A Very European New Year
An image that could have come straight out of Shanghai…
Hamburg – possibly the European city that reminds me the most of Shanghai. A strange statement to make perhaps, but it’s true. Since leaving the East Asian metropolis of 28 million people, nothing in Europe has really compared to the bustling, high-energy nature of China’s second city. But on a now obligatory festive season tour of northern Germany and the Netherlands, Hamburg filled that gap in a multitude of ways.
It might seem weird to spend the period between Christmas and New Year in a foreign country, rather than at home with family, but having spent so much time living abroad, many of our friends are scattered across Europe. Christmas then, is time for family, while New Year is time for visiting friends. First stop on the trip was Hamburg, where Lotte, a Chinese friend, now lives.
I had grown up being exposed to Germany on a regular basis. Trips to the Rhine Valley with school and parents in well-intentioned attempts to facilitate our learning of the language (now all-but forgotten) were a regular part of our summer holidays during my early teenage years. My memories of the picture-perfect medieval towns in those sun-kissed wine making regions were completely out of sync with what we were to experience in the north German winter this time.
Although this one definitely couldn’t have come from the Far East! 😂 Germany still retains the crown in terms of European charm
A city of 2 million people, Hamburg acts as north Germany’s hub for business and culture. It’s influence on those who have found themselves there could immediately be seen. Of all the people I met, no one had grown up in the city and yet all professed an interesting level of loyalty towards it. Like Shanghai, it appears to have acted as a magnet for younger people across Germany looking to move to a more exciting place to live and work. Despite the fog and biting cold weather we experienced on landing, there was a certain energy that no weather could dampen.
Our first morning there started as so many others on our travels – with Parkrun! Weary from a 2am arrival following a delayed flight, we nonetheless dragged ourselves to the start line next to the central lake at 9am. European Parkruns are more sparsely attending than those in the UK, and I had expected to win, but spent the entire race nursing a bleeding knee after a fall at the first corner and willing freezing fingers to warm up until I was outkicked by a runner from Dusseldorf with a kilometre to go. Limping in nursing my damaged body (but mostly pride), I couldn’t stay down for long as Turan, Lotte and I soaked in the special positive Saturday morning atmosphere that only Parkrun can bring, then retreated to a wonderful Turkish run nearby coffee shop. Sampling the local breakfast delicacies, Franzbrötchen, similar to a Cinammon Roll, juxtaposed with Turkish borek and fresh mint tea, soon warmed us up and filled us with positivity to explore further what the city had to offer.
The next couple of days passed in a whirlwind. We spent the time catching up with Lotte and another friend from China, Kyoni, who was starting her year of travelling the world and regaled us of stories of travel mix ups – she had already managed to fall asleep in a car she thought was heading to Valencia, Spain, only to wake up in France😂. Lotte introduced us to some of her friends, with whom we enjoyed the culinary delights of Hamburg. I had always thought of German food as wholesome, filling, but not very varied – just a slightly better cooked version of the English staples of roast meat and vegetables. But here, there was authentic food from all around the world to explore. We tried Afghan, Turkish and Thai food, each of which was as good as we had ever had, while learning from Jannis, Lotte’s boyfriend, all about what it is like to live in Hamburg. My immediate thoughts were that while culturally it was not so different to the UK, it was just that bit better – whether that be the food, the cleanliness of the beautifully kept parks and streets, or the vibrant nature of the shopping streets and old town. But for all of it’s nostalgic attraction, we were soon to experience a very different side to Hamburg.
Fireworks. Loved around the world, I was nonetheless used to a particular kind of fireworks, in that whether in the UK or China, they were always reserved for organized displays. While as the home of fireworks, I had seen my fair share of awe-inspiring displays in China, nothing could prepare me for the carnage that fireworks would wreck on the streets of Hamburg.
No organised displays here - Hamburg fireworks were something else
Culturally, the Germans just seem to do New Year differently. People don’t go to organized displays, they all buy fireworks individually and just go crazy. Jannis took us to see the red-light district at 6pm on New Year’s Eve after an afternoon at an outdoor ice-skating rink, and we soon saw why he wanted to take us there, and subsequently leave there, early. As we were walking along the street, fireworks were already exploding out of the most unexpected places. They would suddenly explode out of bins, shoot horizontally across the street or cracker-jack into the dusk sky from behind parked cars. It was like the locals wanted to experience what it’s like to be in a war zone. Nerves shredded, we retreated as quickly as possible, aiming to find a quieter place to celebrate the New Year.
As we watched the sky light up in a beautiful 360-degree panorama from Lotte’s eighth-floor balcony however, I was able to appreciate this whole-hearted embracing of New Year celebrations on behalf of the Germans. It might be dangerous and seem to make no sense from a first-time outside perspective, but one day a year to throw off all rules and just go crazy has it’s benefits. As we watched the multitude of fireworks explode across the horizon as far as the eye could see I felt warm inside, despite the biting midnight cold. The world is full of life, and cities all over the world encapsulate that.
Catching the bug - signing up to chess tournament number two.