Weihnachtsmarkt and the Never-Ending Winter

Weihnachtsmarkt and the never-ending winter.
It was the middle of November when we got a lucky break thanks to Ana Breckwoldt. We had been looking for jobs and getting nowhere until Ana made a few calls for us and found a possible job working for a Circus during the central Christmas markets in Hamburg. We trekked into town to meet our prospective boss and were extremely delighted to find Mischa, a man who seemed to want to help us out as much as he could. There was space for us to stay at their property where they operate a circus school, so we nervously, but excitedly packed half our things on the bikes (sent the rest home with Ana one day after work) and made our way into Iserbrook, just one suburb away from the Breckwoldt parents.
We moved in on a Friday and Mark started work on Monday. His first assignment was to help erect the huts and tents for the markets that would run for 30 days between late November and Christmas. The weather was already quite cold and rainy by mid November and I was quite happy to not be working outside. Mark’s first week was in central Hamburg and the second week was in a town called Lubeck, about 1 hours’ drive from Hamburg. The markets officially began on 23rd November and were open every day until 23rd December. In Hamburg the market was set up directly in front of the town hall in the middle of the city and that’s where we spent 12 hours, at least, per day for the entire market. Mark was working in the kitchen of the Circus’ restaurant while I worked for a biscuit stall selling traditional German biscuits. The month consisted of sleeping, travelling to work, working and then travelling home again. We ate all our meals at the market and didn’t even enter the kitchen/living room at home between Nov 23 and Dec 23.
The market had a great atmosphere and was a fun workplace for us. We met some really great people and it came to an end more quickly than I had anticipated. After the final day of work the circus crew all went and ate a meal together before visiting a few bars later in the evening. At the end of the night we rode home in a taxi unaware that was the last time we would see many of those people during our stay in Hamburg.
The next day, 24th December, seemed to be when most of the Christmas celebrations are carried out in Germany. We got in on the action, opening our presents a day before normal and were even invited to dinner at the circus directors’ house. Martin cooked up a goose and we ate traditional German style food including red cabbage and knoedel (potatoes, eggs, and some sort of powder all mixed together and boiled in water). We contributed a packet of Tim Tams to the evening and they were devoured with many oooh’s and ahhh’s.
There was no rest on the 25th as we were invited to eat a meal with Ralf, Marion and Jan out at the apple farm in Jork. We travelled by train and had a beautiful afternoon at the Schliecker household eating more traditional German food of green cabbage, sausages and potatoes. Jan (3 years old) wanted to tell us stories, show us all of his new toys as well as watch his new movie all at the same time! We left in the evening feeling very full after a delicious meal and very tired after a whole month of work and festive celebrations.
Over the following days until New Years Eve we caught up on a lot of sleep. To bring in the new year we had been invited to attend a party at the Blankanese Sailing Club down by the river. The night was cold, with snow and ice all around. During the market there had been a few days of snow, and consistent temperatures just below zero, so it was a different new years eve to that which we’re used to, not only because of the cold temperatures, but because everyone is allowed to buy fireworks in Germany and at midnight there were explosions all along the river banks in both directions! To begin with I was pretty excited about the amount of fireworks I was going to be able to enjoy as the clock ticked over into 2010, but at times people lit them right next to me and I didn’t know how big the blast was going to be, or in what fashion it would explode; whether it would fizzle around on the ground, shoot out flare type sparks or just make a series of sparks and bangs. Overall it was great fun, even if nerve-racking at times. We partied until 5am and caught the first train home where we fell into bed and possibly didn’t really move until 3 days later.
When Monday 4th came around we headed to the city to check out a German language course. It proved expensive and time consuming, and considering our stay was dependent upon the weather we decided against it. We might not have learnt much German as a result, but it gave us the free time to travel and see a bit more of Germany, which otherwise we would not have seen.
Wally travelled to Munich to catch up with Jon Cope at the end of January. I had fallen on the ice and hurt my leg a few days prior to that trip and decided against the chance of worsening my injury while walking around Munich as a tourist. I think it was a nice chance for the guys to catch up without me, and a welcome bit of solo time for me as well. After Mark’s days in Munich he said they walked a lot and drank a lot (of beer). So I think I made the right decision, and at the end I still got to eat a pretzel as big as my head (a most awesome present from Wally), so everyone was a winner!
Only a week after Mark’s Munich getaway, we were off to a small town near Kassel, in central Germany, to visit Brendan Hanley and his girlfriend Britta. While searching the mobile I found Brendan’s number and thought I’d search for him in facebook. I found him, sent him a message and was amazed to find out he was also in Germany. So, with the use of Mitfahrgelegenheit (an online car-pooling website) we were off to Kassel for €15 each, a bargain compared to the train or bus. The last time I saw Brendan was for 5 minutes, almost 4 years ago, in Melbourne one day as he rode past me on his bike; prior to that I hadn’t seen him since high school. Mark had known Brendan when we were all part of the surf lifesaving club, but they hadn’t seen each other for maybe 6 or 7 years either. So it’s fair to say there was a lot of talking and excitement during our 3 day visit to Britta’s place in the small town of Braach, which lies in a beautiful valley with the river Fulda winding its way along the valley floor.
Not so long after our return from Braach, we were off to Berlin (again with Mitfahrgelegenheit) to visit Marie Breckwoldt, who had moved to the capital in December with her boyfriend Stefan. We spent one week in Berlin and had almost perfect weather the entire time. When we arrived there was still snow and ice, mostly ice, covering the footpaths and roadsides, but when we left it had all melted and everything looked very different! We spent our days walking around the city from Marie and Stefan’s centrally located apartment. We visited all the big sites including The Brandenburg Gate, The Reichtstag (parliament building), Checkpoint Charlie, the remains of the Berlin Wall, as well as numerous other places old, rebuilt and new. We had a look through the DDR museum to learn a little about what life was like in the former German Democratic Republic (or eastern Germany) and treated ourselves to The Blue Man Group. It was an hilarious evening with 3 very entertaining fellows creating weird and wonderful sounds and scenes, all without muttering a word. They were covered in blue paint and maintained a very unemotional expression on their face the entire performance. At times there were crowd members pulled from their seats to take part in the activities, but everyone in the crowd was involved in the show as well. And it didn’t matter what language you spoke because they never talked, and often when there was something to read (in German or English) it ended up being something that added to the experience, but wasn’t a vital part of it. The grand finale had everyone laughing and cheering, and I think everyone would have sat there all night watching these 3 crazy guys jump around the stage. Everyone that is, except the teenage girl sitting next to me, who took no part in any of the fun during the whole night. If she can’t enjoy an evening at The Blue Man Group, I don’t think she enjoys very much at all.
We said goodbye to Marie a day before we left Berlin, as we were off to stay in a crazy hotel for one night. It was called Propeller Island City Lodge. Every room in the place is designed uniquely and our room had white walls, white bed, white sheets, a white door that covered the window, but 3 different coloured lights so you could transform the entire room to be red, green, blue or a mixture of all 3! It was so much fun. Other rooms included one that was completely covered in mirrors, one where the bed was IN the floor, another where the bed was floating and some had themes such as ‘the barn’. Each room also had its own music system installed, our room was called ‘therapy’ and our music was composed accordingly with forest, beach and other soothing recordings.
The next morning we casually rolled out of bed and headed for our meeting point to catch our lift back to Hamburg. We arrived in Hamburg and delightedly walked back to the circus without stepping on one piece of ice of snow – the first time in over 2 months. Quite a different reality compared to the story of ‘here in Hamburg we only have about 2 days of snow each year, and it turns to slush about as quickly as it falls...’
With the drier conditions we were out to chip a 2-inch thick, 50 metre long strip of ice off the footpath bordering the circus property. It took 5 of us about 2.5 hours to clear the way with shovels. The next day we were feeling very tender in our muscles that worked to chip that ice, and for me, that was basically my whole upper body! The day after that... it snowed again. And not just snowed for 20 minutes, but for the whole night and we awoke to find snow piled up as high as the middle of my shin! It’s fair to say that we were not impressed. Even less impressed when the path we shovelled to our front door was flattened and recovered with snow thanks to the bob-cat attempting to clear a path for us.
That was about the 5th March. We’d started to get excited about our departure when the snow disappeared in Berlin. But after the 5th March I was pretty wary about getting my hopes too high again. The snow did, however, quickly disappear after that surprise dump and we were organising packages to send home and farewell drinks within ten days. It was a festive time to leave Hamburg, with school holidays the circus school was buzzing and there were many people to celebrate with us on our final evening. I painted a picture telling the story of our journey to the circus and then gave it to them as we said our goodbyes. I don’t know if the style was easy for them to understand, but I hope they come to appreciate it as time goes by.
The night of the 16th was our final night in the cosy home provided to us by Circus Mignon. We will always remember the generosity and hospitality of the crew we met there. The night was spent with delicious food, fun conversation and many brain teaser games to finish it off. I hope we see our German friends in Australia one day so we can show them a good time in our homeland as well. We went to bed both excited and sad; sad to be leaving the place we have been calling home for the last 7 months, but excited to get back on the bikes and continue the journey section of this adventure we are calling The Slow Way Home.