I started out walking around 10:45am and headed toward Upper Alster and walked for about an hour until I reached the St. Elizabeth church that I had gone to the first Sunday I was initially here. They have a 12noon mass in English and it was so nice last time that I thought why not make it a nice walking tour of that part of the city and enjoy the great folk music and lively parish again.
What a gorgeous walk along the lake and there is a real sense that the lake will be completely frozen over soon or at least most of it. At one point I heard this extremely loud and jarring grinding noise coming from the lake and when I looked in the direction I saw a river boat slowly making it's way through the ice and crushing it as it went along which is where the noise came in. I wasn't the only one who noticed it since it was so loud and other turned to watch it chug along like the "Little Train That Could."
There were so many people out enjoy the day and lots of dogs frolicking, barking and chasing sticks. It would have been a great day to have Teddy with me, he would have loved playing and he probably would have dove in the icy lake as well.
I made it to the church about 10 minutes early so I just enjoyed listening to the choir warm up. It is nice to have mass in English I must admit and although I love going to new countries and being immersed in the culture it is helpful to know what is going on for and hour and 15 minutes and besides I get to sing along with the English music, one of my favorite things about mass.
After I left the church I headed to more of the residential neighborhood of Eppendorfer which my friend in NYC said is a must for seeing stately homes. She was so right and I'm glad I made the effort to go there only a 10 minute walk from the church but on a cold day I would normally have forgone seeing beautiful homes but today I was in the mood and my efforts paid off. These homes are so exquisite and massive with huge windows and high ceilings. Most are white and some still have Christmas lights on them, one especially looked gorgeous with white lights decorating a massive tree on their 2nd floor balcony.
I found a great place for lunch, and Indian restaurant called "Gandhi" and it was fantastic. I was so in the mood for something really flavorful and the curry chicken and veggies was perfect. And an older couple sitting near me started talking to me about their visits to America and they were very excited about my being from New York since they had just been there 2 years ago and stayed on 35th and Madison. We ended up chatting for about and hour and half and I learned lots about German culture and we had a really lovely time in this warm, wonderful restaurant. And it's great to be in a residential neighborhood because you find places to eat where the locals go and usually the food is much, much better and the prices better as well.
They recommended I stop off at the St. Nicholas Church about a 5 minute walk away and heading back toward my hotel because it's visually beautiful for a contemporary church but also it houses several artifacts from the ST. Nicholas church in the city center that I had written about in my blog a week or so ago. That older church is now a memorial to those killed in World War II. But in this new parish church there is a partial bust of Jesus that stood in the old church, near the alter, at least that is what it looked like from an old picture nearby. It's an incredibly moving sculpture from the expression on his face and the way he glanced thoughtfully downward.
This new church has some other pieces from the old church that were thankfully salvaged and at the same time the modern design with a very airy church interior and a choir loft that is impressive as well as inspiring and the choir was rehearsing when I got there so it was nice to hear the church, which was clearly designed for music, filled with beautiful classical works.
So I set off to walk back and the streets, especially the scenic walk along the lake was packed with people strolling and still walking dogs and babies in carriages It was only 5:00pm but the sun had set so I didn't imagine there would still be so many people of all ages out walking but there they were all bundled up and enjoying a leisurely walk, well all but the joggers who were quickly passing us. One man earlier, to my amazement was jogging in shorts, craziness in my opinion.
And the neighborhood around the lake is covered with more amazing houses, one mansion that made me pause to admire it's enormity as well as it's beauty and from what I could tell by looking in the now lit up windows it's a one family home. Wow, is all I can say.So after picking up a snack for later (I still had my left over Indian food for dinner) I got back to my hotel and just enjoyed a nice long shower and catching up on things like plucking eyebrows and such. Not exciting I know, but it still has to be done or I'd look like one of the Muppets or Sesame Street characters soon.
And one last little note on things I saw, or two notes really. One, the American Consulate in Hamburg is right on the Lake and looks like the White House in DC. Yes, it's that big, that beautiful and that white. At first I just stopped to admire the architecture and then saw the sign and then looked up further to the roof where an American flag was flying proudly. It's gorgeous, what lucky American's to work there although you'd really have to not mind the wind, cold and ice but even I would maybe consider not being such a wimp to work there. Although giving it further thought Hamburg only gets 70 sunny days a year, is bitterly cold, has lots of rain so maybe not.
Second, when I was walking around Eppendorf, I saw this little sign at the base of a cement pillar in front of one of those amazing mansions and I stopped to chuckle a little and then walked on but a moment or two later I just had to go back and take a picture. I mean really if New York buildings could get away with putting up a sign for doggies not to poop in front of their door I'm sure the whole city would be plastered with them.
