Monday, May 11, 2009

Fun and a Fake

1189 is the year which is seen as the official beginning of a harbour in Hamburg. In May 1989, there was the first celebration of a harbour jubilee. Unfortunately, the Wall had not opened yet. When there was free access for East German citizens, they were very sorry they had missed this great event. So Hamburg decided to celebrate the 801st birthday together with East German visitors. And this event became a habit. This is the 820th Harbour Birthday.
Actually -- that's why I call it a fake -- a delegation of the Hamburg citizens tried to get a harbour privilege. They went to see King Frederic Barbarossa, but were not received in audience. The king had just returned from a crusade and did not welcome visitors. They were sent home and told to wait. They waited for years. In 1265 they lost patience and probably wrote the patent themselves. This document still exists, and some experts on history say it is a fake.
Nevertheless, Hamburg loves this fair.

This one's for Rayna!

We had a stroll along the shops and had a Guiness, a band played Irish music, much to my husband's delight.
On the way back, we took a walk through our wonderful old "Speicherstadt", the old warehouses which in the time of container cargo handling are no longer used for this purpose, but have become expensive flats and a place for exhibitions and companies. Here is the complete photo galery!

A whole new quarter of luxury apartments and offices is being built in the south of Hamburg, and right within, our new opera -- TADA!! --
If a show is cancelled, in German this is called "fallen into the water" . Hope that this location is okay for an opera house!
Walking home on socks

12 comments:

Mr Lee said...

Thanks for sharing your photos.So beautiful!Wish you a happy day.

ArtSparker said...

Lovely photo of you and J- what are you holding or looking at?

Yesterday I bought a book by Hamburg author Walter Moers, the 13 anda half lives of Captain Bluebear.

Eva said...

J held the camera and his Guiness.
Captain Bluebear is hilarious! I love him. He speaks a genuine Hamburg accent (which I don't have!)

Diane Cransac said...

Looks like you had a wonderful day, what fun!

Beate Knappe said...

Oh Hamburg ist schon schööön!!!!!

Judy said...

Thank you for another great history lesson! You know how I love Hamburg!

And I can almost taste that Guiness!!! MMMMMMM!

xo

Rayna said...

Love those pix of you and Jens -- you look so happy. Thanks for the photo of that wonderful gridded building; I'll take the bunkertuer, too. Your photos are always such a treat. Thanks, dear Eva.

Nettie Edwards said...

Hello! you lioniked to a post on my blog. i don't know how or why posts get linked but i'm so glad that you did. i have really enjoyed spending some time in your company and was particularly moved to read about your mother's experiences at the end of the war. These stories must never die x

Eva said...

Dear Rayna, in the galery I placed the photos of your interest in original size on click. Please feel free to download them! Sorry, can't send you mails -- again.

ArtSparker said...

Oh, I see, you do mention Guiness. I love Guiness.

sewkalico said...

I always wanted to visit Hamburg! I believe they speak 'proper' German there :-D
Nicht Schwaebisch wie in 'Sturrgit' (Stuttgart) LOL

ps the 'word verification' for this comment is 'colou' - very fitting!!

Eva said...

Tell me before you arrive, I'll show you the nicest places (refers to my blogger friends in general!).