Day 9 – Bremerhaven, Cuxhaven

Josh Leo’s – A Month in Germany

English - August 15, 2005 04:59 - ★ - 1 rating
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Previous Episode: Friendly Folks at the Dünenhof

Next Episode: Tides, Ancestors, Canals, and Porcelain

Tall Ships

The big event for the weekend was going to Bremerhaven where the “tall ship festival” was going on. Basically it is a bunch of giant old fashioned ships with sails that travel to different ports all over the world. Dirk was excited because he said that the Becks Beer ship was going to be there and supposedly it was quite impressive. We, and a number of a few guys from the dunenhoff, left early in the morning and took the train to Bremerhaven. It was raining the whole way, but I hoped it would let up as the day went on. We took a long accordion bus to the port where it looked like a giant carnival was going on. There were candy vendors, bratwurst stands, and even some games. The rain continued. I brought my rain jacket but it only covered my top half and head. We split up and explored the lines of ships. I got a bratwurst and tried not to get too wet while looking around. Further down the pier there was a stone building that people were coming in and out of. Some of us went in to explore and try to find a warm dry spot for comfort. Inside the building were a bunch of people standing at tables of antiques, crafts, and other nick-knacks for sale. I walked past the tables eyeing things here and there looking for anything that was souvenir-worthy. I stopped at a table full of old books and picked out a small one that caught my eye. On the cover was the date 1937 and a swastika. I flipped through the pages and came across an illustration of Hitler standing next to some machinery. I thought I had remembered somewhere that nazi materials couldn’t be legally sold, but was unclear as to how far those rules extended. And as I stood there with the book in my hand, I thought that this was probably one of the most uniquiely German items I could buy while I was in the country, and for only seven Euros, I thought it was a bit of a steal. So I gave the man my money, put the book in my pocket, and walked back outside into the rain.

Separated From the Group

Sometime in the day Dirk and I decided that we wanted to head back to Cuxhaven and get out of the rain, but since we were separated from the rest of our group, we decided to hopefully just meet them back at the train station. It was probably a mistake that we allowed one person hold all the train tickets for the group, but the bigger mistake was becoming separated from him. Dirk and I sat on a bench on the train platform, assuming that it was only a matter of time before everyone came back together and we could leave. The platform covered us from the rain but not the wind. So there we sat in our sopping wet clothes. The hours ticked by. Still no sign of the rest of our party. I sat there with my head hanging straight down

trying to sleep to pass the time. Growing increasingly frustrated, Dirk and I went down into the entrance of the train station where we found our friends ordering a Doner and getting ready to leave. We snagged something to eat while our friends participated in a random wine tasting sales pitch given by a guy at a tiny table in the station.

So finally we got on our train and headed back to Cuxhaven. I took a shower to warm up and then talked with some of the other English-speakers at the Dunenhoff. One guy named Moritz showed me his short wave radio that he could pick up random signals on. He also let me use his computer to blog for a little bit and chat briefly with some videobloggers on instant messenger for just a little bit (it was only dial up after all) We ate some dinner. Dirk and I went to our room, prayed together, and went to sleep.

Google Earth Placemarks for Day 9: Open this map