Our visit to Germany

Photos: Sightseeing in Hamburg (Reeperbahn, churches and boats on the Elbe), shipboard party in Hamburg

Hamburg, Germany
9/15/07 to 9/

Finding our way from the ship yard to “civilization” was difficult enough while in the U.S. but is compounded now with the inability to fluently speak the language of the country we’re visiting. Our biggest help is the Super Cargo (the supervisor of cargo or person who supervises the on-loading and off-loading of cargo) at each port. He is knowledgeable of the area, speaks the local language and best of all has a company cell phone. He’s happy to call the seafarer’s club or a taxi for us and gives us directions or a map to help us find our way around.

Saturday morning we asked the Super Cargo to call the Seafarer’s Club to see if they would provide transportation into the city of Hamburg. Well, they don’t open until 3:00 in the afternoon, so we decided to take a taxi, which ended up costing about twenty Euros, but we arrived at the entrance to a very old walking tunnel that brought us out at the visitors’ bureau where we signed up for a double-decker city bus tour. It was narrated in English and German so we heard a bit of the history and highlights of Hamburg as we drove through the elegant and wealthy Eppendorf region which rims the lake; the wicked (or formerly wicked) Reeperbahn; beautiful old churches, museums, restaurants and theaters, as well as the shopping district of Monckebergstrasse. After a nice German lunch of a specialty of the region, labskaus, at Rauch’s Old Commercial Room, we visited the beautiful St. Michael’s cathedral. It’s possible to climb the 450 steps to the steeple, but the line was very long and we didn’t wait. We took a leisurely stroll through the Reeperbahn area that was once famous for it’s wild nightlife and available women of the night, but has since been cleaned up and now has theaters and restaurants, but there’s still some remnants of it’s past to be seen (see photos).

We spent a couple of hours at an internet café where Martha and I were able to check email and return messages from family and friends. We headed to the waterfront area and famous fish market and had a light seafood dinner before getting a taxi back to the ship. That sounds like an easy thing to do but things are not always what they seem. We showed our piece of paper with the name of the dock to our driver (Indian, wearing a turban) and asked if he knew how to get there. He said yes, so we got in the cab and off we went. Well, after several u-turns and dead end streets and passing lots of docks and big ships, and at one point ending back in the city of Hamburg again (he was following directions from a hand-held GPS), he admitted that he really didn’t know where it was. So he stopped and asked directions (what a guy!) and was sent in the right directions - another six kilometers - and we finally returned to the ship about 9 PM. At least he had turned off the meter when he admitted that he was lost, so we paid him approximately what we had paid in the morning for the trip into Hamburg but we got a much longer, if not more scenic, ride returning.

From the aft deck, we saw our new Captain and his wife arriving and making their way up the gang way. Later, while we were talking with the Super Cargo, the Captain came into the conference room and we were introduced. He appears to be a little younger than our previous captain and much more outgoing and friendly. The Supervisor told me that he’s much easier to be around because he has children and a large family and enjoys life. We learned that his wife will make the complete trip with him (Hamburg to Hamburg) and that she doesn’t speak English, only Polish, but they attended the party that night and she seemed very nice. Their son and their nephew had driven them to the ship, so stayed for dinner and the party and spent the night aboard, leaving the next day to return to university.

Again on Sunday, the Seafarer’s club was not opening until 3:00 PM, so we took a taxi to a nearby internet café. I took my computer this time so that I could post two articles to the blog site. It went very well except that the site came up in German and I had a bit of a difficult time deciphering the words. Did it say “upload photos” or “delete photos”? Is that “post to blog site” or “save as draft”. I ended up either guessing or asking my fellow German computer users to interpret for me. People are so nice when you act stupid (it really wasn’t an act) and smile sweetly. Well, everything finally worked and I was able to do two blog postings and respond to a couple of additional emails, so I was happy. Because it was Sunday, most of the shops in this little mall were closed but we found a nice little Greek restaurant and had a nice lunch of doner kebabs. The nice man at the internet café called us a taxi and this time our driver knew exactly where he was going and we quickly found ourselves back at our ship.

Around 6 PM we went to the aft deck for a party/dinner that was hosted by the company (Rickmers) that hires our Filipino crew. The party was in honor of the crew because in Boston there were no stevedores and the crew had to work extra hard to do all the tie-downs after the cargo was loaded. The company sent several representatives and their families and they brought lots of local foods (marinated meats: turkey, beef, pork and chicken, plus salads: coleslaw and potato salad) plus beer and wine. It was very nice but we heard a comment that the crew members would have preferred money instead of a party because they have to work the next day so could not eat and drink all night. Well, as it turned out, it didn’t seem to slow them down at all. We ate and drank and danced (Martha and I were very popular as dance partners tonight) until quite late and sang to the music with the kareoke. We really got to know a lot of the guys tonight and heard many stories of their home and families. They were particularly happy because they got the news tonight that they will all go home in November. We were sad to hear that because they won’t be with us for our entire trip. We’ll have to break in a new crew and won’t have time to get quite as comfortable with them because we’ll be leaving in December. Of well, we’ll enjoy this group of great guys while we’re together.

We also met our two new passengers - a couple from Sweden. It was very noisy at the party so it was difficult to talk but we learned that they are very happy because they feared they would be the only two passengers aboard. The next day we learned that her name is Sonheid (not sure of the spelling but she said it’s an old viking name and it’s pronounced soon ield.) and his is Helge. We got aquainted a little over breakfast and a little more at lunch. After they left the dining room, Gani told us that they’d gotten off to a bad start with him because when they arrived, Sonhild said her money was missing and told him to call security. One of the officers came to her cabin and suggested she search her other bags and when she did she found her money in a different place. Gani said he’d never been a suspect before and he didn’t like the feeling. She of course apologized profusely for the mix-up. Other than that, they seem to have settled in nicely and are adjusting to life aboard a freighter.

On the 17th, after taking on many cases of provisions for the galley and other items for use aboard, we departed Hamburg precisely at 2 PM as scheduled (good German precision) and cruised back out the Elbe River to the North Sea, passing by The Netherlands, on our way to Antwerp, Belgium.