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Jan 17

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Authentically German

This week I’ve been spending a lot of time with one team in particular.   Tonight, 12 of us went to dinner at Rheinische Republik, which I was told, is a real (ie – commoner) German restaurant … the type any visitor must make time for during a visit Hamburg.

Places like this are not only about the food – I took away much more than that tonight.  The celebration, endlessly flowing beer, and old world charm, all combined to create a great atmosphere.

Of course it was a given that I would have the Schnitzel, my only real decision being what variety.  The menu is strictly German language and as a joke, I was not offered guidance with menu translation.  Purposely, my colleagues left me on my own to order,  laughing jovially at my futile efforts to decipher and navigate the menu.

Veal Schnitzel

Veal Schnitzel

As it turns out, I ordered veal and it was quite good.  Not as good as my meal last night, but I definitely appreciate and understand the rationale underlying their suggestion for dining here.  I had a wonderful evening, but drank way too much Kölsch.

As I type this post, it’s nearly 11:30pm local time and I am a bit buzzed at the moment.  Hopefully, my boss and company CEO will not notice my ‘comfortably numb’ state when I dial into a conference call a few minutes from now.

Jan 16

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Cats & Dogs

This evening I had a fantastic Austrian dinner at Tschebull near the city center.  Apparently, this trendy restaurant is all the rave.  I must say I now understand the hype, as everything was fantastic – the atmosphere, the presentation, the drinks, and most importantly … the food.  It was just perfect, especially since someone else picked-up the tab.

Yes, just perfect.

Afterwards, I decided to walk back to my hotel.  Winter is in the air here in Hamburg and the nighttime temperatures are brisk … very cool, but not quite cold.  Conditions this evening just felt optimal for walking and I figured the 30-40 minute saunter back to my hotel would afford me an opportunity to observe more of this wonderful city.

Lucky for me I was walking – if not I may have missed the display below.  I snapped the picture through a window which takes away from the image clarity a bit.

No matter, this is still very funny to me and I had a wonderful walk.

IMG_2480 - Version 2

Jan 15

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Random Hamburg

I snapped a few pictures during my walk into the office this morning.  Later, a colleague of mine brought me over to the town square for lunch, a section of Hamburg that is vibrant and full of energy.  I’m definitely going back to the area tomorrow during daylight hours to shoot more pictures.

Underground parking structure outside my hotel

Underground parking structure outside my hotel

St. Michaelis Church

St. Michaelis Church

Office campus of Gruner & Jahr. Europe's largest publishing and printing firm.

Office campus of Gruner & Jahr. Europe’s largest publishing and printing firm.

Commuter bike

Commuter bike

Residential address markers

Residential address markers

Smart Car, LeMans, ?

Smart Car sandwich

My office building

My office building

Jan 13

Wandering Without Airstream

Last Saturday Kelly and I concluded our two week holiday trip through the southwestern desert, but not before stopping for some maintenance at Toscano RV.  In the interest of brevity, I’ll summarize to the following — we arrived in time for repairs on Friday and decided to spend the night at the RV dealer as our preference is not arrive to our home base RV park after dark.

Gray & Fresh water tank sensors replaced

Grey & Fresh water tank sensors replaced – this one dangling is the Grey

Sleeping at the RV dealer. No charge for full hook-ups.

Our overnight spot at the RV dealer. No charge for full hook-ups (that’s us in the middle)

Saturday we arrived back to HMB, allowing Kelly one final weekend of complete freedom before starting her new job on Monday.  Alas, once again we are full-fledged DINKS.

This week has been a bit crazed for us, hence the lack of blog postings.  Before I knew it, the week had passed and I found myself jetting (pun intended) off to Europe on a business trip.

My ride --- Boeing 747-400

My ride — Boeing 747-400

Currently I am in northern Germany, specifically the town of Hamburg attending to some work matters this week.  Unfortunately, the ways of winter apply here in Hamburg — it’s quite chilly and the days are short.  Thank goodness I had enough sense to bring a stocking cap and gloves.

This is my second visit to the Hamburg office.  Unlike my previous visit, this trip affords me enough time that I hope to more thoroughly venture out after work hours and explore the town.

Per usual, I was not able to get any sleep on the long-haul portion (10 hours) of the flight (San Francisco to Frankfurt).  This being the case, I’ve been forcing myself to stay awake today until I know that I can get a solid night of sleep in an attempt to ‘flip’ myself onto local time (GMT +1.00).  Tomorrow evening I’ll know whether or not my plan worked.

Trying to stay awake has been a challenge this evening.  My hotel TV has a full array of satellite channels to view, but since I don’t speak German (or any other language for that matter), I opted to take a walk.  I wandered throughout the downtown and waterfront areas until (and I mean this literally) my feet were too cold to continue.  Long gone are the days when I thought 34 degrees was crisp.  Whatever, now I consider that to be cold.

It’s about 9pm local time and I’m pushing almost 30 hours without sleep.  I’m dead tired.

Time for bed.

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