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
Normally, I'm not a lover of great masses of people; I rather feel uneasy in the flock. But today I suggested to J that we should take a walk to the harbour and see the historical boats and have lunch there. We had a wonderful grilled salmon in a very traditional Portuguese restaurant in a side street, 5 min. away from the water. 13$ for the fish -- and it was a huge piece. Then we walked back to the harbour. You see a Russian boat on the right, a replica of a 1706 ship. I'll make a little galery to show you all the pictures. 
I came home with a traditional fishers' shirt in which -- as I see now -- I look terribly fat. 
But it is tradition. It feels good.
