Some Contact Maintenance
In summer, an old friend from Chicago reached out to let me know that she would be traveling to Germany in October; she was curious how far I was away from one of her stops. She had a couple days free in Hamburg, which is a short train ride away for me. I booked my travel and was looking forward to exploring a new city.
In asking for advice from Erfurt locals on what to do in Hamburg, most told me that they generally just drive around that city; apparently it is not a hot-spot for tourism. However, the brewer from my brewing internship had recommended that I take a tour of the brewery in Hamburg where he had once worked. It did not take much convincing to get my Chicago friend to go along.
As we walked in circles trying to find the starting point for the tour, I read online that it was recommended that people make an appointment for a tour. Well, we found the main gate and three large groups were waiting for the tour guide. As the tour guide appeared, he acknowledged each of the large groups and confirmed their number of attendees. He then looked quizzically at me; I asked if two more could join. I could see that his German sense of order and decorum was in conflict with being welcoming. Ultimately, he decided two would not throw things off.
Off we went into a conference room where he discussed the history of brewing and a bit of the history of that particular brewery. Kim was bored; she does not speak German. The second part was a quick walk-around the various parts of the brewery and what was done there. I translated where necessary. The final part was a banquet. Now I understood his earlier consternation: there were plates and food laid out for those who made reservations! His calculations were actually to determine if there was enough food to go around.
Kim and I joined the end of the one long table. Each groups sat together and mostly kept to themselves. After the first round, there was a bit more boisterous interaction. After the second round, each end of the table was on first-name basis. After the third round, someone plugged in their phone to a large speaker and cranked out typical Oktoberfest music. During the fourth round, there was dancing and hugging and much singing.
I had to ask the tour guide if this was typical; he earnestly responded that it was not. He did not appear happy that people were not going to be punctually shuffling out. The evening was hilarious and definitely a great introduction to some less seen German culture for Kim.
The next morning, we were to meet at the main train station, but little did we know that the state’s farmers had planned a strike. There were thousands of tractors driven into the city and parked everywhere. They snared traffic and I was not able to find Kim; her taxi was not able to get her into the city. It was some good advertisement for the American tractor firms of Case and John Deere.
I let her know that I would meet her later at another brewery. We did eventually find each other again. As we sat there and talked about life, a camera crew entered. Then an older lady started to be trained on operating the taps. Then the whole area was crowded with film and photo cameras and sound engineers. Kim and I were asked if we were okay with our image being used for a local TV segment. Why not. The older lady even served us our second round.
There may not be a lot to see in Hamburg, but we sure did experience a lot.
After spending Monday and Tuesday in Hamburg, I then traveled back to Dresden on Friday as I had not heard from my buddy in a while. As we were to be traveling back to my parents’ home for Thanksgiving, I thought it would be good to drop and say hi.
My plan was to make a day trip. I had a meeting with Dumbledore for lunch and then dinner plans with my buddy. My buddy then suggested that I just spend the night so I did not have to rush to get the last train home. Then as chance would have it, he had to work the next day and I was a perfect candidate to help him out.
A group of butchers were have a “Meat Fest” and my buddy was to give a short lecture on how to incorporate a partnership with a baker in a butchers shop. I became his assistant, manning the ovens and finishing up the hummus. I did not travel to Dresden expecting to be put to work, but it was extremely fun to be working with him. Although I washed a lot of dishes, we were able to acquire some good cuts of beef from another presenter… which meant my return trip was to be pushed back yet again.
My day trip turned into a weekend getaway. It was all time well-spent (although, playing with last-minute train travel is expensive). 10/10. Would recommend.
