Hamburg-Germany 3
July 12, 2023,
Hi Everyone,
I spent my first night in my 2* Ibis Hotel which is adequate and centrally located. Apparently there are 150 Canadians here but many have not arrived yet. I went to bed at 11:00 last night and slept until 10:00 this morning a feat that has not been duplicated by me since my university days. I guess that I must have been tired from the voyage. I am not as young as I used to be. I left the hotel in shorts and a t-shirt, prepared for a sunny day…
My first stop was at a German bakery for a chocolate croissant and a cappuccino just like at home. I spent the day strolling along various streets in Hamburg in no particular direction and with no particular place to go. I love travelling like that. It reminds me of a scene in Easy Rider when a fellow asks Peter Fonda ‘what time is it’ and he responds that it is the ‘time that we throw away our watches’ and he tosses his.
Hamburg is an incredible city. It was bombed and completely flattened during the war. It was then rebuilt with the same 19th century architecture. All the buildings are 6 to 8 stories high and I didn’t see any of those 30 story glass buildings that seem to grow up everywhere in our downtowns. There are pedestrian walk ways everywhere. The sidewalks are wide and there does not seem to be any traffic jams. I didn’t see any cones surrounding a hole in the street with a bunch of guys standing around with cigarettes trying to fill the hole up by flicking their ashes into it. This is obviously a Montreal phenomenon. The city is particularly clean with many beautiful parks. There are bicycle paths everywhere which are meant for bikes only. The bikes go fast so you must not walk on the path unless you want to be a ‘past tense’.
It started pouring late in the afternoon, so I got soaked. Everyone speaks English here except the salesman in the umbrella shop that I entered. However he quickly understood from my sign language what I wanted to purchase. At 4:00 I went to the main plaza where tents have been put up to accommodate the athletes and give us our pre race instructions and athletic bags with our numbers. There are 5000 athletes here competing in various categories.
I get the impression in Western Europe that they are much more concerned than us about protecting the environment, preserving heritage buildings, and conserving energy. People everywhere are very polite. It seems to be a pleasure for them to speak in English, showing you that they can converse in at least 2 languages. Is it possible that Canada is a young country with old ideas, and Western European countries are old countries with young ideas? Canadians either don’t travel enough or if they do, they don’t learn from their travels.
Well it’s time for my evening cocktail (beer).
Love, Brian
gobriantravel 