Two Harbors And A Camel

After the exhausting Fischmarkt in Hamburg on Sunday we took a harbor tour boat ride. Same thing today in Bremerhaven after visiting the superb museum of German emigration, the Deutches Auswanderer Haus. I had no idea that there was ocean shipping on such a massive scale in these northern German cities. Hamburg is some distance from the North Sea but the Elbe is navagable a long way inland.

The first two pictures are from Hamburg. They may have stolen the second boat from under the Arch. The third, fourth and fifth ships are in Bremerhaven. All of Mrs. C's great grandparents left for America from there. We think the last of the ships has something to do with North Sea oil drilling. Note the helicopter pad.

The last shot has to do with an observation. More ordinary middle-class people in Germany seem to smoke than in the US. That's a surprise, what with national healthcare and all that. People smoke at will in outdoor restaurants and there are cigarette vending machines back by the toilets. Unheard of in the U.S. They do have warnings on advertising. The text in the bottom pic translates literally as "smoking can make you dead."          

Hamburg: Bratwurst And Johnny Cash For Breakfast

What an exhausting day. We got up at 4 to get an early train to the big city of Hamburg, home of the Fischmarkt. It runs on Sunday morning from 5:00 to 9:30 AM. We got there about 7:30 and it was in full swing.

It's nuts. Yes, they sell fish (watch out for the eel lady below) but it's also a big farmers' market, flea market and beer bar rolled into one. And, yes, the locals were knocking them back at that hour. We still needed breakfast, so when in Hamburg . . .

Loud bands took turns at the ends of the long hall. When we arrived one of them was playing Johnny Cash and June Carter's Jackson (video clip below).

It was about this time that I started feeling very disoriented. I had only the most general idea where I was and not a strong grip on what I was doing there. Everyone was speaking German, drinking and dancing to country music, all early on Sunday morning.

There was more of interest in Hamburg. Who knows when I can get the pix edited.        

An Unusual Restaurant (And CDP Meetup)

Hello from Bremen, Germany. Why, you might ask? Because Mrs. C comes from the outskirts of this version of Bremen. All of her great-grandparents came from the region around here. We'll do some poking around into that over the next couple of days.

Last night we met and had a fabulous dinner with Stef and his wife, Marianne, of S.C Collections, our Amsterdam City Daily Photo sister blog. They took us to a pop-up restaurant, Baut & Dreesmann, in an out-of-business department store. The restaurant and, I assume the link, will be there for just a few more weeks. Very urban hip and the food was fabulous. Below we have a strip of mackerel with tiny radishes; duck, exotic mushrooms, bok choy and I don't know what; and a three-masted ship from heaven. The kitchen staff were very intense. 

The toilets we up one floor. I'd bet a euro that they hired James Rosenquist to do the walls. The last picture has the Dutch word for a store's fitting rooms interposed with a big red L for loo, or something like that. Note the rolls of toilet paper under the sign.       

Amsterdam Scenes

Just a few images. We were out late last night at a fabulous production of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro at the National Opera and need to get on the street here Friday morning.

The first shot is of the Amstel River, part of the canal system, taken from the balcony of the opera house. The second is a little footbridge across the Singel canal from the Rijksmuseum. The last is a billboard on the side of the Van Gogh Museum advertising the current show.

Dinner with S.C. and his wife. Into Germany tomorrow.    

Well, It's Worse At The Louvre

People per square meter of painting, da Vinci's Mona Lisa at the Louvre is way worse. Still, Rembrandt's The Night Watch is what draws the crowds at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, one of the world's greatest. The crowds in the rest of the place were quite manageable.

Just outside the entrance, two people on accordion and tuba were playing the Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. They kicked butt. If you were down the street you might have thought an orchestra was awaiting you.

A few blocks further on, Vincent was hoping for some tea and sympathy.

Busy day today, ending with a performance of Le Nozze Di Figaro at the Netherlands National Opera.             

Arrival

What a day. Middle flight two hours late. Barely made the connection and the airline lost one of our bags. (It's been found but not delivered yet.) Turns out I needed medical attention. Weird, but taken care of. And then wind farms in the sea, followed by incomprehensible pizza boxes and fashion. Maybe after a good night's sleep...      

Product

Hello from some unfamiliar airline's lounge at Chicago's beautiful O'Hare International Airport.

This was a one act, one man play called Product. The name of the actor isn't in the program but I think is was Joe - something Irish. Maybe Murphy. The character (he's got some Willie Loman in him, I think) might be an independent movie producer. He's trying to pitch a Hollywood money person on his new concept, a film as yet unnamed. A beautiful American woman falls in love with a mysterious neighbor. She marries him, only to find out he is a Jihadi warrior bent on destruction of the U.S. Lots of his terrorist friends show up at their home. What should she do - betray her country or the man she loves?

Or something to that effect. The actor rages, cajoles and pleads with moneybags. Nothing gets resolved. Nothing really ever does, does it?