The Way To Hamburg
I set myself a deadline of 10 AM. By that time I wanted to be out of my room and on my way on my big journey. After some last minute preparations, I finally left at about 10:45, walking towards the first hitch-hiking point, a gas station, which according to people from hitchbase.com, is a good place to ask people. I had with me the backpack, which was fully loaded, with some food on top, and a smaller school backpack I carried on the front. I have no idea now what I had in there, probably the food. I walked 1.4 km to a gas station, but seeing as there was only one beat-up car there (apparently I misread the website, it was another gas station), I decided to go to the entry to the Autobahn, near the superstore formerly known as Walmart. By this time I've been walking for, well, probably 20 minutes, and because my backpack felt so heavy, I decided to take the tram, and I even paid for it! It wasn't very good start to hitch-hiking, huh.
So 10 minutes later I was at the Autobahn on-ramp. This was my first time hitch-hiking in a while. The first, and last time I hitch-hiked was in 2003. I went to Monaco back then, to experience a Formula One Grand Prix weekend. Then I wasn't even by myself, I was with Zbyszek, a flatmate of mine from Poland. So after a few moments of being squeamish and embarrassed, I thought, "What the hell, let's do it!", and pulled out my sign. Which I had just written a few minutes ago, in the tram. A girl was watching me intently, wondering what I was writing down. I finished it, and showed it to her, and she smiled.
So, there I was, wanting to go to Hamburg. Watching the cars go by, grinning like an idiot (me, not the cars), hoping somebody responds to the friendly smile and stop. What do I see driving in my direction? An exemplar of the brand-spanking-new super sports car, the Audi R8! I wiggled my thumb, but sadly the driver did not stop.
The first few minutes of the wait were interesting. I wondered if it was going to work, if somebody was going to stop and pick me up, or if I will still be standing there at four in the afternoon, when I'll finally give up and go home with my tail between my legs, although I didn't exactly have a home anymore considering it's being rented out to somebody else.
But 45 minutes after starting the wait, I looked in the direction of the on-ramp (I was standing some 50 meters before it), and I saw a young man walking in my direction. Behind him I saw his car, parked on the pedestrian lane.
Hmm, did he break down? I first thought. I don't think so. I started walking towards him. Alright, got one. :) He spoke English to me, saying he was not going to Hamburg, but just to Frankfurt.
"Frankfurt? Can I come?" I said in German. And off we went.
Bastian, like me, was/is a student at the University of Karlsruhe. He also has a part time job (I googled him and he seems to be running the company!) and he was going to Frankfurt, or north of Frankfurt, to meet some clients. A student, who was also running his company. I was impressed. And he got to be my first ride on this gigantic trip to the north. We drove to a big rest area north of Frankfurt, which I'm lucky he knew, because my knowledge of the area was not that great.
It was a sunny, warm day. I got out of Bastian's car and wondered where to begin asking. There were so many cars, parked and their owners probably getting something to eat. I watched as a silver Mercedes Benz drove in to park, the driver a big, middle-aged businessman in shirt and tie. I saw the plates, that begin with "HH", for "Hansestadt Hamburg".
"Well, he's going my way, but I doubt he takes hitch-hikers.", I thought.
My hitch-hiking mentor Zbyszek taught me that I should forget waving my thumb at BMW, Audi or Mercedes drivers. "They never stop.". But anyway, my back hurt, I was sleepy and I was hungry, so I decided I would eat something first and then continue.
So I walked to the seating area (all next to cars), I noticed the driver of the aforementioned Merc, a big, middle aged man in a light-blue shirt, walking in the opposite direction to the stores. I held out my sign "Hamburg" but if he saw it he pretended not to. Oh well, somebody else will give me a ride, I thought. Sitting down to eat, I was in a really happy mood. I couldn't believe it, my trip had officially started. I suppose there's always going back and aborting it, but it would be embarassing to say "I made it to Frankfurt and I turned back.", so in my mind it was already too far (like in Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle). There I was, the sky was blue, the breeze was cool, I'm in nature (well, next to a hundred or so cars in a resting area, next to an Autobahn), and I was eating bread and some salami. Life was good.
Halfway through my quite bland sandwich, the driver of that aforementioned Mercedes Benz passed me.
"Are you going to Hamburg?", I asked in German.
"Oh, you speak German?". I supppose he asked because he didn't feel like talking in English for such a long trip.
"Yes I am going to Hamburg. Do you want to come?"
"Aaah, sure!", I answered, after a few seconds of being dazed, surprised by this question.
"But not with that.", he gestured to the messy crumbs my sandwich was making.
I looked to the big garbage bin next to me. Ah, problem solved. "Sure, no problem."
But then I had a better idea, to put the food in the plastic bag.
"Let me just pack this. One should never waste food."
Meanwhile, he was already on his way to grab my backpack, to put in his car. What eagerness and helpfulness!
He opened the front door, and the first thing I noticed was the "Mercedes Benz" marquee in Silver, written across the lower side of the door frame. The second thing I noticed was how spacious the front passenger seat was, the third, how clean the car was, and the fourth, the jet-black leather seat that I would be sitting in for the next few hours. (Wikipedia tells me now the car was one of Mercedes Benz W140 S-class series).
My driver for that 5 and a half hour journey was Mr. Vagt, an accomplished consultant who teaches people how to be a good salesman, because, according to him, you can't learn that in Germany, not at the schools nor universities. It was fascinating to hear him talk about business and the world, what he knows and what he's experienced. He's never had a job with a boss in his life, always an entrepreneur.
He also had a fondness for Asia, watching TV reportages about the region. When I mentioned to him I really don't like watching TV, he said he watches it for 2 things, reportages and commercials. "Why commercials?", I wondered when he said this. "To see how people are selling things." Haha, but of course!
We drove and drove and talked, or at least he was doing that, we went through valleys, road repairs and traffic jams, and all that time, we had an interesting conversation. In the end, he asked me if I knew where my friend Yvonne lived, and took me straight to her front door.
So at about 19:00, I arrived in Hamburg. Hamburg! I couldn't believe it. That morning I woke up in Karlsruhe, and in the evening I was sitting on my friend's window ledge, absorbing the Hamburg skyline.
From Yvonne's apartment I could see the harbour area, with the giant cranes dotting the horizon. Nothing you can get in Karlsruhe, and I was just in awe, that I made it to Hamburg!
It was great. But in my mind the thought was running, it might not get better than this: a maximum of 45 minutes waiting, just 2 rides, one straight to the destination, and inside an air-conditioned, leather-seated S-class! And this was only the first day! It will only get worse!
Hamburg
That night I went to bed quite early, although not that tired yet. I guess I was so excited that I got up the next day at 7:00, ready to go out and see the day. Since it was summer it was already light. My host Yvonne must have thought it was really strange of me to wake up that early, since she, like me and probably everybody else in the world, would rather sleep-in when on vacation. But I was excited because I wanted to see the city.
From Yvonne's place I walked towards the city centre, passing by IBM's headquarters and making a turn towards St. Georg, which is, as Wikitravel puts it, a "lively, trendy centre of Hamburg's gay scene". Well, I guess it was. It had quite fancy, old-style buildings. There's a church there too - I wonder how a church feels being in the middle of a gay neighbourhood.
I walked to the Alster lakes, with the Atlantic Hotel (where they filmed part of Tomorrow Never Dies) and Pacific Haus, and walked towards the main train station.
From the main train station, I walked into the city centre, which in Germany means main shopping street. Well, just like other shopping streets, it was a shopping street. This was a Wednesday morning, so it wasn’t that crowded. I went into a swanky-looking mall and I found the relative emptiness was quite peaceful. I hope it doesn’t mean they’re going bust.
Eat (Almost) Anything at Least Once
While looking for more info about St. Nikolai, I stumbled upon this blog and the author's time in Hamburg. It has better pictures than this travelogue.
I then visited St. Nikolai, a church that was bombed in WW II. Apparently the Allied Planes used church-towers as guiding posts in their bomb-runs. The church probably got bombed by accident. It’s still standing, well, sort of, its walls are there, but the roof was missing. It was incredible to see the inner court and to realize, if the roof was there, this place would be filled with church banks and feel like, a church, instead it felt like a concrete basketball court.
Also still standing was the church tower. With an elevator, which was sponsored by McDonald’s (amongst others). Yay for capitalism! The elevator costs 2 Euro, or if combined with entry to the museum, 3 Euros. The museum itself would cost another 2 Euros. Of course I chose to go only up the tower. The ticket-seller-lady asked proof of my student status, too, hrmpf.
After this I walked to the direction of Speicherstadt, a former warehouse area which is now a historically preserved area (so says Wikipedia (in German, but with nice pictures)), and then I looked for a subway station because I wanted to return to the main train station, I was going to meet up with Yvonne.
At this point my feet were hurting. I didn’t want to have loose shoes because it would just chaff my feet, so I bought tight-fitting ones. And they were now too tight! But anyway, I met Yvonne at the train station and we met a friend of hers to have lunch together.
Indonesians and KFC
KFC was the first fast food franchise in Indonesia, opening its first restaurant there in 1979, compared to McDonald’s which only arrived in 1991. When I was a kid it was the most popular "Mommy I want fast-food!"-Joint.
When I came to Germany, the nearest KFC was 140 km away in Frankfurt. "So what, it’s not like I am addicted to it." True. I also landed in Frankfurt, so when one of the first Indonesians I met heard that I just came from there, he asked "Did you buy KFC?".
"Huh, no, why?"
"Well, we don’t have a KFC near here, so we try to get people to buy some for us whenever they go to Frankfurt."
And it seems I’ve joined this cult of KFC-cargo-worshippers and try to enjoy it whenever possible. This fact has a tragic ending though...
What did I have for lunch? Yvonne treated me (she’s too nice) to Kentucky Fried Chicken.
After lunch she recommended we took a ferry tour of the river. The ferry is actually used for transportation, but a lot of tourists also use it to see the sights by the river. We went to a beach. Yeah Hamburg has a beach! Too bad the water is probably horrible, it was a bit rocky, and the weather that day was changing rapidly from sunny to heavily-rainy.
We then walked back towards the Slanty Building (apparently its name is Dockland), passing a domed cubic building which turned out to be a retirement home and some modern-looking office buildings, but which also looked decaying. Nice in a grim dystopian futuristic sort of way...
You can walk up to the top of the Dockland and have a nice view. Actually at this point my feet were already dying. I still managed to walk up the stairs, but had to take my too tight shoes off to let my feet relax.
While we were on top, we could see the dark clouds that was coming. It was already windy and the water was choppy.
I also noticed a sandy beach built on a pier. It was a few meters above the water, with a fence that separates the sand and the fall to the water. Isn't the whole point of a beach to get wet? Though with this water, I wouldn't want to swim in it willingly...
So we decided to go back to the Speicherstadt, because I haven't seen it. Despite the threatening clouds and winds, it only rained lightly, but the ferry ride was still pretty rocky. We stayed on the open upper deck, and did get a bit wet, as well as cold. This in the middle of July!
Persian Rugs
As an aside, I find middle eastern rugs hideous. IKEA for me, please!
We walked through Speicherstadt, with its old warehouses. Being a protected heritage site, I guess the buildings can't be torn down. The warehouses probably house the highest concentration of middle-eastern rug shops.
We then walked (or subwayed?) towards the Alster lakes near the city centre. It has a nice promenade where I imagine people gather to enjoy sunny days. Afterwards we went to, what Yvonne describes, the neighbourhood where the rich people like to visit to shop and drink coffee. It was really a nice area. While there, it started raining again, so we decided to go back to her place (no, not in that sense you perverts!). It was still early, but we were beat, so we just stayed home that evening.
