Week 4 - Hamburg and Surrounds

After a couple of weeks touring around the north of Germany the last two weeks are focused on Hamburg.

Goethe
Studying German continues to go well. We were discussing as a class whether we felt we had been improving I found it hard to come up with answer. To me it all sounds the same and I still make millions of mistakes! However, I think we have all improved and I certainly feel more confident having basic conversations with people. I found myself in a random conversation at the bike shop last week, I think he thought I worked there but we were able to discuss bikes and I was able to handball him onto the actual shop owner!

For anyone thinking of a reason to go on holiday, learning a language at a language school is a great way to quickly integrate into a new culture, meet new people and also feel as though you've accomplished something. For many of my class mates they will go home this weekend and not speak German for some time. I have another year to practice!

Bike Riding
The highlights during the week last week were two large bike rides. This was in light of the realisation that I am planning to climb Mont Ventoux on the 25th and also because the weather was sensational!

On Tuesday I rode to Luebeck. I have already written about this http://ajoest.blogspot.com/2009/07/lubeck.html and then on Thursday I hopped back on the bike after school and rode to Ratzeburg. I hadn't heard anything about Ratzeburg but after looking at the map and judging that the distance was manageable and that it was surrounded by a lake and forests I decided it was a worthy goal. Again I rode along the main roads. They are not the fast Autobahns and not the Schnellstrasses but still major roads. Unfortunately I was still getting heckled by the odd riding but i'm getting used to that now.

It was a lovely 28 degrees with blue skies and no wind. Riding through the forests and over gentle hills was hugely enjoyable. Then Ratzeburg appeared! Ratzeburg is picture perfect. You climb a gentle hill and once you reach the top and get over the other side the Ratzeburg Dom (cathedral) appears behind a beautiful blue lake. I have a photo of it in my web album. Ratzeburg is located on an island in the middle of a pretty large lake. There were numerous boats out on the water including sailing boats, kayaks and I even saw the German National Team out training before the World Champs coming up over the next couple of weeks. I rode around the island over many cobbled stone roads! The old buildings are all in great condition with people taking real pride in growing flowers along the footpaths. Because I had arrived around 6pm I could see a few business men arrive at the marina, get on their small timber sailing boats and head out! What a life. After a coke and a red (cherry flavour in Germany!) powerade rode home. It's harvest time at the moment so I got to see plenty of harvesters working the paddocks. A very memorable ride. Here is the route: http://tinyurl.com/mshh4y and photos on picasa.

http://picasaweb.google.de/ajoest/RatzeburgByBike#

Airbus
Being the engineer at heart I took a tour of the Airbus Factory on the other side of the Elbe. This is actually a very popular excursion and it wasn't easy to get a spot.

The tour was of the facility at Hamburg and also explained how Airbus works across Europe. Airbus was actually formed over the past 30 years by initially combining German and French aircraft manufacturing companies and later British and Spanish companies. Each division was run separately as a state run company manufacturing parts that were then sent to Toulouse for assembly. Now Airbus is a fully integrated company taking on Boeing (US) and Embraer (Brazil) and is a leader in the manufacture of aircraft.

We were hoping to catch a glimpse of the A380 however most are manufactured in Toulouse. Only A380's purchased for the Middle East and Europe are commissioned in Hamburg but to date mainly Asian and Australian airlines have received A380's. Nonetheless A380 fuselage sections are made in Hamburg and ferried to the UK for further work before being ferried to Toulouse for fit out and commissioning. The logistics involved here are just as impressive as the actual manufacture. They have dedicated ferries shipping whole aircraft sections. They have modified A380's that are able to carry sections of the other planes. These 5 modified A380's make three (and sometimes 5) regular deliveries a day with parts between Germany, France, Spain and the UK. The whole manufacturing process is based around the Just In Time manufacturing methodology developed by Toyota meaning parts are made available at exactly the right time when they are required for the next manufacturing step. There is no inventory! Each country has various manufacturing responsibilities and within each country there are various plants. I think Germany has 5 or 6 plants. It's just incredible / impressive.

Sadly I couldn't take any photos of the Airbus facility. I don't think my camera would have given justice to the enormity of the facility. The sheds in which these planes were being built were each holding 8 or 9 planes and making the planes look small! They had a spray booth shed that could allow two planes to be painted simultaneously!

We are used to the A320's in Australia but they also build the long range A330 and A340s that are used in the US and Asia.

It takes 21 days for a plane to be built. However they have slowed the production process down due to the GFC so they finish a plane -from Go to Wo- in 25 days. However, if you want one and order it today you won't get one for 6 years they have such a long waiting list.

In each of the sheds, each manufacturing step is stationary however the plane gets moved along the assembly. Each manufacturing process is mounted onto hover platforms that are moved in and out of the way as required. Again each of these platforms are serious pieces of engineering alone. The last things to be installed before testing are the engines. We were told they cost roughly 20% of the plane!

Everywhere you look you see how much pride Airbus takes on quality. Each bolt has a method of being checked. Each hydraulic pipe is pressure tested. Every cable is tested. They are very rigorous. But at the same time they spend considerable effort on R&D and have developed many technologies that keep them ahead of Boeing. It's most impressive manufacture considering they expect a working life of each plane to be 30 years. 10years in Europe then sold to Eastern Europe and Asia before being sold onto South Africa and South America!

The three hours walking around Airbus was well worth the time.

Reeperbahn
Friday night was spent at a music and beer festival sponsored by Duckstein Bier. It was another lovely evening to watch a Spanish band on a floating barge stage and sink a few beers. It reminded me very much of the Fringe. We then met the others from the Goethe course and tackled the Reeperbahn. We found a few cool places and had a really great night. One of the other girls has met a guy with quite a loud mouth on him which inevitably meant he kept getting into fights. But just like going out anywhere else in the world!

Aussenalster
Imagine yourself sailing in a light breeze on a 4m restored timber boat in the sunshine! You are on a lake that is about 4km long and 2km wide. Surrounding the lake are trees and lawn areas and behind that architecturally significant buildings. In the background you can see oxidised copper (aqua green) roofs. You are on the Aussenalster in central Hamburg! It's just stunning. I ran around it on Saturday and upon getting home went back around with my bike to continue to enjoy it. On the water there are people sailing and paddling. On the banks there are people in restaurants, people sitting on the grass and on the paths plenty of people walking dogs, families walking around or punters running laps. The Aussenalster makes Hamburg a very beautiful and liveable city indeed.

Fischmarkt
The world famous Hamburg Fischmarkt is certainly a great establishment. Held from 5am every Sunday morning it attracts thousands of people. Its clientele include everyone coming in from the Reeperbahn after a big night to those coming in for their weekly shopping a little later. I met Megan, one of the Goethe students at 7 and followed the masses around the markets. One of the highlights is their system of selling goods off the back of a truck. It's quite a spectacle. The sellers are all very good entertainers and often through free stuff out into the large crowds that surround the trucks. You can also buy a bag and stand at the front at which point the sellers load up your bag with produce. For 10Euro people were getting a life time supply of pasta, or a week’s worth of fruit and veg or a year’s worth of chocolate! It was great. The other stands offered normal selling of fish, fruit and veg, niknaks and the other usual stuff. There is also an undercover section where bands play and people are sucking down beers! Fantastic. If I ever live in Hamburg the Fischmarkt would be a regular visit i'm sure.

Elbe Dyke
After the Fischmarkt and after taking my produce home, I hopped on the bike and headed along my favourite road, the Elbchausee. I was chased down by some guys and we ended up riding 100kms together to the west of Hamburg. It was great riding with them as they knew all the back roads. We also rode along the Elbe Dyke which was beautiful track alongside where sheep graze and people walk their dogs. The guys I met up could speak English which also made it a good meeting up. In fact i'm meeting them tonight to do a 60km training ride to the south. Pictures are up on picasa.

Dinner
On Sunday I invited Sarah and Philip to dinner. Sarah was on exchange at Saints back in 2001 while Philip, Sarah's boyfriends I met in Freiburg last year. Sabrina (my flatmate) also joined the festivities. I cooked up a storm! We had Broccoli soup with pistachio and feta. Main was a Lamb Shank Ragu while Dessert was a Bread and Butter pudding. It was great to sit down and enjoy a meal altogether. It was a long day but one of my favourite to date.

This week is my last in Hamburg. We finish school tomorrow and I will meet Sarah and Philip for Dinner before meeting the Goethe kids out later on. Sabrina has Thursday off and I promised to cook for her and Oliver (our other flat mate) on Thursday night. Friday I fly to Nice via Copenhagen before meeting James Hay again. Then the assault on Mont Ventoux begins!

http://picasaweb.google.de/ajoest/WeekendInHamburg#