shopping area.

There‘s a craft brew store next to the Altes Mädchen with primarily local beers, but a few from the US as well.  I found a caramel chocolate beer that I‘ve brought home to sample the next time we‘re feeling adventuresome.  These are the kind of places that don‘t show up in the tourist books and why we like to live in places a bit longer.

I have successfully ventured into a beauty parlor and had my hair done with no major issues.  Paul had an interesting trip to the barber.  His hair looks good and the barber also offered to remove hair from his nose and ears.  Paul felt something warm on his ears, and found the barber was using fire to singe the hairs off.  It works!  Then came the nose hair removal.  Paul described it as two sticks with some kind of substance shoved up his nose.  Occasionally the barber would feel them to see if they were ready.  Then when they were ready to go, he quickly pulled them out.  Paul said there was no pain involved and the hair is gone.

Time to get back to the books ....

What a difference a weekend makes ...

Friday was a humbling day.  We got the results of our monthly exam back, and boy do we have a long way to go.  We spent most of class reviewing grammar and discussing what we needed to work on.  As we usually do on Friday, we went someplace new to explore and we ended up at a Turkish restaurant where we enjoyed a good meal and a beer to drown our sorrows.

 What better way to end the week!

Our adventures also brought us to Saint Gertrud‘s Lutheran Church.  This is the only church in Hamburg to have survived the war with only minor damage.  We were wandering around outside and very nice lady riding by on her bike asked if we would like to see inside.  It turns out that she‘s a volunteer at the church and she wanted us to see the interior.   The churches here in the north have much less elaborate decor than in the south, probably because in the south, most churches are Catholic.

Saint Gertrud‘s

Interior - Saint Gertrud‘s

It‘s quite evident inside which of the stained glass windows have been replaced.  The older windows are the traditional scenes of people, while the replacement windows are almost Art Deco in style.  It‘s an interesting combination.

Back to school on Monday where we are now B.1.1 level students.  Our class has gone from 4 to 15 students, representing 12 different countries.  Our common language in German, so the conversations can be quite comical.  We have a new teacher who kept us so busy that the 3.5 hours flew by.  I think it‘s going to be more fun with the larger class.  

Food Adventures

Paul and I are pretty adventuresome diners.  The biggest obstacle for both of to overcome is slimy texture.  Just can‘t do it!  In advance of coming here, I did some research on local specialties so that we could give them a try.  I have now checked three items off the list - pickled herring, Labskaus, and Kabeljau.

Labskaus - Blokbräu Brauerei

Labskaus is a Northern Germany specialty that looks like beef tartar with an over-easy egg on top.  It‘s actually a combination of mashed potatoes, “corned beef”, onion and assorted spices.  Served warm along with mini-gherkins and herring, it was delicious.

Just down the street from us is Ristorante Italiano da Elena.  A small 30-ish seat restaurant serving pizza and really awesome pasta.  Deciphering the Italian menu was a bit difficult and somehow we both ended up with different pastas with shaved truffles.  Yum!  Paul‘s ravioli were probably 2x2 inches and filled with a cheese mixture.  My linguine had a very light sauce topped with Trüffel shavings and it was sooooo good.

Königsberger Klopse

The small city of Schwerin had a fairly large number of restaurants in the city center.  Saturday rather than Friday seems to be the night to go out because the restaurants were full on Saturday evening.  We ended up downstairs from our hotel at the Weinhaus Wöhler for some traditional German food.  I tried the Königsberger Klopes with Kabeljau, primarily because it‘s one of the foods I had read about in my German cooking magazine.    I‘m not sure what was in it other than cod, but it was very tasty.  I‘ll have to find a recipe and try to reproduce it at home.

Schwerin

It‘s a lovely Saturday and we‘re spending the weekend in Schwerin, about an hour west of Hamburg. It‘s a small city, famous for the Schwerin castle and the numerous lakes throughout the area.  We are staying at a Winehouse/Restaurant/Hotel in the heart of downtown, the Weinhaus Wöhler.  This morning for breakfast there was a wonderful array of breads, cheeses and meats, salmon, eggs, etc. etc.

Weinhaus Wöhler

 The hotel is within walking distance of both the main city square and the castle.  There are numerous restaurants and shops, and last night we had dinner at a Croatian restaurant, just to try something new.  Never having been to Croatia, I‘d say it‘s a combination of Croatian, Italian, and German food.  Just guessing!

Of course the highlight of coming to Schwerin is visiting the castle.  Following German reunification, the district of Mecklenberg government converted part of the castle into their parliament building.  The remaining areas of the building house renovated rooms of the original castle which are open to the public.  We had to try out our German in the castle because none of the staff seemed to speak English.  Of course, that‘s how we‘re learning to converse!

Schwerin Castle

The castle sits on one of the lakes and the public has access to an expansive garden.  Legend has it that the castle is haunted by a goblin, Peter Männchen or Little Peter, who rewards the food and honest, and punishes the bad.  Seems like a good guy to have around!

Peter Männchen

Hamburg Harbor

Classes were over for the week and we had a lovely, sunny afternoon to spend outside.  Where better to head than the harbor ferry over to the Strandperle Restaurant at Övelgönne Beach. along the Elbe.  The ferry is included in our monthly transportation passes and it’s a wonderful way to view the harbor up close.

There are a myriad of cargo cranes, tug boats, and even an ice breaker along the ferry route.  Övelgönne beach is at the base of a steep hill full of old houses which survived WWII.  The beach itself has many restaurants and is a mooring area for wooden sailing ships.  I probably saw 20 of them in just one area.  It‘s a fun area for sitting outside on a sunny day and enjoying the view.

Our classes continue to be challenging.  We have had two instructors - Sylvia and Lisa.  We prefer Lisa because she NEVER speaks English to us, while Sylvia will immediately slip into English when we can‘t figure something out.  Sylvia is also clueless when it comes to operating a computer, so we usually listen to the practice dialogs at home.  There are still four of us in the class, Paul and I, a New Zealander who has lived here for four years, and a woman from Switzerland who speaks both French and English.  It‘s a good group.

The Reeperbahn

Hamburg‘s Reeperbahn is a “colorful” area of Hamburg located near the port.  It’s typical of the red light district in most port cities, full of seedy restaurants, sex shops and whatever else you might want or need.  It’s also a cultural hotspot for Hamburg with many live music venues and theaters.  The Beatles played here for several years before hitting it big.  The Beatles statue is underwhelming to say the least.

The Beatles - Hamburg

We went to the Reeperbahn because there was a food festival advertised.  It turned out to be a few food trucks and a band warming up on stage.  Again, underwhelming.  We probably won’t go back again until the Christmas market opens in November.  Got to get those really fun gifts for all of our friends!

The Reeperbahn

We have noticed a number of similar statues around town and upon doing some research found that they are of Hans Hummel, the last water carrier in Hamburg.  Back in the day when homes were not hooked up to a water line, water carriers delivered buckets of water to homes.  The Hans Hummel statues are an art project of 100 identical statues painted by various local artists.  We have seen similar projects in Berlin (bears), and in Washington, DC (donkeys and elephants).

Hans Hummel - water carrier

By the way - today is German Reunification Day.  28 years ago, the Berlin Wall came down and the city was reunited.  There didn’t seem to be any celebrating anywhere other than in Berlin, but it’s a national holiday so no school today.  German grammar is a bear, so it was nice to have a day off to review.