Here are a few photos of a museum in Luneburg, crazy train travel on a 49Euro ticket throughout the country, and sights in Lubeck, famous for its marzipan (I bought 2 lbs!)

Sammlung Henning J. Claassen

This was a beautiful gallery on the outskirts of Luneburg with a modern art collection with some examples shown here.

Train Travel in Germany

I somehow managed to snatch an online ticket for the month of September for only 49 euros! Crowds were intense over the weekend, but much saner during the rest of the week.

Lubeck

A Last Look at Hamburg

A Newly Found Friend

Lively. Vivacious. Warm and friendly. Crazy. These are words that describe my new best friend.

It all started with a lost wallet. That is another story to be told, but let’s take this moment to a better place.

The Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg is the blessing in disguise. I had just taken my place in 16S (as in 16^thfloor), Row 4, Seat 18 in the rafters at the sold-out concert. Soon thereafter, Annemarie arrived and greeted me as she sat down in Seat 19. We exchanged pleasantries and discovered that we had purchased tickets the hour before from the same person selling tickets outside the concert hall. 

A third and fourth person appeared to claim their seats, and we all happily shared stories about how clever we were in snatching our tickets. Anne Sophie Mutter, the soloist, was a world-class violinist about to perform with a dozen other virtuosi string musicians. 

After the exhilarating performance, I learned that Annemarie had worked in Chicago for 14 years. She was a marketing pro in the shipping business and was immersed in her life and work. Her warmth and charm reminded me of the inimitable friendliness of those from the Midwest. Growing up on a small farming village outside of Munich with four brothers, Annemarie had learned how to stand up for herself. She attributes her self-reliance and independent nature to her family relationships.

After the performance, Annemarie convinced me to visit her the next day in Luneburg, where she lived. I used my 49-euro, contactless monthly ticket to take the train there, a short hour-long trip outside of Hamburg. She met me and escorted me to her apartment, a mere five-minute walk from the train station. Her beautiful apartment was impeccably decorated with white carpeting and walls, soft modern furnishings, a few carefully chosen hand-crafted antiques and splashes of red here and there. 

Picture windows framed a soothing garden outside, with greenery as far as the eye could see trailing down to a river beyond. A window cracked open allowed the breeze from the recent shower to waft inside. I felt so lucky to be invited into this luxurious German home! After Annemarie explained her work in the States, she described her humble upbringing. Her family grew hops for the breweries in Munich. 

The two upper floors of her huge 20-room farmhouse were used to store and process grain. During harvest time, workers would load and hoist the hops that had been thrashed from the stalks to the top floor. The kernels would be poured into huge canvas sacks that were suspended by a hole on the bottom of the upper floor. They were then pressed into the sack while hanging down to the floor below. Using their feet, workers would then tamp and stamp the kernels inside the sacks to compress and leave them to dry.

On our walk through the quaint town of Lueneburg, Annemarie stopped to show me one of the random wild hops’ vines. A plump kernel at the upper tips of the plant looks like a giant white raspberry. Annemarie broke it open to show me what it looks like inside. She then closed her eyes and took a deep whiff. Her face broke into a huge smile. It immediately brought her back to her childhood, and in a moment she took me there with her.

I too, had suddenly flown to this fairy-tale town to Southern Bavaria. I had often seen lush green fields and the tidy plots of German farmland. I instantly connected to the description of her humble beginnings. They reminded me of my mother’s childhood in rural China.  I. too, closed my eyes and allowed the thought to take me there.There were many other stories that Annemarie told me about growing up in Germany and living in the States.

After sharing wine, glorious concerts, and even a special overnight at her lovely home, I treasured this story about her childhood. We connected in many ways. While names of the farm families change, Moarhofer continues. I would love to visit there one day. Annemarie’s vivid description brought the photo to life, and her friendship has given me the reason for investing in the German language.

My primary interest in visiting Hamburg was the Elbphilharmonie, designed by Swiss architects Herzog and DeMeuron. In my book, it’s easily among the greatest modern buildings in the past hundred years.

It’s not flawless. But the experience is thrilling. As a destination, visitors marvel over its design and are overwhelmed by its prominence. Like a giant supercruise ship lifted out of the water, it sits on a promontory to the western edge of the city.

It’s now a destination point with tons of tourists from Luneburg to Buenos Aires. The size and massing establish its presence and its whimsical openings and surface treatment are intriguing,

There are few buildings I consider worthy from both interior and exterior perspectives. but this one exceeds my expectations. From the first encounter with the curve escalator to the 360 degree views of the harbor from the top, there is no comparable building in the world that combines an exciting amusement park with a inspirational view at the top of the world. Unless fans of bungee jumping argue that the sport is better. The results are the same.

At the first performance there, I watched a rock star from the rafters. Anne Sophie Mutter and her Virtuosi concert took the sold-out audience over the top. Sightlines were so good you felt you were in a front seat and the sound quality, thanks to Japanese ingenuity, made you feel as if you had just cleaned the wax out of your ears.

The second performance was in the Smaller Auditorium (Kleiner Saal). Quite a different but equally thrilling experience to that of the Larger Hall (Grosser Saal). The Mendelssohn Festival was being held simultaneously so the room and the chamber music fit perfectly.

Like other European cities that have established star-architect branding to attract tourists to museums, Hamburg took a risk and turned its attention to a music venue. It cleverly lifted the concert hall to the pinnacle of a high rise building by putting 5 levels of parking at the base and sandwiching a hotel in the middriff.

Unfortunately it seemed like exiting the garage is a nightmare for attendees, both pedestrian and vehicular. And I questioned putting the high headcount at the top. I suppose its no different than occupants in a high rise building. There’s no doubt the building is spectacular and deserves its place among the top, if not the top, of ten best concert halls in the world. My opinion.

Fine and Applied Arts Museum, Hamburg

Wandering into the museum next to the train station was an oasis of German culture that I love. From the early beginnings of modern design and production of beautiful objects for the home, the roots of Ikea and Apple can ge found here. The tender, slender tendrils of Jugendstil (youthful style) represent the flowering of blending art and science, as it reflected the Art Nouveau movement and influenced the Moderne.

The fine tapestries demonstrate the traditions of fine hand craftsmanship. Art extended into the home and blended architectural elements like walls, doors and windows as well as furniture. It’s no winder you see influences of Frank Lloyd Wright everywhere in these museums!

You can learn more about the Jugendstil here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugendstil

Sesame Street Setups

This special exhibition at the Fine Arts Museum captures the delight in educating and training children. The models, sketches, and planning required extreme care and dedication by talented professionals. Kids could draw their own creative versions!

Around the corner from the train station is where the other half of Hamburg lives. Real food is sold in markets here.

Luneburg

The Hanseatic city of Luneburg was a fine example of the wealth and commercial power of the Hanseatic league. Established to protect mutual trading interests of its members, the League was the most powerful from the 13th to the 15th centuries. Buildings in Luneburg have been preserved back to this period.

Bremen controlled the North Sea and Hamburg controlled the Baltic. Athough Luneburg was not a coastal seaport, it derived its prominence from the salt in the area. I loved how roofscapes and windows made you “look up”, as Steve Jobs said in the opera (R)evolution about cell phones..

I was lucky enough to join my new German friend Annemarie to make a delivery to a client’s stately home on the outskirts of Luneburg. The thatched roof is a unique feature of homes in the area. Dedicated maintenance and care are required. The same roofing method was applied to the new pool house. The visit was a treat and a pleasure.

There’s only a couple more days to see a final performance at the Philharmonie, then back to Berlin to catch my flight back to San Francisco!