Author Archives: Kristen

We stayed with our friends, Jean-Pierre and Helga in their home in Grapel. Helga is a family friend who we first meet well over two decades ago and this was my first time visiting her in Germany. I have added this video mostly so my family and relatives who know Helga can see where JP and Helga live.

We are currently in Tuscany in Italy and about a month into our journey through Europe. This journey has been made possible through the immense generosity of Helga and JP. They have give us their car and caravan to travel around in. We are having a ball so far!!

More posts are on the way and now that we are staying somewhere with regular free internet, we hope to get up to speed soon with our travels to date.

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If the truth be told, if it was not for our plans to meet up with the Van Den Booms in Grapel we would most likely not have travelled to Hamburg this year. However, Hamburg is not far north of where our friends Helga and Jean-Pierre live in Germany and it was a quick and easy start point to our entry into Deutschland from Switzerland.

We flew into Hamburg and were met on arrival by Jean-Pierre with a big sign reading Welcome Kristen and Damien, complete with a large red kangaroo. I have not seen Jean-Pierre for well over a decade now so it was lovely to see him again.

However, for our initial foray into Germany we were not in fact going straight to Grapel with JP. Helga and Jean-Pierre had arranged for us to stay with other friends, Christian and Christine and their boys in their home in Hamburg.

Christian and Christine had stayed with my family about two decades ago when they were honeymooning in Australia.

Christian arrived at Hamburg airport not too long after us and we went with JP to Christian’s home. We were given the royal treatment on arrival as Christine had arranged a lavish spread out on their back deck. So we went about chatting and getting to know each other. Once we all relaxed a little the conversation flowed and we enjoyed an easy afternoon. Christian kindly offered to take Damien and I on an orientation drive around Hamburg so that we could get a feel for the city and where we might like to go sightseeing the next day.

It was a great early evening tour and Christian made sure he pointed out all the most relevant tourist locations. We stopped for a brief walk down to a section of the canals and he pointed out the fancy home of Joop! Complete with young models doing a fashion shoot in the front yard! That night was to be the Germany vs Denmark soccer game in Euro 2012 so there was a lot of locals getting ready to view the match in various locations around the city. As we drove along the harbour there was a large group of young things getting amongst it with loud dance music and booze – it looked like it could be a long night for them!

Hamburg harbour is quite an imposing sight with all the industry going about its business. We drove alongside the ships, containers and other industrial structures that seemed to dwarf us in the car. Then, as if out of nowhere, sailed the impressive monolith of the Cunard Queen Elizabeth cruise liner. Christian did some very swift driving to race the liner and we pulled up just in time to quickly walk down to the harbour to wave at the cruising passengers as they floated on by.

Once back at Christian and Christine’s home we settled in to watch the game. Germany were the victors. It was definitely the right result for our location at the time!

The next day we set off for our sightseeing tour of Hamburg. Our first stop was to be the Miniature Wonderland. A friend of mine sent me an email before our world tour of the Miniature Wonderland in Hamburg and I was amazed at the level of detail and the size and scope of this tiny world of moving parts and realistic scenes. I was sold on the idea of seeing this fantasy land – for big and little kids alike. The thought of visiting this place helped to cement the idea of staying in the city in our minds. I remember being rather chuffed at the time we made that call as how often have I looked at some sort of amazing this or that in a forwarded on email and had the ability to say, yes, next year I think I shall go and visit that city in that country and see that amazing thing? Probably never!

And the Miniature Wonderland did not disappoint! It was completely enthralling. There were several floors of rooms filled with miniature versions of countries and cities around the world. One of my most favourite parts was the Hamburg airport, complete with planes that flew in and out of the airport. One of my other most enjoyable moments was watching the 20 000 strong miniature revellers at the DJ Bobo concert. The scene itself was impressive, especially as night fell in the Wonderland and all the music lovers switched on their cigarette lighters and the stage flashed neon lights and sound into the crowd. It looked just like a real concert. However, the reason for me loving this scene particularly was the fact it was a DJ Bobo concert. My mate Rob back home simply loves DJ Bobo! I had secretly thought with amusement that he must be their only fan, as prior to Rob, I had never heard of this DJ Bobo, with its silly sounding name! Chris, his wife and I used to joke about Bobo on our long drives around NSW when we worked together as Assessors. With much enjoyment and mirth I sent a postcard to Rob and Chris of the DJ Bobo concert to show Rob that he had fellow fans in Deutschland! Rob was impressed and said that perhaps he should move to Germany where he could be with his kind ha ha!

After we reached saturation point at the Miniature Wonderland we left to eat our sandwiches on a ledge with a view of what remains of St Nikolai Kirche. During WWII, Hamburg was one of the fire  storm cities as it was almost entirely destroyed by the Allies. St Nikolai has been left as it was after the extensive bombing of the city in the 1940’s . It serves as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the city as well as for the Jewish people who lost their lives under Hitler. Although just a small portion of this Cathedral remains, it is still an amazing sight. It is sad that such a beautiful building was ruined as it would have been magnificent in its day.

We were keen to go on a tour of the Alster Lakes and canals so wandered in that direction via the medieval and ornate Rathaus. We made our booking for the next available canal tour and then sipped on coffee at a café with a prime location overlooking the Binnealster Lake. Fortunately for us the somewhat inclement weather of the beginning of the day evaporated as we boarded our cruise and we enjoyed a blue sky view of the city by boat. Hamburg is very grand and it was a pleasant way to take in the city from another perspective that cannot be afforded if one simply drives through the streets.

The endless hours of day light that abound in Northern Europe at this time of year meant that we still had plenty more time to fit in even more of Hamburg into our day. Next we went for a stroll through the Planten und Blomen which Christine had recommended we check out. We had envisaged finding a nice place to stop and read our books for a while but the wind picked up so we contented ourselves with a walk instead. It was a fantastic garden, with many plants in bloom. It is a very well thought out and designed park in that there were several interactive sights where kids (and adults!) could play games with water cannons or step across large man made ponds on strategically positioned stepping stones. There was one section that had been created as a series of levels of ponds with neatly manicured collections of water lillies that had me wondering whether it had been designed this way as a salute to Monet.

As we were walking through the Japanese garden section we chanced to spot a little squirrel which was a nice treat. It was feeling a little cold so continued our walk towards the Reeperbahn in St Pauli for some nice warming Goulash for dinner. No visit to Hamburg is apparently complete without a visit to Europe’s biggest red light district. Even though it was a Monday night the place was buzzing with people. We weren’t sure if this was the norm or if it had more to do with the fact that there was another Soccer game on that night. Nonetheless, it provided an excellent swathe of humanity for us to kick back and watch pass by from our position outside one of the bars. When we had met some Hamburgers in Laos they had said that this was a great people watching area, and they weren’t wrong. Damien commented on how he loves how Europeans arrange the seating in the cafes and bars so that all seats face the footpath. Europeans it seems understand and accommodate the human pleasure of “people watching”.

However, you don’t just come to St Pauli for the people watching, it is also lined with strip joints and sex shops and apparently a notorious brothel street. So feeling the, “When in the Reeperbahn…” vibe we decided to sneek a peek at one of the sex shops. Let’s just say that the mind boggled at the things we saw in there!

Anyway, our unexpected night out on the Reeperbahn ended up being the entertaining and fitting full stop on our epic tour of Hamburg. As it turns out, I am so glad that we ended up visiting this city as it is truly worth it. Hamburg is a beautiful city that does grandeur with style, with a little bit of grittiness and naughtiness thrown in for good measure. I for one would happily come back to visit again.

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After three odd months dossing around Asia, I have to admit I was a teensy bit reluctant to leave my comfort zone. Asia is intoxicating to me because it is often ramshackle, sometimes hectic, and at others so chilled it’s ridiculous and all the time vibrant because it is a world a little less surface-perfect than the country I hail from.

Was I really leaving my beloved Asia behind? As Damien and I ascended the escalator to Phaya Thai station to catch the train to Bangkok airport I remarked, “you know, in a few days all of our time in Asia is going to feel like so long ago”. I think we both sighed a little at this thought as we knew it to be true. As we travelled around Asia we had several times remarked that our three weeks in Northern Europe at the beginning of the year felt like so long ago.

And as I sit at our little table outside our trusty caravan at Camp Smlednik, in Slovenia, it is indeed true. A little over three weeks in Europe and I already find it hard to imagine that less than a month ago we were in Asia! All that life we left behind is still going on as usual in the heat and the humidity, and here we are in Slovenia, smack bang in the middle of this big continent we call Europe.

We were both wondering whether we would suffer from culture shock making the transition from Bangkok to Zurich. A well founded pondering as it turned out: you can’t come across two more disparate cities if you tried! Bangkok is a massive, sprawling mish-mash of buildings and humanity that laughs at order and tranquility. Zurich on the other hand is all about efficiency, order, old world charm and stunning natural beauty all set to the beat of a contented heart.

We were both totally unprepared for just how stunning Zurich is as a city! But more about that in a bit. When we hit Switzerland it was early in the morning and we needed to catch the train and the bus to find the home of Santosh, an Indian ex-pat who has been living and working in Zurich for about a decade now. I met Santosh through the Globalfreeloaders site (which we have had other great successes with in Norway) and he kindly said we could stay at his home for the two nights we had planned in Zurich before heading off to Hamburg in Germany.

Santosh lives a little out of Zurich in a village called Sellenburen. On our way there we immediately noticed how quiet and calm the city felt as people road their bikes, or walked through the streets to get to work. The bus ride out to Sellenburen was so pretty. We wound our way through the leafy suburbs and gawped at how beautiful everything looked. As we drove through one particular area I commented on how nice the homes looked and we both grinned as Damien said that maybe Santosh had a very nice home too!

Santosh was waiting for us as we arrived in Sellenburen. His unit was set up on a little hill just opposite when we alighted from the bus. He waved down to us from his balcony and in my very best German I yelled out a happy, “guten morgan!”. After a brief chat and introductions, Santosh gave us a quick rundown on all we should need to know to get us through the day in his home, and he was off to work. He left late that day, just so he could wait to let us in. The kindness of strangers!

We were both jet lagged and I was still sick with a cold I had acquired at the end of our time in Bangers, so we elected to stay indoors and watch Game of Thrones on Santosh’s mega flat screen. By 6 pm we were both struggling to keep our eyes open so we left a note for Santosh and apologised for going to bed without seeing him. We must have been tired as it does not get dark until about 11 pm at night and the sun is up again in the wee hours of the morning, and we slept right through.

Although it was the weekend, Santosh had to work so after a good chat in the morning he set off again and we made our way into the city. We just loved Zurich! Damien has even made the bold statement a number of times that it rivals Paris in his heart as his favourite city. Apparently, Paris still comes up trumps but Zurich is up there!

We spent a lovely morning strolling the old town and enjoying the first good coffee I had had in a while. Unfortunately, Asia is a bit hit and miss in this department (more miss than hit, I might add)! We marvelled at the architecture of the Fraumunster, a 13^th century cathedral with its unique stained glass windows. We had both finished reading Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth when we were in Asia and it has peaked an interest in both of us for cathedral architecture and construction. The Fraumunster was our first experience of this on our trip and we were suitably impressed!

It is fair to say that part of what made Zurich so charming is the buildings and streets of the old town, with the canal that runs through it. But the city’s setting is breathtaking. Lake Zurich is magnificent with the Alps in the background. We went on a boat tour and drank in the sights as they floated on by. It was a gorgeous hot and sunny day and all the locals were out making the most of it. Along the banks of the lake were numerous public bathing areas, and people we swimming and relaxing by the water. The homes along the banks were also grand and elevated Zurich to a city dripping in style and panache.

Unfortunately for us we were flying out to Hamburg the next day. We would have dearly loved to have stayed much longer in Zurich and see what else Switzerland has to offer. We were both convinced that we would simply adore the rest of Switzerland if Zurich is anything to go by! Sadly, we had to depart. Happily though, Sanotsh asked us to come and visit again. We eagerly accepted and said that we would return before our flight out of Zurich to America to spend some more time in Switzerland. Santosh said he would hopefully not be working and would like to take us around to some sights. Thank you Santosh! We cannot wait!