Germany – September 2023
It’s just 7.30 a.m. when I get off the Easy Jet plane at Hamburg Airport shortly after sunrise. Because I’m traveling with light hand luggage, I make my way straight to the arrivals hall. On the way, I read the “reviews” of the Hanseatic city chiseled into the wall and immediately get in the mood for discovery. That’s just as well – after all, my host is still recovering from his nightly tours of the city that Sunday morning and I have already put together my own program out of consideration. So I take the train to the city center and get off at the Reeperbahn. (My destination is not the entertainment district, but the fish market at the harbor).
Here I don’t feel like I’m in Germany (or Europe), but rather transported back to Laos‘ night markets or the bazaar in Tashkent. The market vendors loudly advertise their exotic goods, and their counters overflow with colorful fruits and fresh fish. The customers are international and eager to buy. When the mass of people becomes a little too much for me, I sit down with my sandwich on the slightly elevated promenade and watch the goings-on from a distance. At 9.31am, I am finally catapulted back to Germany by a loudspeaker announcement: “The fish market closes at 9.30am. We hope you had a pleasant visit and that you have made some good purchases. Sales are suspended with immediate effect. Market vendors are asked to pack up their stalls and clear the market area.”
I watch the vendors tidy up for a while and then slowly make my way to Landungsbrücken, where my train leaves for Wilhelmsburg. Once I arrive on the Elbe islands, I take the last part of the journey by bus to the residential area of a friend of a work colleague. He generously offers me a place to sleep – without knowing me. Fortunately, we hit it off straight away and spend the rest of the Sunday exploring Wilhelmsburg (despite a lack of sleep on both sides). Konstantin gives me an incredible amount of background knowledge about the formerly neglected district and lets me in on the culinary secrets of the area. After a late afternoon snack at La Patina, we treat ourselves to a movie night at the home cinema with “Princess Mononoke” from Ghibli Studio.
See, do and eat in Wilhelmsburg
– the new Ernst-August-Schleuse
– the old Schleuse Wilhelmsburg
– MS Artville
– Bicycle tour with StadtRAD through the Wilhelmsburger Inselpark
– Enjoy the view from Energiebunker (only on weekends)
– Walk on the Klütjenfelder Hauptdeich
– Döner, Falafel, Baklava and much more at one of the Kebab shops
– Pastel de Nata in a Portuguese Café
– Baked goods at Kismet Bäckerei
– Kaffeeliebe Café
– Pizza and Pasta at La Patina
– Currywurst at the weekly market on Stübenplatz
The next day I’m off work (thanks to the many Japanese public holidays). But I have a brunch date with my friend Gauhar and I’m up early anyway. After all, I want to take the practical ferry from the Ernst August lock to the jetties. After an exciting trip around the harbor, I take the train to Sternschanze. We treat ourselves to a cup of coffee and two of the delicious sandwiches with salmon and avocado in a newly opened café. Gauhar was instrumental in ensuring that I had a great stay in her home city of Almaty (Kazakhstan). I tell her about my impressions there and we reminisce about our time together in Dubai.
A long walk finally brings us to the center of Hamburg. Hungry again, we eat delicious bibimbap in a Korean restaurant and then make our way to the Speicherstadt warehouse district. From there it’s not far to the Aussenalster and Gauhar’s apartment. I spend the late afternoon studying Hayao Miyazaki’s memoirs while Gauhar prepares the typical Central Asian noodle dish laghman. During the third incredibly tasty meal of the day, we watch the Ghibli movie “Ponyo” in Japanese with German subtitles. The wild mix of languages we experience today makes us both tired and so I make my way back to Wilhelmsburg at the end of the movie.
I start my third day in Hamburg by working in Konstantin’s well-equipped home office. For lunch, I grab a long-awaited kebab from one of the many stores in the neighborhood. Then I finish work early and hire a city bike for the ride through the Elbe tunnel. Back in Sternschanze, I soon abandon my search for a hairdresser (nothing works without an appointment). I wander the streets without a plan until I spontaneously meet up with Konstantin, who works in the area. We eat delicious high-end fish sandwiches (or meatballs with chips) and then walk to the main station. Not without buying a Wegbier at one of the city’s many kiosks on the way, of course.
On Wednesday evening I am meeting Julia, with whom I shared a room in London for a few weeks when we worked together. She’s been sailing the world’s oceans ever since and just happened to be in Hamburg on vacation between 2 contracts on an expedition cruise ship. We enjoy the warm late summer evening in Planten & Bloomen Park and then stroll to the Portuguese Quarter. There we chat over tapas and sangria about our wild time in England and our respective experiences of returning home after long stays abroad. Time flies by and soon it’s time for me to take the train back to Wilhelmsburg.
On Thursday, for once I don’t have a kebab for lunch, but a Currywurst from the local weekly market. Shortly after work, I make my way to the Aussenalster, where Gauhar wants to show me the beautiful villas in the area. As we stroll along the lakeshore, we philosophize about life in faraway countries as immigrants and the cultural differences between the eastern and western hemispheres. Then we stop off at a French café for some delicious hot chocolate before continuing on to Harvestehude. From here we take the train to the city center, where we say goodbye for the day. On the way back to Wilhelmsburg, I make a quick stop at the Elbphilharmonie concert hall. The concert hall on the water somehow reminds me of the KKL cultural and congress center in my hometown of Lucerne. The architecture and the view of the harbor at night are unique.
On my penultimate day in Hamburg, I finish work early again and take the train to Blankense to the famous Treppenviertel shortly after midday. I buy a fish sandwich at the market there, which I eat on the steps of the hilly suburban neighborhood. Down on the sandy banks of the Elbe, I make a short stop to watch the huge tankers maneuvering. Then I walk back up to the station and back towards Altona, where I have a final appointment with Gauhar. We stroll through the old town, wonder together about the origins of certain German expressions and marvel at all the graffiti. Then it’s time to say goodbye and I drive back to Wilhelmsburg.
I have planned a cooking evening with Konstantin for my last evening in Hamburg. We’re both pretty exhausted from the eventful week, but we do manage to conjure up a Thai curry. In other words, Konstantin works his magic and I more or less successfully chop up a few onions. I finally find out why the paste never tastes so good (too little oil, not fried hot enough) and am delighted with the best curry I’ve had outside of Thailand. Over a cocktail and coconut soup to go with it, we talk about every conceivable topic late into the night.
Luckily, I take the night bus to Stuttgart on Saturday evening, so I let the first rays of sunshine wake me up and then laze around on the comfy futon before picking up a few treats for breakfast/brunch at the Kismet bakery. After I’ve finished packing in the early afternoon, Konstantin and I go on one last exploratory tour, which takes us south of Wilhelmsburg down to the Inselpark. By now, I’ve gotten used to the huge amounts of graffiti and stickers all over the city, but I have to mention it again at the bridge to the old lock. Konstantin just laughs. We borrow city bikes for the ride back and then finish off the leftovers from last night’s dinner. Then it’s already time for me to set off for the bus station.
I say goodbye to the Japanese oasis in northern Germany and cycle over the dyke and the Elbe bridges to Hammerbrook just before sunset. There I spontaneously decide to go up to the viewing deck of the Elbphilharmonie concert hall. It’s definitely worth the trip, but I’m really pressed for time and end up getting on the train to Bahnhof Süd without a ticket. When I arrive at the ZOB, the Flixbus southbound is already waiting with its doors open and, after showing my ID, I sit down in the seat assigned to me.
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