Monthly Archives: March 2008

Rainy Day Hamburg

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Exploring Hamburg Speicherstadt During a Rainy Hamburg Harbor Birthday Bash

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story and photos by Kayte Deioma

Hamburg Rathaus at nightHamburg, Germany is a gracious lady with her elegant architecture and posh shops along Jungferstieg. Waterfront cafes line the colonnade adjacent to the regal Town Hall, and swans glide gracefully across the Inner Alster Lake.

The St. Pauli Reeperbahn in Hamburg, GermanyThe grande dame also has a naughty side with her red light district known as the St. Pauli Reeperbahn, where the Beatles made their continental debut and the prostitutes are certified.

As one of the top 10 seaports in the world, the harbor, located 60 miles down the Elbe River from the North Sea, also plays a prominent role in the city’s personality. I was in town for the annual Hamburg Harbor Birthday celebration in May , which brings the whole population down to the waterfront, rain or shine.

Spectators line the banks of the Elbe River to watch the opening procession of ships for the Hamburg Harbor birthday Celebration in the rain.It was sprinkling as I boarded the Loth Lorien to sail with the crew and assembled guests in the Parade of Ships opening the festivities on Friday afternoon. Despite the weather the hearty Hamburgers were out in full force crowding the harbor promenade at Landungsbruecken (Landing Bridges) to see the hundreds of marine vessels passing by.

My host ship was a three-masted schooner, built in 1907. A tarp kept the rain at bay and the galley staff plied us with hors d’oeuvres and fancy cocktails. Not content with the The Opening Parade of Ships at the Hamburg Harbor Birthday Celebration.cocktail view, I donned my rain poncho and climbed up to the forward deck for a better look at the frigates, tall ships and riverboats parading across a backdrop of dramatic clouds. The sky cleared just in time to watch the fireworks display over the ships’ masts.

The continuing inclement weather did not stop the locals from coming out the next day to enjoy the 500 vendor booths and rides and multiple music stages stretching almost two miles from Landungsbrueken to Speicherstadt (the warehouse district). Being of less hearty stock, I chose to escape the rain and explore some of the Speicherstadt’s museums and indoor amusements.

Miniatur Wunderland Two of the big attractions are right next to each other. I skipped the long line for the Dungeon, which displays historic implements of torture, in favor of entering the fantasy world of Miniatur Wunderland. What started as a collection of model trains has become an intricately coordinated recreation of a condensed USA and Europe. Thousands of toy cars, 18 wheelers, buses and boats, as well as over 100 trains, are choreographed to move in and out of their international backdrops, stopping at signals and avoiding running into each other. The occasional scheduled crash raises a rapid response from mini emergency vehicles. Hundreds of thousands of inch-high people populate this diminutive world spread across multiple rooms on several floors.

Speicherstadt MuseumA couple blocks away, the Speicherstadt Museum in an old coffee warehouse, displays some common implements of warehouse operation from hooks and scales to weights and barrels. Most of the exhibit focuses on the storage and transport of coffee beans, so it put me in the mood to enjoy a hot brew and a slice of homemade apple pecan coffee cake in their cafe.

Spicy's Spice Museum in HamburgAt Spicy’s Spice Museum, curiosities like a model ship made of cloves from Indonesia are tucked among baskets of fresh herbs and spices, and information panels describing the harvesting of saffron and the proper care of cinnamon. A few panels are in English, but most of the text is only in German. The The Afghan Museum in HamburgIn the same building as Spicy’s, the Afghan Museum, is devoted to the history and culture of Afghanistan. The exhibits are very well presented, with life-size figures engaged in various traditions from cooking and drinking tea to weaving and shoemaking. Tableaus recreate rooms in Afghan homes in different parts of the country, and depict miniature landscapes. For a small space, they pack in an amazing amount of information and still have room for a gift shop and a tea alcove. Tea is included with admission.
Crowds watch the Tugboat Ballet in the rain at the Hamburg Harbor Birthday.It was still drizzling when I joined the hundreds of thousands of people who brought their umbrellas out to the harbor promenade to watch the world-famous Tugboat Ballet. The half-dozen chunky workboats dipped, bowed and pirouetted gracefully through a series of intricate maneuvers choreographed to a Viennese waltz piped through speakers along the riverbank.

The Museum ship Rickmer RickmersDinner followed aboard the museum ship SS Rickmer Rickmers. This full-rigged windjammer was built in 1896. After many incarnations it was restored and turned into a museum in 1987. The ship’s restaurant is open to the public 11 am to 6 pm, but I was there as an invited guest at the Captain’s Dinner, attended by the captains of the guest vessels participating in the festivities and a selection of debutantes and their dates in historic attire.

The Europa Passage shopping mall in Hamburg city center.Away from the port, Hamburg has a myriad of other opportunities to escape the weather. In addition to an impressive array of world-class art and history museums, English tours of the Rathous (Town Hall) will take you through the ornate council chambers and banquet halls.

For shoppers, the new Europa Passage adds four stories of modern flair and architectural drama across the Innenalster from the classic Hamburg department stores and indoor retail corridors that weave through the blocks along Jungfernstieg.

For more things to do in Hamburg on a rainy day visit the Hamburg Rainy Day Links Page or visit Hamburg Tourism.

Dialogue in the Dark: Envisioning a World Without Sight

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story and photos by Kayte Deioma

My foot tentatively follows the unfamiliar cane, testing the ground to feel where the dirt path gives way to lawn. I brush against a tall bush and reach out to touch the waxy leaves with my fingers. Birds chirp somewhere nearby and the scent of earth and grass reach my nose. In a suddenly dark world, I find myself in what feels, smells and sounds like a garden or a park.

Hyper-aware that my cane keeps bumping into other people, I follow my guide’s voice until I am through the park. The sound of traffic rushing by on a busy street makes me stop. My cane finds the curb, bumping into a car and a bicycle before I reach the solid pole holding the traffic signal, which, my instructor assures me, will indicate when it is safe to cross.

Dialogue in the DarkI am learning to navigate a sightless world at Dialog im Dunkeln (Dialogue in the Dark) in Hamburg, Germany, where blind guides lead sighted visitors through invisible, yet multi-textured environments inside a converted coffee storeroom in the Speicherstadt (Warehouse District). The exhibit is designed to increase awareness among the mainstream population of the challenges of disability, while at the same time demonstrating that for the disabled, the world is not “less,” just different.

My visually deprived comrades on this journey are a group of American students on a German study program and my friend Birgit, who lives in Hamburg. Since we are all equally impaired, no one objects too much as we bump into each other feeling our way along an exterior wall and window into our next destination.

The aroma of cloves and cinnamon fill my nostrils as I enter. My fingers explore piles of burlap sacks filled with what? Coffee beans? Peppercorns? Birgit calls me over to some kind of raised pedestal, where my hands find bowls of powder. This is where the cinnamon smell is coming from. We are in a spice warehouse.
Teens exit the pitch black exhibit into the bright lobby at Dialogue in the Dark.The student group has booked the short tour, so it is just Birgit and I who continue with our guide, Brita, out into the cool air, across a wobbly bridge onto a waiting boat. We can hear the water lapping and smell the sea air as we feel our way to a bench at the side of the boat.

I reach my cane over the side and splash it around to assure myself there is really water there. I know we are still inside the warehouse, but the sense of being out on the water is incredibly real.

The wind picks up and I am splashed by the spray as the engine starts, the boat rocks and we take off on our excursion. Brita tells us about the ships we are passing in port. She also describes the Ferris Wheel, tents and hoards of people gathered for the Harbor Festival, which I had seen for myself out in the real world earlier in the day, but now perceive only from her word pictures.

We disembark to a brief interlude of musical immersion, and then adjourn to the bar, where we have our coins ready to buy soft drinks from the blind bartender. I trust that he counts the coins correctly. My fingers are not familiar enough to make out the denominations of the Euros.

Seated at a low table, over bottles of Fanta that taste like Sprite (has someone played a joke on the bartender, or on us?), we have a chance to talk with Brita about her blindness and functioning in the world without sight. This opportunity to openly discuss what some would consider a sensitive subject is just one more dimension to our immersive experience, and does create a real dialogue in and about the dark.

Entrance to Dialog im DunkelnDialog im Dunkeln originated in Hamburg in 1988. Since then, they have created permanent or temporary exhibits in over 130 cities in 20 countries, providing more than 5000 jobs for the blind.

Dialogue in the Dark also offers special programs including “Dinner in the Dark,” “Blind Passenger” and on-location leadership training workshops “In the Dark.”

Reservations are required. Visit http://www.dialogimdunkeln.de/prehome_en.htm for more information.

Dialog im Dunkeln
Alter Wandrahm 4
20457 Hamburg
Booking line: 00 49 (0) 700 44 33 2000