|
|
posted 16-03-2010 15:42
|
|
|
I fear I'll spend much of my time stuck in the hotel writing articles, but I'll do what I can.
|
|
|
|
 Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted 16-03-2010 17:26
|
|
|
Don't forget your umbrella. All Germans swear that Hamburg has at least 300 rainy days per year - what the locals deny, to be honest.
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted 16-03-2010 19:57
|
|
|
When I left university, I went to Hamburg for a couple of years, and it's a brilliant place to live (although I can see that it's not that special if you're only there for a short visit). You need to be there long enough to get to know the locals and get away from the beaten track a bit.
I mostly hung out in St. Pauli - not so much on the Reeperbahn, but down in the back streets towards the river. I don't know what it's like now, but back then there were loads of rough but friendly dockers' bars that hadn't changed since Hans Albers' day. I spent most of my time running around in an Elbsegler cap pretending to be John Lennon in 1960. I had the time of my life there.
Oh, and go to the fish market if you're there at the weekend. If you've been out all night boozing, there's nothing that'll wake you up better than Dutch lunatics throwing eels at you.
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted 17-03-2010 00:37
|
|
|
I love Hamburg. Lived there for a year as a student in 1984-85 and have been back umpteen times since to visit friends.
Something for every mood. For a good chill out long evening boozing you can't beat Frank und Frei near Sternschanze U/S-Bahn (last time probably over 5 years ago so current status needs verifying) or Die Blaue Blume in Altona. For a mega-posh but nonetheless beautiful bit of residential scenery visit the Suellberg hillside in Blankenese - a mediterranean-style set up overlooking the Elbe estuary. The Elbe-side walk just downstream from Altona past Oevelgoenne is very nice too.
The fish market on Sunday mornings (approx 6am to 10am) is quite something. I doubt I'll ever seen it again, though, because I've got too old these days to stay up drinking through the night to go there for 6am, which is what I used to do when I lived there, and I will never ever voluntarily get up in the morning to go see something before 10am.
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted 17-03-2010 03:43
|
|
|
If you want a quickie look at some of Hamburg, go to cbs.com and watch 2 Sundays past episode of Amazing Race. They were running all over Hamburg the whole leg, finish on the Reeperbahn, including taking penalties at Altona's stadium as a race task.
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted 17-03-2010 04:07
|
|
|
I wonder of Altoona, PA is named after Altona?
Thanks for all the ideas. More than I'll be able to take advantage of, I'm afraid, but I'll try.
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted 17-03-2010 08:51
|
|
|
I don't know what it's like now, but back then there were loads of rough but friendly dockers' bars that hadn't changed since Hans Albers' day.
There are still quite a few north of the Reeperbahn, but most of them on the south side have been replaced by places called things like "Ephemerie" and "Ambiente", where you can get rocket-flavoured tea and cranberry fizzy pop out of a posh-looking bottle. If you haven't been to that bit of St Pauli in the last five years, you probably wouldn't recognise it now.
I spent most of my time running around in an Elbsegler cap pretending to be John Lennon in 1960.
I've never taken things that far, although I do run around in a Troyer jumper in the winter pretending to be an Elb fisherman on shore leave. I'm even thinking of growing a beard, changing my name to Per and only saying 20 words a day.
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted 17-03-2010 10:36
|
|
|
Anyway, Reed, whatever you do, don't drink Astra beer. It'll make yo pine for the dishwater you get back home.
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted 17-03-2010 11:05
|
|
|
Never been. I'll have to go.
You can probably get Jever in Hamburg, can't you, if you look carefully? That'll be the stuff to drink if so.
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted 17-03-2010 11:13
|
|
|
You can probably get Jever in Hamburg, can't you, if you look carefully?
You don't even have to look carefully: you can get it in nine out of ten pubs. I don't like it myself, but it's the beer of choice of nearly everybody I know.
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted 17-03-2010 11:39
|
|
|
Thanks! I'm definitely going now.
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
Last Edit: 17-03-2010 14:10 By Ball Comrade.
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted 17-03-2010 14:24
|
|
|
Reed, the Altoona/Altona thing (which I've also wondered about) is controversial:
The word Altoona is a derivative of the Latin word altus, meaning "high".[5]
This explanation for the naming of Altoona is contradicted by Pennsylvania Place Names [6]. Although Altoona, in Blair Country, is popularly known as "the Mountain City," its name has no direct or indirect etymological relation to the Latin adjective altus, signifying "elevated, lofty." Two very different explanations of the origin of this name are current. The one which seems to be most natural and reasonable runs as follows: "The locomotive engineer who ran the first train into Altoona in 1851 was Robert Steele, who died several years ago, aged nearly ninety years. He was then the oldest continuous resident of the city. He was much respected, and had long been one of the private pensioners of Andrew Carnegie. Mr. Steele is authority for the statement that Colonel Beverly Mayer, of Columbia, Pennsylvania, who, as a civil engineer of what was then the Pennsylvania Central Railway, had laid out the tracks in the yards of the newly projected city, named the place Altoona after the city of Altona in Schleswig-Holstein, which became part of Germany in 1862." The German Altona, which lies on the right bank of the Elbe immediately west of Hamburg, is an important railway and manufacturing centre with a population of nearly 200,000. The etymological derivation of the name Altona is not known with certainty, but widely believed to be Low German all to na, meaning "all too near" (sc. Hamburg).
The popular explanation derives the name of Altoona from Allatoona, said to be a Cherokee Indian name. In 1849 David Robinson sold his farm to Archibald Wright of Philadelphia, who transferred the property to his son, John A. Wright, who laid it out in building lots, became one of the founders of Altoona, and was responsible for the naming of the town. According to his own statement, he had spent considerable time in the Cherokee country of Georgia, where he had been especially attracted by the beautiful name of Allatoona, which he had bestowed upon the new town in the belief that it was a Cherokee word meaning "the high lands of great worth." In the Cherokee language there is a word eladuni, which means "high lands," or "where it is high"; but to a Cherokee, Allatoona and eladuni are so different that the former could hardly be derived from the latter.
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted 17-03-2010 14:37
|
|
|
ursus arctos wrote:
The etymological derivation of the name Altona is not known with certainty, but widely believed to be Low German all to na, meaning "all too near" (sc. Hamburg).
Ha ha, brilliant. We should rename Gateshead immediately.
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted 18-03-2010 00:20
|
|
|
The meeting in Sweden that I'm going to I'm going to is in Stockholm. I hope to come early or stay late if I can find affordable accomodation.
Which clubs are in or near Stockholm? I'm not familiar with that league. But I notice a lot of the names are also hockey teams. That multisport professional club thing seems is very odd to me.
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
Last Edit: 18-03-2010 00:29 By Reed John.
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted 18-03-2010 02:03
|
|
|
What a shame. I'll be in Hamburg a couple of weeks before you. We'll just miss out on a hugely unlikely 'thon.
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted 18-03-2010 02:13
|
|
|
That does suck. That would have been a classic.
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted 18-03-2010 07:25
|
|
Stefan is your man for Stockholm and can give you more detail, but AIK Solna (evil, FA club, mental fans), Djurgården (posh, nice stadium, mental fans) and brommapojkarna (basically a huge junior club that got promoted, not many fans) are in Allsvenskan.
Stefan supports Hammarby and they supposedly have the nicest ground in Stockholm, in Södermalm, but they got relegated to Superettan last season. Also in Superettan are Syrianska and Assyriska, worldwide representatives of the Syriac/Assyrian communities, and both based in the nondescript commuter belt town of Södertälje. Their rivalry is fierce, but there doesn't seem to be a derby in August. The Superettan schedule is here.
There might also be a Champions League game involving AIK if they get through their second qualifying round tie. The second leg of the Third Qualifying round is on 3-4 August, and the playoffs are on 17/18 and 24/25. The Swedish clubs in the Europa League are all a long way from Stockholm.
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
Last Edit: 18-03-2010 07:26 By Ball Comrade.
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted 18-03-2010 22:33
|
|
|
Hammarby sounds like a great choice. I'll look into it.
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
posted 18-03-2010 22:42
|
|
|
Stockholm at that time of year is incredible. You are going to love it.
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
MESSAGE BOARD 
