MONDAY, June 5, 2000

 We woke up quite early today, about 5 am, as we had to pack before breakfast.  It was a beautiful morning, birds were chirping, and it was cool and clear.  We wanted to get an early start, as we were driving to Hamburg.  We said our good-byes to Annie Claussen-Mackaprang.  Even though she speaks very little English, we can communicate enough to understand each other.  She is a very kind and helpful woman, and we thanked her for her hospitality.

 
John, Annie Claussen-Mackeprang, and Judy

  Annie rents out rooms in her home at: 15 Claus Grothe Strasse, Burg auf Fehmarn and has three rooms with baths.  She charges 30 DM per person, per night (at this time of year- which is just before their busy summer season).  This includes a traditional German breakfast in a separate dining room.  Her rooms are comfortable, clean and located in a quite residential area about 3 blocks off the main road.

 Before leaving town, we went to the Post Office, as Tressie had 27 post cards to mail.  Yes….. I said 27!!!  This only took a few minutes, and soon we were driving off the island of Fehmarn for the last time.  Back on the Autobahn, we headed towards Lübeck …. And on to Hamburg.

 We arrived in Hamburg by 10:45 am, Alan had found the Hotel Schmöker-Hof (a Best Western), located about 5 miles form the Hamburg Airport, with very little problems.  Alan has a hand-held GPS and had set it, when he first went to the hotel a week ago.  With this and the directions that were given to him by the hotel last week, Alan drove right to the hotel.  By 11:30 am, we were checked in, unpacked, refreshed and in the car again looking for the “Old City Center”.  We don’t sit still very long, as you’ve guessed by now.  We had been to the “Alt Stadt” last year and wanted to show our friends some of Hamburg’s Sites.

 Parking is a real problem in Hamburg, as it is everywhere.  We parked on the street in a metered spot, which only gave us an hour.  We decided to eat lunch and then look for another parking spot for the car.  We walked a few blocks, found a McDonald’s and walked toward it, intending to eat.  I objected to this, as I can get McDonald’s at home, so I found a fast food fish restaurant across the road, called Nordesee’s.  John had a baked fish lunch and Tressie and I had fresh salads with vegetables and shrimp.   Allan went to McDonalds for a burger. 

 With lunch over, we had to deal with our parking problem.  The guys decided to find another parking space, while Tressie and I decided not to waste time and went directly to Kardstats department store.   This is a very large store, 7 floors, on 2 sides of the street that I had seen last year.   I showed Tressie some of the beautiful items in the store and we ended up at the department with lace window curtains.  We had bought a few items and were having a good time, when Alan called (on those family radios)…… looking for us.   A quick stop at their bakery and a peek in their gourmet grocery area, and we were on the streets of Hamburg again.

 On thing that John and I wanted to accomplish while we were in Hamburg, was to visit the St. Michaelis’s Church, where our Grandmother and Grandfather had been married back in the early 1920’s.  Our Grandmother was born in Hamburg, grew up and was married there before coming to New York City in America with her Merchant Marine husband.  (This is not our Fehmarn line, but another German ancestor on our Father’s side.) 

 From the street by the Rathaus, we walked toward the harbor to see a church in the distance that looked like this small framed drawing that our Grandmother had of the St. Michaelis Church.  Finally, after walking about 6-7 blocks, we found this church.  It was the wrong church!  We were standing in front of St Katharinen’s Church.  This was upsetting, as last year; we also went to another wrong church.  We’re slowing seeing all the churches in Hamburg.

    
Rathaus in Hamburg

  We hiked all the way back to the Rathaus and talked with an information clerk.  He showed me, on a map, where the church was.   Off again, we were walking towards the harbor.  We walked for at least 6 blocks, before we sited the steeple in the distance.  We were tired of walking, but we had a mission!  After about 4 to 6 more blocks, we were standing in front of the largest and most beautiful church we had ever seen.

St. Michaelis Church was first built in the 1600’s.   It was the largest of the 5 churches in the city of Hamburg.  In 1750, lightening struck the church, and it burned down.  It was rebuilt again in baroque style and all work wasn’t completed till about 1786.   In 1906, soldering work in the tower caused a devastating fire, which totally destroyed the church again.  This time, the church was reconstructed based on the old plans and was completed by 1912.  During World War II, St Michaelis suffered extensive damage from the bombing raids of Hamburg.  It reopened in 1952.

  
St. Michaelis Church in Hamburg

  The church is open and available for viewing and it was definitely worth the visit.  The interior of this church was spectacular to see.  We also paid to see the tower for 4.50 DM and the Crypt for another 2.50 DM.  The tower has an 82-meter high viewing platform accessible by stairs or a lift.  From the viewing platform, you can see all of Hamburg and the view is beautiful.  In the Crypt are a large number of graves in the floor and a museum display inside the vault. We saw Johannes Bach’s (the composer and a former music director at the church) gravestone in the floor along with many others. Brochures, cards, small books about the church and music are also available to purchase.  These monies are used by the church to make improvements and for special projects.

    
Judy at top of steeple

  By now it was about 4 pm, and we decided to go back to our car, and leave the downtown (Centrum) Area.  Driving towards the airport, we saw a parking spot, grabbed it, and instantly decided this is where we should eat dinner.  So we walked around, and found a little bakery that sold some open face sandwiches and sat down to rest and eat dinner.  We were tired and didn’t want a large meal, before driving out to the airport.

 Our airline, Lufthansa has a pre-night check-in available in Hamburg for early morning flights.  You can check your luggage and get a boarding pass, the night before.  Our flight was scheduled to go out at 6:50 am so we thought this was a good idea. (I found this out by visiting the Lufthansa’s website.)  We did this for two reasons.  I thought this would cut down on the early morning wait for the flight, and getting all our luggage in that small car, was getting harder.  Our shopping was making the luggage grow! This way we could get rid of 3 large bags!!!  All went well and we returned to the hotel.

 We turned in by 10 pm, as we had a 4:30 wake up call scheduled.  It was going to be an early morning for all of us.

Click here to Continue on to Tuesday

The FEHMARN GENEALOGY Site
Created using Microsoft Frontpage and maintained by:
John Kostick, 131 NE 172nd Street, Miami, FL 33162