Friday, June 12, 2009

Hamburg and Its Customs...(plus some RANDOM pics!)

So, it's been a little while since I've posted, and even longer since I've updated you on the city and customs of Hamburg.  (I'll throw in a couple snippets of info about our lives as well, never fear!)

This is a "public" toilet...


...that the public is "free" to use - provided they have .50!


OK, so I know this is on the rude side, but I simply couldn't resist sharing proof with you that any male who has to relieve himself (and doesn't have the .50 or doesn't want to dish out) will find a bush (large or small) and "water it!"


While I'm at it...this scene is something one may see at any time in any public venue.  Public displays of affection (even STRONG affection) are a common sight!


There's always the language barrier for a few laughs, as well!  I was teaching this morning and we were reading an article that mentioned the movie "Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang!"  Well, the student who was reading at the time, Dagmar, didn't choose 'ch' as in cherry, but 'ch' as in Charlotte.  I'll leave it up to you to figure out what she read the title of this timeless classic as!  Oy!


A "for fun" shot at a train station one night.


Pretty window near downtown.


I thought this staircase was very cool!


Hinges on a door downtown.


Approaching the town hall from the Alster (a big lake near downtown.)

Fun trivia: Die See = The sea (or ocean) BUT... Der See = The lake!!!!  Crazy, huh?  Just goes to show you that you've got to be careful!

Lots of swans around this spring!



The sailing portion of the Alster.


More of the same.


I thought these were SO cute!  I'd never seen them before this day.  They were blooming near one of the places I teach.

Our friends Tim and Betsi (Lili's parents ;) had a surprise party a bit ago, well Betsi had a surprise party for Tim's birthday! Each guest wrote an encouraging note to Tim and we read them to him after dinner, then we had a wonderful time singing worship songs together!


This is Sid with Christiana, a very sweet friend from church. We're also friends with several of her children. (She has one daughter who is married and lives in Berlin, and we keep in touch with her and her husband online!)


We neglected to take pictures of the ridiculous hole that was in our bathroom for four or five months or of the mold that grew on our wall for even longer, but we did get pictures of the wall after the painter took the wall paper off.


You can see from the HUGE water stain, that our "schimmel" problem was quite severe!


This is a cool little forrest that Sid and I had a picnic in the other weekend. It's quite pretty!


Sid looking down the VERY LARGE hill up which we had just climbed (I'm sure she was wondering "HOW are we going to get back down?" - we found a very helpful ramp!)


And, for those who have been asking...this is our new couch (We got it from a lady at church for 50 Euro! - the coffee table was given to us by Malte and Nicole who are getting new furniture!)

That's all for now - hope you got a smile out of my randomness for the day!  Liebe Gruße aus Deutschland!