Bicycles, kids, Hamburg

Back in Hamburg.

Bicycles in a local school

When you see children pouring out of the local Hamburg primary school on their bikes you realise what Australian children are missing. Bikes give kids a sense of control over their transport as well as being a great exercise machine. In the current cold wet weather the kids ride by in yellow waterproof capes that cover both them and their bags.

Bikes are everywhere, ridden not only by the young but by all ages including the very old.

They also pop up in unlikely places. The all-green bike below is an ad for music lessons (the red sign says "Learn an instrument " ). It stands outside the Laeiszhalle Concert Hall.

Bike locked to a rail on the steps to a shop.

In Leipzig bicyclists power along, travelling really fast along city streets, stopping at red lights with the cars, then setting off again to pedal fast when the lights change.  Bike speed probably reflects population age, as Leipzig is a university town.

Roses bursting into flower

Despite Hamburg's recent spell of 13C weather, the roses have suddenly burst into flower. This one is an old English rose with a very sweet scent. It is flowering as if its life depended on it.

Old English Rose with antique clock

Summer cool

The warm weather that spread North from Spain last week is a distant memory. Today is already June 7th but it is 13C in Hamburg and raining.

 I am very pleased I packed some woollies. I am wearing them all.

Hamburg: reclaim your neighbourhood

Right in the middle of Hamburg, near the music hall, is a neighbourhood that has been reclaimed by its citizens and remodelled along more homely lines. Books line the walls of a makeshift library in an alleyway leading to a courtyard. The courtyard has been planted with trees and vines, tables and chairs stand ready for use. 

It is not hard to make a neighbourhood feel like home. All you need is willing citizens and a city council that understands.

Schubert at the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg

On Thursday I was at the Laeiszhalle to hear a Schubert concert conducted by Guy Braunstein.  Most of the work they played was new to me and I suddenly realised what a small part of Schubert we normally hear.  Of the five Lieder sung by baritone Mattias Goerne, the only one I knew was the Erlkönig.

The Laeiszhalle has excellent acoustics and it was such a pleasure hearing every note of all of the orchestra.

The Laeiszhalle Hamburg

Laeiszhalle, Hamburg

The Laeiszhalle (pronounced lie-ss-ha-le), home of the Hamburg Symphony is named after the Hamburg businessman Reeder Carl Laeisz, who left 1.2m German marks in his will to fund a 'music hall' in Hamburg. His widow made the sum up to 2 million Marks. Opened in 1908, this Baroque revival building was one of the few public buildings that survived the second world war intact. Luckily, because it has wonderful acoustics.

Since the opening of the now-famous Elbphilharmonica, new home of the Hamburg Philharmonica and completely sold out until 2019, the Laeiszhalle has enjoyed an increased audience.

Inside the building are sculptures of Hamburg-born composers (including Brahms) and standing outside the building in Johannes Brahms' Platz is a big granite block with the Title Homage to Brahms' created in 1981 by Thomas Darboven. The face of Johannes Brahms at four different ages is carved into its four sides.

Zweisimmen, Paris, Hamburg, Maribor,

In a Paris Cafe

The landscape sketches and paintings done in August September as I train-tripped my way through Europe are now online.

Cafe La Cantine du Troquet

Little sketches from the train

On the way south in the train from Hamburg to Slovenia I occassionally took out my sketch pad as the landscape whizzed past the window.

Just south of Hamburg

From the flatlands in the north we reached rolling country.  Then suddenly near Rosenheim in Bavaria, there were the Alps.

Just south of Rosenheim. 

Once in Austria you roll past Salzburg and along the river to Bishofshofen and then you start climbing.

The train slows as it climbs up and up, past big wooden sheds and houses with window boxes. Behind them are the towering alps.

Austrian Alps

Wet wet

Green, green and wet

It is raining in Hamburg. It is raining and cold everywhere in northern Europe as a low over Sweden brings polar air and rain.

I will be spending most of the next two days on trains, travelling towards warmth (hopefully). Today I take the train from Hamburg to Salzburg, which has affordable accommodation within easy reach of the station. Salzburg is one of those rare cities where the area around main station is pleasant rather than seedy so it is a good stopover point. (Munich is also pleasant but absurdly expensive.)

On Monday I take another train, this time Austrian and climb over the Alps to Graz then on to Maribor in Slovenia.

The whole train trip is costing the grand total of 45 Euros - a 'Slovenia Special' offered by German rail. (www.bahn.de is a great site to use to plan your travels). The ticket allows for stopovers of 48 hours so you can take a break.

The Maribor Music Festival begins on Tuesday. With luck the rain will have passed by then.

Hamburg houses

Traditional and pretty, but imagine
washing the windows

Houses in the outskirts of Hamburg are a mixture influences: traditional old-German, Herrenhaeuser, 1970s 'modern', Scandinavian among others.  They all fit together remarkably well.

Apartments

Herrenhaus

Reihenhaeuser

Traditional

1970s modern

Hamburg biking

It is 4th September and suddenly it is cold here in Hamburg. There is a chill in the air that reminds you that you are closer to the Arctic than you realised. I think Hamburg and Macquarie Island to the south of Australia are on the same latitude. The trees are still as green as green, but the chill is a harbinger of autumn.

Feldweg

I am on my borrowed bike as often as possible, riding along the narrow roads between the fields. Corn is still standing but the wheat has already been harvested.

Biking in Hamburg

A bike is such a pleasure and I am enjoying the feel of wind in the hair. Helmets are recommended here and many children wear them. Very few adults wear helmets in this small village and perhaps they wouldn't use their bikes so much if they had to wear helmets. I certainly wouldn't.

Hamburg in the wet

I am in Hamburg and the weather is typical: Hamburg 'Schmuddelwetter' (muddle weather??).  I don't mind a bit, I love this city regardless!

Town Hall and Sqaure

August! Wet and dark, but warm!

Art in Hamburg

In the Hamburg Kunsthalle

After an unsuccessful attempt to sketch the fountain in the middle of the Inner Alster lake from a cold and windy seat to the north (my sketch equipment kept blowing away), a visit to the Hamburg Kunstmuseum (art gallery) was a welcome and warm relief. Most of the building is being renovated but a well curated selection of works was on display in the basement of the one building still open. Old and new work nicely juxtaposed.

Alster Lake with fountain

Elbphilhamonie

In 2007 building started on the Elbphilharmonie, a brand new concert hall for the Hamburg Philharmonic orchestra built in the Speicherstadt (warehouse area) on the River Elbe. It is still inching toward completion, with cranes atop and cloth swathing the brickwork of the lower stories.

It looks different from each side.  Viewed from a ferry on the Elbe, the building looks like a giant sailing ship. The brick warehouse buildings are a nice counterpoint to the glass sailing ship. 

Breathing deeply in Hamburg's green

After five days in the middle of Berlin the lush green of Hamburg sooths the travel weary soul.

Speicherstadt Tango

Speicherstadt Tango card by elizabethgw

Speicherstadt Warehouse (image from Wikipedia)

I will be in Hamburg in September and I am looking through my sketches to find some to hang in the coffee shop to replace the ones that have hung there for two years. I found this etching of the Speicherstadt.  The Hamburg Speicherstadt is the area encompassing the old warehouses on the harbour. I spent time bicycling around the Speicherstadt in 2009 when I spent 9 months in Germany at Hamburg Art School.

While I was there, the high school where a friend taught had a teacher's gathering and they all danced Tango. They inspired this etching of tango dancers at the Speicherstadt. 

Fabulous Four

Salut Salon

This is a MUST WATCH!

Salut Salon, a quartet from Hamburg give a memorable performance of Vivaldi's Summer. 

They call it Four in Competition.

F

Arthur Rubenstein

Here's a wonderful video that records Arthur Rubinstein at the Steinway factory in Stellingen, a suburb of Hamburg 1966. He came to Hamburg to inspect his own favorite, personal Steinway D-274 piano which had been dropped from a crane somewhere while he was taking it on tour. It was sent back to the Hamburg Steinway factory for repairs.


There are surtitles to the spoken parts (see the info section.

Real flowers

What is it about fresh flowers that is so captivating? Some artificial flowers are so realistic nowadays that you have to touch them to see if they are real but if they are artificial there is always a sense of disappointment rather than admiration for the copy. Perhaps living things are especially attuned to other living thing?

Sunflowers in Cafe

You could tell at first glance that these sunflowers in a Hamburg cafe were real.That was probably part of the attraction of the cafe. Real flowers, real coffee.

Human Statues in Hamburg

These mid-air actors in Hamburg were attracting attention on Friday. Some people walked straight past without seeing them but then someone would stop and a crowd would gather; standing, watching, scratching their heads and wondering how the figures stayed in mid air.
When some one put money in the box they did a slow thank you routine. Very clever!

Mid air performers from the front

Mid air performers from the back