Our last full day in Hamburg, and a very special one at that: I threw a party for Judith, Michael and myself–Judith’s birthday was yesterday; Michael’s is tomorrow, and I didn’t get to celebrate my 60th with my German friends, so I celebrated 60 1/2 instead! So, after a morning run, the usual ablutions and a bit of pre-packing while everyone else got ready, the four of us headed by subway to Barmbek.
Months ago, I reserved a side room at a restaurant near the Museum of Work in Barmbek, called T.R.U.D.E. after the ginormous drill head (to drill large tunnels) that sits on the plaza in front of the museum. (The name stands for “Tief runter unter die Elbe,” deep down below the river Elbe.) The T.R.U.D.E. restaurant features a buffet brunch on weekends, and so it was perfect for a get-together for all of us: The four of us, and our friend (my first husband) Karsten, who also lives in Hamburg, and five more from out of town: Imke and Klaus, who combined coming to Hamburg for this with their weekend excursion, Uschi, who came by train today from Oldenburg; Michael and Judith, who came from Wankendorf by car. It was a perfect get-together!
We had a wonderful time. We laughed a lot, had lots of delicious brunch food, pots of coffee, and toasted with prosecco. We also played musical chairs, as it were, and kept changing conversation partners, and that was wonderful. Everyone talked to everyone else for a while, and when the “young ones” (everyone except Imke, Klaus, and Uschi) went for a little “digestive walk” (Verdauungsspaziergang) to the nearby city park and back, we got to talk some more. Around 3:15 pm, we met back up with the others, and walked back to the Barmbek station.
It was a wonderful day and a perfect wrap up for our time here. We did all take naps when we got home, had a lovely simple evening meal of salads and cheeses, and then chatted and traded photos for the rest of the evening. Peter spent many hours over the last few days making a fantastic video of the movements of the Kafka head in Prague, and we watched the final edited version today. It was fabulous!