My Christmas Sojourn

So, for anybody who might not have heard, Heathrow Airport was a wreck this past week. Five inches of snow and they panicked, flights were cancelled for days, they refused to have help cleaning up their mess, and thousands of passengers were stranded in London without compensation... me included. For SIX DAYS.

Day 1: Tracy and I first headed down together on the 18th, trekking through miserable weather and even worse traveling conditions-- at one point, both the tube station going North and all buses and taxis going North were simultaneously cancelled, leaving Tracy and I stranded at a crowded McDonald's for something like three hours.

Really? Is this enough snow to cancel trains over??

To be fair, it was less like light fluffy snow and more like a hail storm of dip n'dots...

My gawd we were so cold waiting on that bus. My boots soaked through completely, and poor Tracy had to drag her rolling luggage through all the slush and snow.

 Finally though, we made it to Jane Orr's home. All hail the power of Ft. Thomas mom connections! Apparently, some years ago while working abroad, Jane had stayed with Paula, a local Ft.Thomas mom whose daughter now plays volleyball. My mom and Paula get to talk quite a bit during those long matches, and actually stumbled upon the fact that I needed a place to stay in London- Paula phoned up Jane, and Jane kindly offered her home. We were so glad she did!!! When we finally arrived, she greeted us with warm clothes, a delicious dinner, and (of course) lovely hot tea.

Day 2: The next morning, I woke up to find online that, beyond a doubt, my flight was cancelled. Tracy and I loafed around, took a few photos of Jane's beautiful old house, and then finally left to meet up with Eunjae at the Holiday Inn. Fortunately for me, Tracy and Eunjae were supposed to fly out on the 20th, so they already had a room booked very near the airport, and Mom (with the help of her brother's family) was able to rebook me for the 22nd. After another few day of slow tube service, we got some sleep.

Jane's kitchen was wonderful- so cozy! It looked like it was out of a picture book. In addition, her whole family is full of artists (including herself), so there were wonderful sketches, watercolors, charcoals, and uncannily perfect candid photos hanging everywhere.

Plenty of tea cups!

Day 3: Today, all three of us woke up early and full of hope! We reached the airport and separated to shove through the crowds and pursue each of our flights. Fortunately, Tracy flew Canada Air and was able to make it out on time (apparently Canada is capable of dealing with snow- go figure). Eunjae and I, however, did not fare as well. While she found out within the first five hours her flight was definitely cancelled, I sat on the airport floor as a standby from about 7am to 4pm. Suddenly though, all of us standbys who had stuck it out and stayed all day were summoned-- there was a flight going to DC with extra seats! We were printed tickets, hustled through security, and sprinted to our gate. After another agonizing hour of waiting in line, four people from our group were "chosen." Apparently there had been about 70 standbys, and about 50 seats on the plane... I was one of the unlucky 20. They essentially told us to go home and stay home until we could rebook.

Although I hate that Eunjae got stuck as well, I was so lucky to have her there with me- she'd bought food for us for that night (thank goodness) and had a cup of tea for me when I finally got out of a very long, hot shower.

Day 4: Eunjae and I officially decided the airport was not worth our time. We slept in, drank tea, checked out of the expensive Holiday Inn and transferred to the Firs Lodge Hotel, a much more affordable (yet still very cozy) hotel closer to the airport, and continued relaxing. The day was really quite nice until later that evening... when I saw online my rebooked flight for tomorrow had been cancelled.

Day 5: Physical condition deteriorating exponentially, I showed up at my gate early about 6:45am. The first guard immediately handed me a number to call to rebook again and told me to go home. Unwilling (and unable, since my phone had died) to do so, I wandered around until I talked another guard into helping me get down into the Arrivals area, so I could use the pay phones. After £5 of hold music, a United Airlines employee informed me the soonest I could get a ticket was the 28th. A few hours later, I got the text from Eunjae- she had made it out. Exhausted, miserable, hopeless and sick, I collapsed into a chair next to Arrivals gate and finally let myself wallow in misery as friends and families reunited just feet away.

Finally, after I remembered that being pitiful would solve nothing, I checked my email to find Mom had managed to rebook a ticket for me on the 26th- even though they had explicitly told me nothing sooner was available. It still wasn't great, but it was definitely better than the 28th. As per mom's instructions, I snuck my way upstairs, past security, into the Departures area hoping to just get my boarding pass printed off so I could resign myself to a 24 and 25th in a hotel room. But when I reached the desk, suddenly, miraculously, shockingly nonchalantly- the woman asked "if I wouldn't like a flight home on the 23rd?" Uh, YES. Yes, actually, YES, I would.

Ticket in hand but at least now with some hope for the next day, I half-crawled back to the hotel, snagged some fast food, and tried to sleep through the night. 

Day 6: 

For once, finally, from the moment I arrived things went smoothly. Cold pills and cough syrup got me through the first 8 hour flight, and support from family and friends helped me crawl the rest of the way to my final gate. All I can really remember of that last two hour flight are about ten minutes of take off and five minutes of landing. One thing I do remember though, is the plane breaking through the clouds above Chicago and then: sea of clouds and a full moon above America. I got off the walk way and stumbled into my happy family's arms at just about midnight.

HOME!

 

I've never appreciated being home so much! It was a brutal trip getting back, but completely worth it. Happy Holidays to everybody, I hope everyone enjoys their break and their family and friends!

Favorite Airport Quotes:

"Bring over five shovels and ten people from the mid-west, we'll have this mess cleaned up in a few hours."

--American woman

"It takes an American to speak beautiful English."
--charming older British man who was also on standby with me, talking about the Gettysburg address. Apparently, this same man is on several dating websites. It seems he sets up dates with ladies from around the world- if the date works out, hooray! If not, then he has himself a lovely holiday.

Hamburg (Day 3)

Our last day in Hamburg, Tracy and I woke up to an otherwise deserted hostel room around noon-- we had completely overslept! We recovered quickly though (more or less), and spent the rest of the day taking advantage of last minute photo opportunities on our way back to the St. Nikolai monument. My favorite was probably Otto Van Bismark here, the man who started it all. 

*footnote: If you ever find yourselves wondering, "What kind of a monument would Jess like built in her honor?" This is it. 

Finally, after getting a bit lost in the freezing, sleeting rain/snow, we managed to find St. Nikolai again (the cathedral bombed by the USA and Britain during the Gomorrah Operation of 1943 intended to crush any remaining German morale). I know the pictures can say more than I ever could, but I just have to emphasize how brilliant and powerful this monument is. War is hell, and the devastated ruins of this cathedral present this fact with a bold, simple honesty that I have never felt so keenly anywhere else except perhaps our own Vietnam War Memorial. St. Nikolai, especially for me as an American suddenly seeing the "other side" of it, struck me as expressing the depth of human suffering with a stirring beauty, and an utterly penetrating rawness.

Windows are left shattered. Stones are still burned black. The original majesty of the church has been bombed away, and what remains sits in skeletal shock, perhaps too numb to even be described as "haunting."

St. Nikolai and its surrounding statues form a true memorial, in the very purest sense of that word. We must not forget, not what we have done to others, nor what we have done to ourselves. It confronts the visitor with its refusal to lend justification, and though this unnerves us, it is also precisely what must realized and remembered.

"The Ordeal" -- A figure sitting on a pile of bricks remaining
from a Concentration Camp hides its face in its hands.

"For victims of war and persecution"

"Take my hand
I'll lead you back
to yourself"
-created by Edith Breckwoldt, 2003

We rode up the elevator to the highest possible point as well. It was a stunning view. In the 1800's for a few years, this was the tallest structure in the world, and even today it is the 2nd highest cathedral in Germany.

After riding up to the top of the remains, we went to the crypt next, located underneath the church. We entered by going down through the glass pyramid. The crypt acts a sort of basic facts museum extension for the cathedral remains.

A map of Hamburg. Where there is red, the city was bombed, often to the
point that everything was completely razed to the ground.

Restored fragments of the original altar.

The melted remains of wine bottles and other glass items- at many places in the city during the bombings, the fires burned so hot the sidewalks were literally melting. Anyone trying to escape above ground would have stood no chance.

An old portrait of the cathedral from when it was completed, surrounded by masses of people.

Hamburg (Day 2)

Saturday! This morning at our tour of the city, the best part of our "German history in five minutes" talk was pirate Klaus Stoertebeker's story. 

The first part of the story is fairly predictable-- pirates don't get famous for sharing and making daisy bracelets. Around 1400, Klaus looted, pillaged, and plundered the living daylights out of the German fleets until they couldn't take it anymore and so, after much high seas action, they finally captured Klaus and his men. As was appropriate and fair, the victors then led the pirates through the streets in chains and lined them up to be beheaded one by one. Klaus, in a desperate situation, offered them his hidden treasure in exchange for their freedom, but the level-headed Germans weren't having any of it-- they'd eventually stumble across it once he was dead anyway. 

Now though, it gets interesting. Klaus, finally accepting his fate, asked his final request. After he is beheaded, he will (somehow) stand his headless body up and start running past the line of his crew members. Whoever he manages to run past must be spared. According to our tour guide's version of the legend, Klaus's body made it past fifteen of his men, all of whom the Germans set free.

Klaus, as featured in one of the charming and certainly historically 
accurate posters that Hamburg Dungeon had hanging all over town

Our first actual stop on the tour was Hauptkirche St. Petri (St. Peter's).



Overshadowing every building we visited in this older section was the Great Fire of 1842, which burned about a fourth of the entire city to the ground. However, one of the really special things about St. Petri's is that these two bronze lion door knockers survived (dating back to about 1340) and are still hanging on the main doors of the church today.

This forlorn looking bridge has a history about as spooky as it looks too. The "Trostbrücke" bridge first and foremost is important because it spans the gap between old Hamburg and new Hamburg--a statue of the first archbishop looks out at his work (the old town), a statue of Graf Adolf III looks out at his new town. However, translated, Trostbrücke means "Comfort Bridge," apparently because before prisoners were executed, they were allowed to pause on this bridge on their way to the chopping block.

The Zum Brandansfang, now a restaurant, was originally a cigar factory. More specifically, it was the cigar factory where the massive fire that ate up the originals of most of our tourist destinations began, presumably by arson (though to this day they have no idea who might have been stupid enough to set a cigar factory on fire).

We also visited some equally dark but more recent places, the first of which was a factory building that, during the Holocaust, produced Zyclon B, a poisonous gas. No guesses what it was used for. The plaque on the building's wall reads (loosely), "Do not destroy the wicked of the earth, let them destroy themselves!" It then lists the names of the concentration camps where the gas was shipped. 

This plaque has apparently caused some debate to flair up, especially since the people working there now already resent the ghostlike statues surrounding the building's facade--essentially, they don't like being reminded of the building's twisted history every morning as they walk in to work. Whereas I can understand how it wouldn't add much sunshine to your Mondays, it hasn't even been a full century since all the tragedy and atrocity... a plaque in acknowledgement seems a small concession.

"Stolpersteine" were also all over the city. These small gold plaques translate as "stumbling stones" --this was such a beautifully humble word for these simple memorials, especially in light of the intense weight these actually hold. Essentially, they simply bear the names of individuals taken away during the Holocaust, and are placed (upon request of remaining family or friends) in front of the individual's old home or place of work. Our guide told us that in some neighborhoods, the sidewalks in front of homes can seem as if they are paved with these- something like 2,500 have been put in place just last year.

The most brilliant monument I have ever seen in my entire life, though, was this: the charred remains of the St. Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas Cathedral). Minimally restored only for structural integrity, the memorial itself is literally the still standing remains of the cathedral's outer structure and steeple. The steeple itself was used as a target point during the final air raids of WWII. Whereas everything else in the city was rebuilt, restructured, cleaned back up and put back on the ''moving forward'' track, these ruins were kept just as they were. We visited this again on Sunday though, so more photos and thoughts on this stunning scene later.

 Finally, we reached the edge of old Hamburg, rimmed by warehouses and old factories.

Across the bridge, Hamburg is now attempting to construct a sort of city within a city, a new residential area. The buildings are each completely unique, and this whole stretch is basically an architect's playground, since everything is new. The huge building under construction you can see here in the background is going to be the masterpiece. The "Elbphilharmonie" (Symphony Hall), though it's costing Hamburg a freaking fortune right now, claims it will be the world's next "Sidney Opera House," and when it is finally completed should earn it's weight in gold as a tourist destination. Many people seemed highly skeptical that this new area would ever succeed what with how much it will cost to live there, but I can't help but think it will survive until a time when people when be able to afford these places again.

 Finally, after our magnificent tour ended, we went to check out the Miniature Wunderland nearby. It seems that one of Germany's many great accomplishments is actually being home to the world's largest miniature, well, world. It was pretty gimmicky, but hey, it was warm, and there were lots of pretty funny little details sewn into the landscapes-- the people who were creating this thing must have had to do something to keep themselves from going completely nuts.

Ah! Can't say how happy I was for dinner that night! Deer meat, cabbage, mashed potatoes- that plate was clean in something like fifteen minutes. That night we decided to just chill out in the hostel bar, which wound up being a perfectly relaxing end to a very long day.

Hamburg- Chillin' in the Land of Deutsch! (Day 1)

This past weekend, after an EPIC shove to get enough work done (I seriously wrote a 2000 word paper in under 24 hours- who knew what you could accomplish when you unplug the internet??) Tracy and I met up with her wonderful Canadian friend Judy Jong (who is getting her degree in London) to explore Hamburg for the weekend. Although Tracy and I came within about five minutes of missing two buses and a train to London, we finally arrived in Germany!

(Obligatory shot out of air plane window. YES- it was freakin' cold.)


Fortunately, most of the natives we approached spoke English, and on top of that they were incredibly kind and welcoming. Since Tracy also had some solid German vocab tucked away in her head, it only took about thirty minutes of wandering in a circle to find our hostel, the "Jugendherberge Auf dem Stinfag" (haha, it was located literally two minutes from where we'd stepped off the subway).

However, even though we were pretty much drunk on exhaustion having had to travel literally throughout the night, it was 11am and check in *sob* wasn't until 2pm!

















So, after freshening up and manning up as much as possible in the hostel bathroom, we hit the streets for a few hours, seeking food and an epic (preferably warm) building to explore.

The first thing we stumbled on was this guy (...to be honest, the very first thing we found was a sandwich place across the street, but the cathedral was also incentive to stop).








This is St. Michaeliskirche (St. Michael's Cathedral). And, rather than try to explain how cool it was to see this building in person, let me instead offer this photo:

Yes. We were standing in, beneath, and on top of the building on the back of the €2 coin. Oh! And just in case this is not convincing enough, they also keep Bach in their crypt:

 Just sayin. This place was pretty epic.





*Interesting fact: The signs in the crypt explained that normally the dead were simply buried just underneath the church floor itself, which (understandably) caused all sorts of rather disgusting problems. It was very appreciated that the dead could be buried in this crypt beneath the church instead.

On the opposite end, we also took the lift to the top of the twelfth tallest church in the world. Needless to say, the view was incredible.

Inside, there was some kind of a service going on in German, but they still allowed us in for some pictures--the interior was stunning. Although it was first built in the 17th century, due to a lightning bolt and later to fire, this place has been rebuilt/reconstructed about three or four times. It's the largest church in Hamburg (which is very impressive--this place is full of enormous churches). Outside and above Tracy and Judy is St. Michael being his badass German self, slaying the heck of the devil.

Finally, it was time for check in! After a short discussion, we opted for a nap, and then...

...dinner in the hostel. I'm not sure what the meat was, but I can tell you it was absolutely delicious. All this for €7? A VERY good deal.                    

As it happened, that evening at dinner a student visiting here from Switzerland heard us speaking English, and actually came over to join us. Since Yves (sounds like "Eve") had already been there a few days, spoke German fluently, and was incredibly cool, he offered to show us around his favorite Christmas Markets. I managed to shoddily film a few magical moments. The enormous castle in the background is the "Rathaus" (yup, pronounced Rat-house), which makes Buckingham Palace look like a charming doll house. 

Yves explained what everybody was drinking was "Glühwein," which translates to "Glow Wine," and is as lovely and warm and delicious as it sounds. Essentially, it's a mulled red wine with spices- perfect to warm up with after a chilly night of German Christmas magic. 

Highlights:

First paper came back! At first, I was like, holy crap, a 70%?? Well, apparently here that's actually a very good grade- a really solid A. Hurrah! Hopefully grad schools in the States will understand!

"What the heck" moment of the day:

 At the bus station in London--you have to PAY to use the bathroom???