Visiting The Family - In Washington. That's Washington State, If You Please.

Wednesday, Mar 19, 2014

We'd not seen our grandchildren since November. That's when we spent Thanksgiving out at their new home in Poulsbo, Washington. It was defintiely time. JetBlue tickets were purchased back in December and we anxiously counted the weeks until our trip was to begin.

Biggie was coming with us and the three of us took car service out to JFK to board our 5:30 flight. 

Stacey and Matt....and Biggie. At JFK

We arrived in Seattle on Sunday night and checked into a sweet boutique hotel in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood, The Maxwell. The area, near Seattle Center and the Space Needle, is north or the hectic downtown area. 

The Maxwell Hotel -- In the Queen Anne neighborhood.

The next day, Monday, we walked and explored and walked and then walked some more. Exploring the very well-to-do neighborhood of Queen Anne, which is on one of Seattle's hills high above and north the city center, we hiked up one flight of public steps after another. Our destination was Kerry Park, a little public overlook on a residential street. It's where all those iconic photos of the city are taken and it afforded a spectacular view indeed!

One set up city steps after another.
Each led to another street. And then another.
Each with a grander view than the one below.

The climb was well worth it. Here in Kerry Park
extrasordinary veiws of the city and Puget Sound.

After, we explored the beautiful neighborhood:quiet streets lined with lots of modern mansions and plenty of older ones as well. The houses are perched on this elevated landscape and that affords them magnificent views of the city and harbor far below. Quite wonderful (if you can afford it). We ended up at the neighborhood's commercial strip, Queen Anne Road, where we had lunch at Five Hooks, a lovely fresh fish joint. Interestingly, Biggie was welcomed too. Seattle is known for its pet-friendly tourism.

The beautiful streets and homes of the Queen Anne neighborhood.

Strolling up Queen Anne Road, a lovely
commercial street with trendy shops, cafes and restaurants.

Lunch at Five Hooks, serving the
freshest fish imagineable. And very affordable.

Lunch was great and we walked it off by walking all the way back down to the hotel where we rested for an hour.

But we weren't finished yet. At about three, we ventured into the former World's Fair site (from 1962) which is now called Seattle Center. Completely re-built, it's now the location of the city's famous Space Needle as well as many cultural attractions: museums, theaters and dance groups as well as the terminal of a monorail that takes you downtown.

We strolled through the Seattle Center, a cultural
and recreational site that once accommodated the
1962 Seattle World's Fair. 

Awesome views from the top of the Space Needle.
On a clear day you'd see Mt. Rainier to the right of the city.
More often than not it's shrouded in fog and clouds.

After ascending to the top of the Needle, where we enjoyed awesome views of the City and its surrounding area, we took that monorail and then walked around the downtown area and the market at Pike Place.

Biggie riding the monorail to downtown Seattle.

Seattle - a busy, modern city.
We loved it!

No visit is complete without a stop
in the famous Pike Street Market.

It was getting late and we had walked enough for several days. So we headed back via the monorail. Resting a bit in our room, we hit the restaurant that's ensconced in the hotel's ground floor, The Rock. It's a popular bar and pub with good pizza and burgers. We had a lovely and inexpensive dinner and retired to a long and deserving night of sleep.
Tomorrow - a rental car and an hour-and-a-half drive to the family in Poulsbo. But that'a another storey. Stay tuned.

To SEE ALL of my Seattle photos....just go HERE.

Hamburg - A Livable, Lovable City - Part II

Sep 9, 2012 Posted From Brooklyn, NY

Note - This post is in three parts (to make it easier on you dear reader). Use the link at the bottom to continue to the additional sections.

~~~
Day 4, Monday, September 3, 2012

We started the day the same way, with a visit to our friendly Stadt Bäckerei (City Bakery - it's a chain) on our corner of Hallerstrasse and Beim Schlump. The manager already knew us, so in addition to our usual breakfast of a half a sandwich and espresso, each day he brought a little treat of some pastry as a reward for our one week of loyalty. We found Hamburgers to be, those that we met, friendly, helpful, of good humor and, as a bonus, conversant in English. That made for a very stress-free and easy week in Germany.

Stacey at Stadt Bäckerei with our smoked salmon and cream sandwich.

After breakfast, we again biked down to the Alster. Our intention was to reach the lake and then turn south until we reached the bottom and the city center. We thought that we would have explore the downtown with our bikes but the flat tire in Stacey's front wheel  (that I had fixed a day ago) came back to haunt us: as we reached the downtown area her front tire went down. There were no bike stores around there so we chained the bikes and set out on foot, to deal with the flat later. 

Hamburg map - Click to see larger.

Fortunately we were where we wanted to be: at one of downtown's shopping streets - a car-free promenade call Colannaden (The Collanades). Lined with historic buildings and expensive shops, it made for good window shopping if not buying.

Kolannaden (Collanades Street) - a pedestrianized and fancy shopping strip.

Strolling along that street, we arrived at the downtown proper, where the Alster tuns into a canal. It too, was lined with shops and restaurants and opened up on to the broad platz (plaza) on which stood the magnificent  Rathaus - City Hall.

Our first view of the  Rathaus (City Hall). Majestic and grand. 

Hamburg was almost totally destroyed by fire in 1842. It was then rebuilt along a carefully laid out city plan radiating from the bottom of the Alster. Here, in the 1880's, was built this grand Rathaus. You got the feeling that the city fathers were very impressed with themselves and their city, important and wealthy port and trading center that it was. This building was opulent and grand and the sense of its self-importance was palpable as you stood in front of it to take it all in.

Rathaus - I couldn't take it all in with the lens I had.

Ilse, Mirjam's mom, had joined us. She wanted to take us on a guided tour - Ilse has worked in historic preservation and is very knowledgeable on Hamburg and its history. We ventured into the Rathaus. Its lobby was a splendidly decorated as its front but the pièce de resistance is the inner courtyard which took our breath away.

This statue in the inner courtyard of the Rathaus commemorates the
construction of  a sanitary water supply after a deadly cholera epidemic.
The building behind is not the City Hall but the Hamburg stock market.

The inner courtyard of the City Hall.

Next on Ilse's tour was the Chilehaus in Kontorhouse (counting house or office) district. Said to contain almost 5 million dark Oldenburg bricks, it's one of the prime examples of the 1920's architectural style known as Brick Expressionism. Massive and impressive, the best view of this masterpiece is from its east end where its sharp lines and angles come together recalling the prow of a ship.

Chilehaus - so named because its developer, despite a severe recession, had
mucho dinero earned from his mining exploits in Chile.

From Chilehaus we walked down to the Warehouse District. This area was intentionally outside the governance of the city proper. The business class wanted the port and its warehouses to be tax exempt and duty free. Sitting along the city's lovely canals, these massive warehouses stored the wares which helped to make Hamburg a powerhouse and a wealthy and prosperous city of Northern Germany.

Hamburg's Warehouse District - now fancy condos on lovely canals.

It was getting late and we still hadn't dealt with Stacey's flat tire. Mirjam and Maya met us back at the Rathaus plaza and she took Stacey and the bike (it's a folding Brompton and allowed on the bus) via bus back to our apartment. I rode my bike back and got there at the same time.

That evening we had dinner with Marie, Almicar and Wolfgang in their apartment - which was on the ground floor and opened onto the backyard - which was more like a city park than a yard. Marie whipped together a wonderful salmon dinner. We added some good wine. A wonderful way to end a perfect day in Hamburg.

Marie's apartment with glassed rear porch and stairs to a beautiful
back yard that resembled a city park.

The hostess with the mostest: Marie and her friend, Wolfgang.

To see ALL of today's photos, CLICK HERE.


This post continues here: Day 5 In Hamburg

Hamburg - A Livable, Lovable City - Part I

Sep 9, 2012 - Posted from Brooklyn NY

Remember, click a photo to see it larger.
And... see the entire collection of photos by following the link at the end of this post.

We're back home. (been back for a couple of days, but thought you'd enjoy these last two posts). Our trip to Wales and Germany is now behind us. Behind, but not forgotten. One trip but two very different weeks with great contrasts and that made the trip that much more rewarding.

Week one in Wales - a place of great natural beauty; of ocean and rugged shoreline. With the added bonus of spending quality time with old friends.

Week two  in Germany's 2nd largest city, Hamburg - prosperous, sophisticated and elegant, orderly, clean and well cared for. A beautiful city with lovely canals and parks and magnificent buildings that are architectural gems. A city with a long history, including the dark period of Nazi dictatorship and its genocide against its Jewish residents (as well as trade unionists, progressives, Romani, homosexuals and others).

I'm embedding a song here: Why Aye Man by Mark Knopfler (a great guitarist and singer/songwriter,  formerly of the group Dire Straits). In this song he writes of a humble worker from Newcastle in UK - a Geordie man, an economic refugee forced to flee his economically depressed home to work in Germany.

We had no way of staying afloat,
We had to leave on a ferryboat.
Economic refugees,
On the run to Germany.

I  thought this song appropriate since we visited both countries. (and in any case, I really like it).

Hamburg is a prosperous town. Though one week is hardly enough to know a city, let alone a country, a casual observer comes away with the feeling that things seem OK here and headed in the right direction: orderly, neat, clean, well maintained and cared for. The prosperity comes with a price that other European countries like Greece and Spain are paying for. German banks are demanding that those countries pay their debts on the back of severe slashes to people's standard of living. Still, Stacey and I were both impressed by the quality of life here. Coming from the U.S. and New York with a stench of austerity laying heavy in the air; with what seems like never-ending layoffs, budget cuts, attacks on unions and constant GOP talk of deficits and smaller government; with our infrastructure in tatters ... well, Germany seems a world apart. The idea that is so fashionable in the U.S. today (among certain circles) -  that government should not be employed to improve the quality of life for all its citizens seems alien and unimaginable to Germans. It's also obvious that when you spend close to 60 percent of your annual budget on wars and Pentagon budgets, there is precious little money left for taking care of your cities, schools, health care, transit systems, etc. Germans pay higher taxes than Americans but they get, it seems, a very good return for their money that pays back with a very high quality of life.

One other point: in flying back I sat at the window of the plane and watched the German landscape far below. I was amazed to see hundreds upon hundreds (maybe thousands) of wind turbines all across that country, spinning gently and generating electricity for the villages and cities next to which they stood. Flying in to the U.S. through Maine, Massachusetts and New York, I was able to see just one single set of turbines. (To be sure, there are many more, but trust me: my anecdotal observation showed a staggering difference in the amount of turbines deployed in each country). Recently, Germany has stated that they intend to produce 35 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2022. This year they have already surpassed the 20 percent mark. They have also declared, categorically, that they will end the use of nuclear plants to generate electricity. They obviously have a plan and they are embarked on making it reality. Despite the President's proposals to invest in clean energy, we've gone virtually nowhere in ending our addiction to oil and all that that portends for our planet not to mention this country's foreign policy that depends on securing access to oil, often through use of military power. Congress, controlled by the Grand Oil Party, has blocked any progress in that direction.

So, like Mark Knopfler sings: "Germany's alright with me."  Play the song.

~~~
Again, this is a biking city: old, young, solo and in groups - people are out on bikes everywhere and all the time. We found it easy to fit right in. The bike lanes are on the sidewalk, not in the street. It seems to work. Cars look out for bikes crossing - they must yield the right of way or face a hefty fine. Bikes must look out for pedestrians and drive with care (not always the case it seemed, but by and large, yes).

Stacey on her folding Brompton bike in front
of our apartment house on Hallerstrasse.

Bike paths are on the sidewalk and well delineated.

On our second day in town we biked our way to Mirjam and Kris' house, about 2 miles away. They live in the Altona section of town, not as wealthy; more working class, more diverse.

Mirjam and Kris's house on Max Brauer Allee.

Mirjam at home.

Jona at home after school.

We went out for a walk through their neighborhood and over to the Stamp street fair which we loved watching - both the performers, the vendors and the locals out enjoying them selves on a Saturday.

Locals enjoying a drum band.

Various shows were being performed over many blocks of a shopping promenade. Drummers, a brass band, bubble blowers and more, were out in force and surrounded by large crowds of strollers and onlookers.

Kris and Maya - enjoying the festivities.

A large and loud drumming band. The audience loved it.

We walked back to Kris's house. The neighborhood was very interesting. On one building, a statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I, the unifier of Germany. One could spend weeks walking around this city, admiring its buildings and architecture. At least, those which were left after the World War. Allied bombers unleashed a week of devastating carpet bombing in July of 1943 that was said to have killed almost 40,000 civilians, many of whom were burned to death in the ferocious firestorms that ensued. Almost 80 percent of Hamburg's buildings were destroyed. The story of the Hamburg bombings weighs heavily on the psyche of Hamburg residents to this day. The story of the Nazis era that unleashed the World War - well, I don't know how heavily that burdens their outlook.

Hello there Kaiser!

From Kris's place we walked over to Ilse's (Mirjam's mom)  house for dinner. She lives nearby and her apartment overlooks a lovely cemetery/park. Very peaceful and green
.

Ilse's lovely apartment - scene of a great dinner!

~~~
On Day 3 (Sunday), after our every-day breakfast at the bakerie on the corner, we biked through stunningly beautiful neighborhoods on our way to Hamburg's centerpiece: The Alster.
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It's hard to describe how beautiful this section of the city is. It's filled with elegant old buildings, apparently exempted from the Allied attacks and reserved for their use after the war. Indeed, today's U.S. consulate is directly on the Alster and has been there since the end of the war.

Block after block of these beautiful buildings. 

On the west side of that lake is a beautiful park that Hamburgers flock to for walking, biking or just hanging out on a lovely day. What a beautiful setting!

Old and young - the Alster's the place to be.

At the south end of the Alster is the historic city center with its magnificent City Hall (Rathouse) and fancy shopping streets and lovely canals. When Stacey and I reached the end of Alster Park we came across a giant food festival packed with people.

Wurst is best in Hamburg.

Zuckerwatte anyone? That's cotton candy to you.

Now for a word about Marie, a very special woman we met through Mirjam and Kris. Marie owns the building that we stayed in. Along with her husband, Almicar, the building, which was built in the 1880's, has been brought back to its former glory. Marie is also a pediatrician. Marie made our week in Hamburg unforgettable. You never know what moves a person to be kind, generous, and embracing but whatever it is, Marie has it in spades. Over the course of the week, we had breakfast and a dinner at her place; then a dinner out coupled with a tour of the city; on one morning she took Stacey shopping; on another morning, she drove me to her practice so that I could be looked at by her colleague - I had been suffering from a stuffed ear that was impacting my hearing. "That's just the way she is"  Kris told me when I asked him about the attention and generosity that this stranger, now new friend, lavished on us.

Stacey with out friend, Marie.

On the evening of our third day, Marie invited us to a concert. Her husband was part of a choir that was performing down by the harbor at the Gustav Adolf Kyrka, a Swedish church. We joined Marie and her daughter, her friend,Wolfgang and some others by boarding the No. 15 bus in front of the apartment and then transferred to the subway for a ride down to the harbor. The concert was lovely and for us, a chance to be Hamburgers out for a local event. A very special night and so unexpected.

Stacey with Marie, her friend Wolfgang and another friend, Ruth.
Waiting for the No. 15 bus near the apartment.

A short video of the choir. Press PLAY to enjoy.

This little boy thought the choir was a bit loud.

After, we all took the subway back home. Marie and friends went to attend a 75th birthday party that in progress on the ground floor. She begged us to come in as well but we declined. We went out, just the two of us, to a nearby Italian restaurant, Der Etrusca (The Etruscan) and enjoyed a late dinner. Another memorable day in Hamburg.

This is the end of this part of our Hamburg Visit. My final post, the third part, continues shortly. I hope you'll join us for the conclusion.   - Matt

To see ALL of this post's photos, CLICK HERE.

Hallo Hamburg

Sep 3,  2012

Before you read, two points: you can see the photos larger by clicking on any one of them.

AND, you can see all the days photos by clicking on the link at the end of this post. That's all!

We left Wales on August 30th and flew from London to Hamburg. We're came to Hamburg to visit my nephew, Kris, his wife, Mirjam (Miriam) and his two daughters: Jona, aged five and Maya, one and a half.  We knew absolutely nothing about Hamburg, never having been to Germany in all the times we've visited Europe. (Disclosure: Stacey was in Dusseldorf once upon a time for three days in 1968 ... does that count?)

Just goes to prove the point: you never know what you're missing. Hamburg has been a genuine revelation: a spectacular city with everything that we love about cities: amazing architecture,, old and new, a long and weighty history, a vibrant city with a lively buzz,and an interesting, friendly and varied population. And how many of you knew that Hamburg has canals, more bridges than Venice and is often referred to as the "Venice of the North." We certainly didn't.

Kris met us at the airport and drove us to our lodging: an apartment of a friend (the friend was away in China and thus, not expected back anytime soon). This building was in a lovely neighborhood, not far from the university; a decidely upscale and wealthier part of town. Our 1880's building was on Hallerstrasse, a street that runs east and west. West, it ran, changing its name every few blocks (they seem to do that in Europe), over to Mirjam and Kris's apartment in the Altona neighborhood. Running to the east, it ran to the Alster - the lake (actually a dammed section of the Alster river, a tributary of the Elbe) that is the centerpiece of Hamburg.

Our home for the week: No. 6 Hallerstrasse.
Built in the 1880's. Stately and grand!

One of the many large and grand rooms in our
apartment. Fifteen foot high ceilings.
A porch that looks out over a magnificent rear garden. 

The building that we're staying in was built in the 1880s. Our apartment is huge with fifteen foot ceilings. It is a twin of the door on the left (picture) which is No. 8. The car that Kris borrowed to pick us up belongs to his friend Marie and she lives there as well. Marie is a pediatrician but she also owns the building and with her husband has restored it to its former grandeur. It's landmarked and it's exquisite!

The interesting thing about our apartment and its location: this was a largely Jewish building and neighborhood. The residents were obviously well-to-do and important members of their community. Then the Nazis took power. And then kristallnacht and the nightmare that ensued. It's hard to conjure the reality of that but being here makes it somehow more tangible. Hamburg itself has tried, in some way, to at least not let be forgotten the immense tragedy of those times. So-called stumbling stones -- brass plaques -- have been placed in the sidewalk in front of one building after another (ours included) that memorializes victims of the holocaust. Each one is inscribed with the name of a victim of the Nazi's murderous brutality, and with the dates of their "deportation" and subsequent extermination in some remote concentration camp. It's intensely chilling to come upon these as you walk the neighborhood's streets.

Hamburg's attempt to memorialize the victims of the
Nazi's brutality; stumbling stones.

Each stone, a real human life that was stolen in the night.

In the stairwell of our apartment hangs a framed photograph: here is a group of Jewish children from the neighborhood. It was taken in 1935 during the Succoth holiday (as best as I can make out from translating the inscription). What became of these sweet and innocent children can only be imagined in our most terrifying and depressing ruminations.

Jewish children, 1935. What happened to them?

~~~
Kris left us but not before leaving us with two bicycles to use for the week. Wow! Hamburg, like most European cities is a biking city. Bicycle in German is fahrrad. Many streets have bike lanes but, interestingly, they are not in the roadway but share the sidewalk with pedestrians. We found that a bit strange and more than a bit frightening as we walked along but apparently that was not soto the residents who are used to it. Still, bikes whizzed by, many times in the wrong direction, and often startled us. Having said that, we just loved having bikes at our disposal and have been getting around all of the city on them. It's convenient, fast and safe and everybody but everybody uses them. Mirjam and Kris, like many Hamburgers (I know, I know, but that's just what the residents of this city are called) do all their getting around either by mass transit (very efficient bus and subway) or bicycle. Not to say that there aren't plenty of cars - there are. But we saw young and old, solo and entire families going about their business on bicycle. Wunderbar!

Many bike shops to serve the large
biking population in Hamburg.

The next day, we ventured out on our own for breakfast and discovered the bäckerei (bakery) that offers the staples for a Hamburg breakfast. We had one just across the street on our busy corner of Hallerstrasse and Grindelallee: Stadt Bäckerei (City Bakery).  It became our daily breakfast joint and the owner, realizing that and appreciating our loyalty, would offer us a breakfast pastry every morning as a thank you to his two American "regulars." (Did I say that the people of Hamburg are exceptionally friendly? They are! And virtually all speak English as well). Breakfast consisted of the bottom half a roll with some tasty concoction on top of it: herring with cream sauce, smoked salmon with cream cheese, a ground pork pate with onions, salami, lettuce, tomato and cheese, and so on. I tried many of them. Accompanying that little treat: really good coffee. Quite perfect!We can't wait to get home so we can stop eating breakfast every day.

Breakfast sandwiches at City Bakery

Pickled herring with cream sauce on a roll.
Vita never tasted as good. 

Later in the day, Kris came to meet us for lunch near the university. With him came the two girls: Baby Maya and Big Sister Jona. Of course, we know them well, they having visited us in New York, most recently this spring. But it was a treat to see them once again, this time in their home town.

Sweet Maya. Almost 1½ -years old. Get a load of those locks!

And this is 5-year old Jona.

We walked around the university area a bit and then they headed home and we returned to our apartment. We'd meet Mirjam and Kris later for dinner in a part of town you might compare to the East Village: it was noisy, grungy, young, hip and filled with restaurants, shops and bars. Stacey and I, as cool as we are, got on our bikes, Google Maps in hand, and rode a few miles to meet them.

Dinner was at a wonderful Portuguese fish restaurant, La Sepia. After, we walked back to our bikes and pedaled home, only to find that Stacey's bike had developed a flat front tire. Fortunately, it was close to home and we managed to "limp" the rest of the way there.

We were thrilled with our first day in Hamburg. Tomorrow we visit the Alster, the lake around which the city is centered. Beautiful!

Stay tuned for more tales of our trip to Hamburg.

To see all of today's photos, just CLICK HERE.

We met Mirjam and Kris on this busy corner in this
East Village-like neighborhood of Hamburg.

Here they are. Off to dinner at a wonderful
Portuguese fish restaurant: La Sepia.