What a busy second half of the week.  After not having done much before my last blog, I certainly made up for it for this one.

Thursday, five of us from our class at Goethe Institut went bowling.  It was quite fun.  The first round I lost with a miserable 40 odd points.  No surprises there.  The next round however, I did not lose!  I managed a respectable 60+ points.  What was quite funny was that somehow there would always be just one pin left standing after each turn for each of us.  It was frustrating.

Friday was a bitterly cold day.  It was also the day of the culture programme excursion to St Michaeli’s Church.  We went all the way up the bell tower to the viewing platform.  The wind just ripped right through us.  It was also a typical winter’s day in Hamburg.  Grey skies as far as the eye could see, but I did manage to get some decent (ish) photos.  The view would have been exceptional on a lovely summer day.  I left my camera at the homestay though.  The church is amazing!  The amount of decorative motif and architecture was just bewildering.  We were lucky enough that it was also choir practice while we were there.

 

 

 

This weekend has been quite long and busy too.  Yesterday was the day trip to Lüneburg.  Up early once again to get to the Central Station in time.  A short train trip to Lüneburg, with no country side in sight.  It was still all urban/ industrial land.  This was quite different for me, as when going between two different towns in New Zealand there is always a lot of country scape between. 

We had an hour walking tour around Lüneburg, specifically the old city centre.  It is one of the oldest surviving architectural towns in the world.  A full scale refurbishment of the destroyed buildings has taken place following the war, but there are still many buildings surviving from their original structures.  Then it was time for lunch.

 

 

 

Lunch was at a classic German/ North German pub.  We were seated in a basement room, and it was quite romantic with the dim lighting and candles.  I had a hot chocolate to warm up, along with most of the rest of the group.  We then ordered.  I, along with a few others, ordered the creamy potato soup.  I neglected to read what else was in the soup.  The soup arrived, and when I looked at it I had a little groan.  A smallish piece of salmon was lying on top.  The soup was good, until the salmon started to disintegrate into the soup, then it started to taste fishy.  I then had a peppered steak (Pfeffersteak), with broccoli and potato pom pom things.  It was good.  I’ve barely eaten meat since I’ve been here, and that steak was just what I needed.

 

 

 

Next was free time.  But somehow we all decided to go together to the St Michael’s Church.  We were quite lucky as the sun decided to appear for a couple of hours.  The sun light upon the church when we got there was amazing.  We went inside and were lucky once again, that the choir/ band were putting on a little show.  It was quaint.  The craftsmanship of the church was extraordinary.  The sun light filtered through the high narrow windows.  What is of note though, are the huge column’s supporting the roof.  The church was built on salt mines, which were overmined and subsequently the church and land dropped by almost a metre, affecting the integrity of the structure.  Steel bracing now supports it.  It is also where Johann Bach attended school and was a soprano in the choir. 

 

 

 

Next we wandered down to another church.  This one was St John’s/ St Johnniskirche.  This church had a very steep bell tower.  The big, heavy door was also automated.  It is a Lutheran church since the reformation, but before then it was a Catholic cathedral.  It’s home to some expensive and old artwork.

 

This week is my last week in Hamburg.  It’s quite saddening really.  My time here has been awesome.  I still have a lot of things I want to do before I head to London to start the Top Deck trip, “Festive Escape”.  Tomorrow in course we have been asked to bring our favourite sweets from home.  I’m going to introduce the class to pineapple lumps and some Whittaker’s chocolate.  Pity I did not bring any peanut butter chocolate with me. 

 

Cultural differences:

Some of the cultural differences I have realised and picked up on are: ordering a steak they did not ask to what degree did I want it done (subsequently it came out medium, which was pleasing). 

No steak knife was offered.

Germany does not use soup spoons.  I was horrified to learn this.  Using a normal spoon to eat/ drink soup was awkward.

I still cannot get over Europeans/ South Americans and the differences in respect to personal space.

 

Ps.  I hope my fish are still alive....  Mum?