Note: Use the link at the bottom to go to the final part of this post.
My ears had been bothering me. Every morning I'd wake with a stuffed right ear. And I was having trouble hearing clearly. It's been an old story with me - a month ago I had a bout of vertigo and an infection in my right ear. Now this. It might have been the plane flights. Dunno. But Marie, a physician, suggested that I come to her office to see one of her colleagues, an ENT (ear, nose and throat) doc.
We met Marie at 7:30 in front of the apartment house and drove to her practice. It was on the east side of the Alster in a working class district of town with a large population of immigrants from Ghana. We had coffee in her office and met her partner, a Doctor Heinz. Then she gave us directions to reach the office of the ENT doctor which was just a block away. He gave me an exhaustive examination and sent me (twice) to his audiologist for hearing tests. The end result was that he couldn't find anything wrong with me. He said I had a very slight amount of hearing loss and Stacey asked him why it was that I could never hear anything she said. He said it wasn't my ears as much as the organ between the ears. Did I tell you that Germans have a good sense of humor?
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| Dr. Coen. |
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| The twice-weekly Isemarkt. A half mile of food stalls. |
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| The pickle man shtupped us with endless free samples of his gurkens. |
When we reached the other end, we turned south on Hochallee, a beautiful street from that lovely neighborhood that we had enjoyed on our bike rides - the one that stretched east to the Alster. It was a lovely walk home.
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| Lovely old buildings on Hochallee. |
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| We're riding to meet Kris and family and then over to the harbor and a playground. |
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| This beautiful old building used to be a train station, which since has been moved to a nearby location. Out front: a statue of Otto von Bismarck - the unifier of modern Germany which occurred in 1871. |
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| We've reached the harbor - a big and busy place that's the reason for Hamburg's importance over the years. |
We watched the kids playing for a while but it was getting late and we had a date - with Marie for dinner out. Stacey and I pedaled back on the bike path that runs along the harbor towards downtown. What an exciting ride. The waterfront has been spruced up and new residential buildings lined what had previously been the red-light district for sailors.
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| The old red-light district, now new life and new residental buildings. Note the omni-present bike path. |
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| The busy harbor: wind turbines, cranes and a promenade with a wall to sit and take it all in. |
When we had cycled along the harbor for a few miles we reached the downtown area and then turned inwards to head back to our apartment. We rode alongside a green belt that included the Botanic Garden and other parks. And we passed some exciting new architecture including the new railway station and convention center in the heart of town.
It was getting late. We had dinner plans with Marie who was taking us to a restaurant on the harbor. So we biked the rest of the way to our apartment to get ready for our date....tomorrow would be our last day in Hamburg (Wednesday, September 5th) as we would be leaving for New York early on Thursday.
You can read about and see my photos from
our remaining time by going HERE where
this post continues.
To see ALL of this post's photos go HERE.
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| The new convention center built atop a historic old building. Note the glass side of the old building, probably blasted out during the WWII bombing raids - a novel "restoration.." |
It was getting late. We had dinner plans with Marie who was taking us to a restaurant on the harbor. So we biked the rest of the way to our apartment to get ready for our date....tomorrow would be our last day in Hamburg (Wednesday, September 5th) as we would be leaving for New York early on Thursday.
You can read about and see my photos from
our remaining time by going HERE where
this post continues.
To see ALL of this post's photos go HERE.
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