Shopping in Moenckeberg Strasse

Dear Readership,

I must apologise for not writing on my blog over this last week.  The worst  is that I don’t even have a ‘proper’ reason for it….it just didn’t happen.

Anyway, I am sitting at Starbucks in Moenckeberg Strasse, which is the shopping mile of Hamburg City, and the Chai Latte is as delicious as it is at home and if I may so, beats Chinese Tea at Starbucks any day.  (I just noticed that the scene behind me doesn’t at all look like Starbucks and that is because they are sharing the space with a ticket agency…).

This photo was taken by a handsome young German man (where were those when I was young?) who was at Starbucks with his attractive young German woman friend (they have always been around.)

So, first things first…A BIG THANK YOU to to Birgit and Ingrid who made this day possible for me!!!  They are sharing my children between them for the afternoon.  I am quite sure Tessa, Nick and Ben must be as pleased as I am to be apart from me for a little while, as we have been together every day since leaving Germany.  I will pick them up and say good night to them later today….

I have set out with a relatively short list and must say, had the most successful day shopping.  One of the items on my lists was a pair of new gloves for me as I have lost one of the ones I brought and one glove really isn’t good enough in this climate.  I guess one glove only is no use in any climate.  So I went into this huge department store and found no less than 12 stands of gloves!  It took me for ever and it felt as if I was making a vital life changing decision.  There were lined ones and unlined ones, there was every colour under the sun, plus all the same colours again but with stitching on top, then were the ones with fur at the end and one could choose those in short version or longer ones that go up your arms a bit further.  Oh, and the knitted gloves were somewhere else altogether.  These were just the leather ones…

These are two of the twelve stands…well, that’s six stands with two sides each.

I bought a pair of silver grey gloves to match the grey cord coat I have in Auckland, the glove I have here is a brown colour, I still have hope to find the lost one (I think it is somewhere in the apartment) so I made a very sensible choice.  For some reason I found the gloves quite expensive comparing it with other items of clothing.  In fact I bought a pair of summer jeans for the same amount, which was Euro 25, around $30 or $35 Dollars.

At this point I would also like to thank Sabine to send me all the names of all the shops I should go to.  I haven’t checked yet, but think I have been to quite a few of them and it is only 16:15 so there is still some time to go before I have to board the U-Bahn to head back.

If you are sitting somewhere south of the equator while you are reading this, you may be interested to know that it is getting very dark out there.  Also, as this is a pedestrian zone, they have started setting up for the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) which will start on Monday.  All the lights will be so beautiful.

Here is a little taster…actually the Christmas light photo didn’t turn out so I show you a different photo I took this morning just outside of the U-Bahn station…

This is outside a fruit and vege shop and they are selling advent reefs either made up or to assemble yourself. For those non Germans…4 candles go onto the reef and each of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas one more candle is lit…1st to 4th advent! These are on sale everywhere now.

Bonnie, don’t worry I will remember to take many more Christmas photos. Oh, by the way this photo is for you, too, to remind you of your youth.

A demonstration!

Just as I was crossing Moenckeberg Strasse a police car and quite a few police men and women were coming up the road, followed by loud voices, banging and then a crowd of people holding up banners…a demonstration!

‘If Kids are united they will never be divided’ hmm I should look up what the actual issue was here.

Something about youth rights to work and their hourly rate (I think).  Another vehicle followed with a rapper of North African decent and dread locks, rapping (as in singing) in German about youth rates…quite a bizarre combination I thought.

Oh and talking of bizarre, when I was looking at yet another rack of clothes in yet another shop, I looked up because I heard a familiar language that was different from German.   Once I looked up I stared at a Chinese  woman and her little daughter, probably appearing quite rude.  It took me a moment to realise that what sounded familiar was the Chinese…how weird is that???  I am not sure if that is because we have just been there or because it sounds much like Auckland walking down the street.

Ok, I will head back out into the cold to see what else I can see and experience and promise to update this later on tonight.

It is now later on tonight, 21:48 to be precious (I had a long Skype session with Andrew) and you won’t believe what happened when I left Starbucks…

More police, this time heavy duty gear on and YES another demonstration, this time down Moenckeberg Strasse.

This group was against the war in Syria and the stuff happening in Gaza.  Many were carrying Palestinian flags and the shouting was about “Deutsches Geld, deutsche Waffen, Frieden schaffen, Gerechtigkeit” (German money, German weapons, make peace, justice”.

Sorry a bit blurry, was in a hurry, it was dark and raining. Well and it’s just a bad photo.

But check out the gear on this group of police people…

On the front he had heavy duty shin protectors that went above his knees. They were carrying helmets, too.

they were to the left and the right of the group checking out the pedestrians, searching for trouble.  They were all big blokes and the female officers were also big and scary looking.  Saying all this, the guy in front, whom I took the picture off, gave me directions to the underground station.

Following his directions I saw the ‘Europa Passage’ which Sabine mentioned to me and would you believe it the last item on my shopping list, which to this point I had not managed to find, was full filled….new boots!!  After a good 8 to 10 years of wearing my brown boots I have now found a new pair to replace them with.  I am most pleased and as I can hear Nalini and Jayna gagging for a photo I shall get the camera and take one…

The photo does not do them justice! They need to have a pair of legs in them.

Again, they were a steal in contrast to NZ and I bought two pairs of cotton long underpants for the boys for Euro 9 (that’s $12) for the two together!  Anyway, you can probably tell that I am well pleased with today’s results, so thanks again to my amazing aunt and cousin.

And look what I had for lunch…

MIne was the one in the front on the left!

It’s a local (as in northern) speciality called ‘Krabbenbroetchen’ and I bet all you northern German people just said the word out loud rolling your ‘r’s.  It’s a very cute word in deed.  ‘Krabbenbroetchen’ ‘shrimp roll’.  The reason it’s a northern speciality rather than any other region in Germany is that there is no ocean in the south (or anywhere else really), just in case the Antipodeans amongst you were wondering.

So, that’s it from me, we are off to the ‘Ostsee’ tomorrow, which is that bit of German coast line I just mentioned.  I am looking forward to the day and we promise to take all three cameras and see what we can come up with for you.

I also promise to update events from last weekend over the next couple of days.

Good night

Tanja