23-07 Hamburg-Germany 14

Hamburg-Germany 14

July 20, 2023,

Hi Everyone,

Last evening I had dinner at the Factory Hotel. I know that I said that I would not discuss alcohol or restaurants but the following is a must. The Germans know how to plan cities for the general population. However, they are a little short with restaurants. The venue of the restaurant was superb. I was seated at a table outside overlooking a pond with a fountain. I ordered a main course of tuna and asked for a margarita, a ¼ litre of French wine and bread to go with the meal. I like to have a piece of bread before imbibing in alcoholic beverages as it lines the stomach. I learned that from a nurse at a hospital in France when were drinking ‘un peau’ after Friday noon rounds with the patron. The wine arrived first. 10 minutes later the bread arrived with butter but no cutlery. The tuna arrived with the margarita. The tuna was ok… but the price was 4*. Afterwards the waitress asked me if I liked the margarita. I told her that it was ok but lacked the salt on the edge of the glass. She told me that it was the first time that they had prepared one. I think that the delay was because they were looking for the instructions of how to mix one on Google.

Last evening after dinner I walked around ‘old Munster’. The waitress advised me to go to a street where the students gather for drinks. I went into a bar and listened to some New Age music and had a beer. I was obviously the grandfather patron at the place. It was quite fun.

Today I rented a bicycle to tour Munster. I rented a ‘girl’s bike that resembled my mothers bike that she purchased in 1935 with her sister. The bike was heavy, black, and had 3 gears of which only 2 worked. You peddle backwards to stop the back wheel but there is a front brake. 35% of the population in Munster use bicycles to get around. There are over 400k of bicycle paths in a city of 350,000. There were bikes everywhere all of which resembled mine. I didn’t see any $4000 triathlon bikes.

There is no traffic to speak of and no construction on the city streets. Everyone walks, uses public transport on bicycles around. There were no motorcycles to be seen. The drivers are extremely polite but you must obey the rules. Shtopp means shtopp. When there is a red light for bikes or pedestrians, every shtopps and waits even if there is no traffic for a few minutes. I did not see any J walking at all.

I rode around the old section of town first. There are parks everywhere which are bike friendly. There is a ring park that goes around the inner city that follows a small stream. There is also a small lake with a sailing school for kids that sail optimists. I passed by the Shloss University where Dominique studied as she lived and worked in Munster for a few years. The city is a university town as the university is considered highly in Germany. The city was badly damaged during the war, but like elsewhere in Germany, it was rebuilt exactly as it had been using the same stones and keeping the streets exactly the same. No building is more than 3-4 stories high. The homes where the wealthy people live either border on park land or on the river. There are apartments and town houses of very high quality.

Eventually, I parked my bike near a church so that I could remember where I parked it. The streets all go around in circles; no street is straight for more than a few blocks. The streets also change names abruptly to confuse the tourist. Forget about finding numbers on buildings; that is a myth in itself. I visited St Paul’s Cathedral. There are several St Paul’s Cathedrals in Europe. This one was built originally in the 9th century and then rebuilt in the 13th century. It was damaged during the war but restored magnificently. The building is huge and the acoustics are incredible. I coughed and I think that it echoed through the church.

For lunch I had a desert. In Germany the pies are huge but the cappuccinos are tiny. I needed to have 2 in order to have my did day dose of caffeine.

Love, Brian