American Views Abroad

 
There is an interesting article about Hamburg in The New York Times Travel Section: In a Perfectionist City, a Gritty Neighborhood Beckons. It describes the red-light district down near the harbor so: 'St Pauli acts as an exhilarating foil to the beauty and almost sterile perfectionism of Hamburg.' Without a doubt Hamburg has very many gorgeous neighborhoods and you can drive from one end of it to another amazed at the villas, parks and the influence of old money here, but to call it perfectionism is overdoing it. There are a lot of down-to-earth blue collar parts of town, most of which were totally bombed out in WW II and thus no longer have what one could call charm. Hamburg is thoroughly an international town and very liberal in outlook. When I venture down to other parts of Germany as I did recently to Heidelberg, I realize how different Hamburg is from the rest of the country. Old hands here say those who are born in Hamburg hardly ever leave it for some place else in Germany, but prefer to venture out to the rest of the world. http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/10/09/travel/09hamburg.html?emc=eta1

One thing Hamburg is very proud of is that it has almost as many consulates here as New York City has. However, it was devastated by the news this week that the British Consulate is closing down for financial reasons. London has decided the money would be better spent fighting terrorism than in keeping up the grand villa on the Alster Lake it now occupies in the heart of town. The Hamburg -- London connection started up in 1281 when Hamburg opened a trading office in London. The British have been represented here since 1689. The oldest Anglican church on the European continent has been here since 1838 -- the English Church of St. Thomas Becket. If I recall correctly, it belongs to the parish of London. According to the Hamburg newspaper, Hamburger Abendblatt, over 1000 citizens as well as the mayor of Hamburg wrote letters to the Foreign Office in London begging it not to close its consulate. People here take pride in their city being Germany's gateway to the world, as they like to describe it.
- posted by Gloria @ 8:57 AM