After a slow
start Bray proposed a walk to keep Roni happy J
We walked all along the outside of the Munsburg Mile (shopping mall) – it is
HUGE! Goes for blocks and blocks. A wee while after passing the end of it we
spotted a Red Cross op shop. Fun times playing ‘dress ups’ then passed...Bray’s
first real op shop shopping was highly successful as he purchased two pairs of
jeans for 16 Euro. Both pairs are a little different to his usual style but he
rocks them (of course!). Roni also picked up a couple of long sleeved tops to
stop the weird looks her bare arms keep getting.
Home for
lunch and Bray packed his bag while Roni caught up on some long overdue
journaling. When Maren got home she shared some of her art with us as promised
– she is REALLY good!!!
Then we
rugged up and caught the U3 to meet Simon in the Schanze. We were a wee bit
early and as we waited there was commotion outside the station. Out we went to
find out what was happening. Down the road at pace came around five police
paddy wagons and many more uniform and mufti cars, all with lights going and
some with sirens. Sounds of drumming and chanting came from down the road to
the left and soon a protest march came into view. This seems to be the norm in
Germany for us – we’ve also witneseed protests at the Hamburg Rauthaus,
Brandenburg Gate etc.
This time it
got a bit exciting when the lead protest group tried to deviate from the
‘agreed route’ and headed off down a side street... riot police marched double
time and a couple of vehicles sped around the corner to cut them off.
Eventually they were back on track and passed directly by us. From what we
could gather it was a mainly a Turkish community protest against the perceived
wrongful imprisonment of a Turkish guy in Hamburg. The loudspeaker truck passed
us by before Maren could pick up all the details. The mix of people taking part
was really interesting, from the hooded and masked guys in the front, hippie
looking types, clean cut professionals and the matriarchs and young kids
bringing up the rear.
After all
the excitement was well past Simon arrived and we crossed the road to fulfil
the purpose of our mission. Simon & Maren have a tradition of going to this
ancient photo booth in the Schanze and having photos taken with anyone who
visits them in Hamburg...we thought we may run out of time but NO WAY! It had
to be done.
The booth is
very small so quite a cosy fit for all four of us! Simon even found a spare
coin outside the booth on the concrete so we got to have an extra set of
four...sweet.
Fun times
then we wandered off down the road – waving our Polaroid photo strips to dry
them as we went. Hatori was our chosen dinner destination but it was going to
take 40m or so to wait for a table and everyone was pretty hungry so we carried
on our way. Eventually we settled for a Pakistani place that was tasty enough
and had funky decor but a waiter who did not
want to be there.
We caught
the train home later and all went to bed well fed and satisfied that our photo
mission was a success.
