new year beginnings with family and friends

Tags

2016, Berlin, Germany, Hamburg, New Year, photography, photos, snow, travel, writing

The new year started with a bang for me – actually several and very loud ones at that. My friends took me to the Grosser Bunkerberg (Large Air Raid Shelter Hill), one of the highest points in Berlin, to look at the fireworks. Sadly it was too foggy to see much but the sound was incredible, loud banging and explosions going off for a good hour or so, the occasional rocket that made it high enough to break through the fog and smoke to illuminate the sky in an array of colours. We stood and listened and sipped bubbly. As the cold crept up our legs we decided it was time to make our way home and clambered down the hill in the fog to be welcomed to the streets of Berlin with loud bangs all around us.

Now, after a few wonderful days in Berlin filled with flea markets, a fantastic play in the Deutsches Theater and lots of time spent with good friends over cups of tea and glasses of wine, I am in Hamburg. I am watching the snow fall outside and enjoying a few hours of quite before my cute niece and nephew demand playtime again. And while I watch the snow paint the world white I think I may indulge in a hot bath, the perfect contrast to the cold day outdoors.

However first I will finish my cup of tea and write  a few lines – after all this lovely break away from normality will be over soon and I need to get quite a lot done before my course starts up again. But for now I am truly enjoying my start into 2016 and only hope that the year will keep all that it seems to be promising.

 

photo walk

Tags

Hamburg, photography, photos, walk

Today last week, I was in full ‘Mary Poppins” mode looking after my brothers little ones. While the three-year-old was in Kindergarten the nine-month-old was not wanting to sleep, so I bundled her up into her cosy onesie and went on a walk around the block.

My brother lives in a lovely little village just on the outskirts of Hamburg so I brought my camera along to take a few photos. Here is what I saw:

a birdhouse around the corner … prettier than some homes

glasshouses

window up high

chimney

the promise of spring

resting

more pipes

a forgotten barn

roof

discarded in water

glasshouse

nearly home

getting ready to travel

Tags

Deichtorhallen, Dragana Jurisic, Dragana Jurisic YU: The Lost Country, family, gifts, Hamburg, tea, travel

Next week I’ll be heading off to Germany again. It will be a week filled with lots to do and many people to meet. First I’ll be staying with my Godmother and then I will swap beds and move in with my brother and his family for a few days, to mind the kids and celebrate his birthday.

However the main reason for heading over to Hamburg is that my wonderful friend Dragana will be talking about her exhibition YU: The Lost Country in the famous Deichtorhallen in Hamburg and I am flying over to support her.

So while I am really looking forward to a little trip I am amazed at how much I still have left to do before catching that flight. One thing that has been piling up is the small tower of ‘gifts’ for everyone I’ll be seeing … after all I have been asked to bring lots and lots of tea!

So while I have been writing emails, correcting student assessments and generally trying to clear my desk (and yes it is currently very messy – tidy desk is on my to-do list) my thoughts have been circling my wardrobe trying to figure out what to take with me since half my suitcase will be filled with goodies for others.

I just hope it won’t be too cold … less clothes! But all in all I am looking forward to the coming week, never a bad thing when you can leave your daily trudge for a little while.

some of what needs to fit into my suitcase

ice-cream and a crule summer

Tags

cruel summer, family, food, Hamburg, ice-cream, lunch time, music, weather

I arrived in hot Hamburg yesterday afternoon, the temperature had steadily risen while I sat on a air-conditioned train and when I stepped onto the S-Bahn a wall of heat hit me and my heavy bags.

Luckily for me my sister-in-law and my little nephew took me out for a refreshing ice-cream. And as we walked through Bergedorf in the sweltering heat I taught my nephew to sing “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice-cream”. So there we were, me huffing-puffing and sweating as I dragged my heavy suitcase over the cobbles stones and a little-two year old on his baby-blue scooter, little legs pumping away as he propelled himself forward, singing more loud than pretty all the way to the ice-cream parlour. I am sure quite a sight to behold.

courtesy of Tina Webster illustrations

Today the sun has turned itself up a few more notches and I have decided to stay indoors in my brothers lovely flat and enjoy endless cups of tea. However I do think I will brave the heat in a little while and get a little lunch time treat for my sister in law when she comes home from school for some lunch … she is a teacher, glasses, stern gaze and all.

Later we will all pile into my brothers car and drive further up north towards the north-sea to the tiny town my sister and mother live in. This weekend there is a big town festival going on, flea-market, crafts, bands, lots and lots of food.

Way back when I lived at home I use to go to the festival every year, it was a highlight of the summer and always good fun. And since I was planning on being in Germany anyway I decided it was high time I paid the party a visit and see what memories live up to reality. The only problem is the heat and the forecasted thunder storms that may the whole event into a humid fiasco. But at the very least there will be music, if I am lucky maybe even Bananarama’s 1983s hit ‘Cruel Summer’, an all time favourite of mine and a great match for the weather we are having!

now I’m a hamburger

Tags

family, Germany, Hamburg, miscellaneous, random, thoughts, travel

I’ll be heading off to Germany again later today. This time Hamburg is my destination. When my aunt got sick last year, and I had to discover Berlin alone, we arranged to meet up again this spring. So now I am half packed and nearly ready to go.

Hamburg is a beautiful city and I’m looking forward to visiting a few museums, wandering around town and taking a stroll along the Elbe. An other great attraction of Hamburg is that my little nephew lives there, well so does my brother and his wife. And since it’s my baby brothers birthday on Monday I decided to stay a few days longer and celebrate him growing old. This means I get to tickle, cuddle and chase around his one-and-a-half-year-old son for a couple of days and I am looking forward to his little boy hugs.

Of course my suitcase is filled with goodies for both young and old a collection of my brothers favorite biscuits, polos (peppermint sweets) for my niece, gifts in all shapes and sizes and even some homemade jam for my aunt. But the biggest space is taken up by an undelivered Christmas parcel. For some reason the oh so efficient German post declared my brother “unable to find” and sent the big bulky package back to me. At least it came back and now we’ll just celebrate Christmas in February, slightly better than July anyway.

So while I am getting ready to become a Hamburger for a few days I am enjoying the relish (intentional pun) of preparing for a trip, hoping a few days away will recharge my batteries.

 

leaving on a jet plane

Tags

aer lingus, aviation, Dublin, flying, Hamburg, holidays, miscellaneous, random, transportation, travel

“My bags are packed and I’m ready to go”, well not quite I still have an hour before the taxi comes and whisks me off to the airport.

The first time I flew on my own I was five years old and my sister was seven. We were unaccompanied minors and on way to visit our grandmother and aunt in Germany for the summer. I remember being all excited and anticipatory, not really knowing what to expect or what would happen. It was the first year that Are Lingus flew directly from Dublin to Hamburg, if memory serves the first flight ever, and there was a bit of a buzz about the whole thing.

I had been to Germany before but it was always with my parents and we did sometimes drive, so flying on my own, well with my big sister, felt grown-up and very special. The only down side was that we both had to wear a bright orange plastic purse around our necks containing our passports, tickets and all the other vital travel documents.

I was never a quite child, I was always chatting to strangers and quickly made friends with the beautiful Aer Lingus stewardess who was looking after us. My sister and I got sweets and colouring books, a few toys and we spent an enjoyable time up in the air. What we didn’t know was that my mother was having a panic attack back in Dublin.

As soon as we had taken off, the airport attendees in Hamburg went on strike and we were re-routed to Holland. I loved the adventure of the whole event, we got to stay in a VIP lounge in Amsterdam and drive around in a little buggy, while everyone around us was frantically trying to get us to our relatives in Hamburg.

I can’t remember exactly how long the whole thing took, but it was dark outside when we finally arrived. I know that both my aunt and mum were very relieved when my sister and I ran into the wide open waiting arms, legs and blond hair flying, and in my case an stream of excited chatter following in our wake.

Today I am quite use to flying, but I still love the anticipation of going away,  however nothing can quite compare to that very first trip. What made me grin this morning was that my sister told me Hamburg is back on strike, so I am sort of wondering where I’ll end up, a possible adventure on the horizon. The only downside is that I have to be back on Monday morning to teach.

on top of floating surfaces

Tags

Anthony Gormley, art, Deichtor Hallen, floating platform, Hamburg, Horizon Field Hamburg, perspective, point of view, suspended platform

While I was in Hamburg I went to an exhibition in the Deichtor Hallen called “Horizon Fields Hamburg”. Well exhibition may be the wrong word as all it really is, is a massive (2,500sq feet) suspended platform seven and a half meters off the ground that you walk on.  The platform is coated in a black shiny and reflective layer of plastic (or something like it) and everything on and around it is mirrored in it.

The sensation you get when you start walking on this floating ground is very odd and a little bit disorienting. As the ceiling is mirrored below your feet you get the oddest feeling as if you are walking on air or are  somewhere in between the sky and the ground. The idea behind the installation is that the people on it make the art and what happens to you and what you experience is what it is all about, so the artist Anthony Gormley.

As the platform moves below your feet and everything anyone does while on it makes it vibrate, shift, sway, swing and shudder you can’t help but be connected to each other, which for some may not be all that pleasant. And while you navigate around the surface your senses are heightened yet you walk with careful teetering steps, feeling a little drunk or aboard a ship on high seas.

As I sat on the platform and watched people jump, skip, dance, meditate and prance around the area I couldn’t help but smile at how silly they all looked, yet how happy they all were. By forcing people to remove their shoes, walk across a large empty area below the platform climb stairs and then step onto a surface so unlike any they have ever experienced before their whole attitude and perspective changed. Being taken out of any comfort zone will do that and encourage people to see the world through other eyes, in this case eyes that have a 7.5 meters above the ground point of view.

I know that some people struggle with installation and interactive art but in this case I do believe that the challenge it gives you is not one about the art or the artist but one that is all about yourself. And I for one will take the experience of the  Horizon Fields with me and hope that the experience I had will change something within me, even if it only means shifting my perspective by a few centimeters. And an added bonus this is didn’t cost a penny.

Deichtor Hallen and Anthony Gormley

The Blog: Horizon Fields Hamburg