Family ties

The main reason for travelling up to the north of Germany and then on to Copenhagen was in order to meet some distant cousins of mine.

So as to not bore anyone with my family tree I'll just leave the relationship at that, however if anyone wants to know the details feel free to let me know.

So our first night in Hamburg was spent having dinner with all of the cousins, Ester (my grandfather's cousin), Beatrice, Elizabeth and Carlotta (Beatrice's grand-daughter). They are really more my Dad's cousins than mine, but that aside it is always interesting to meet people who are related to you but who you have no other connection with.

Dinner was nice, even though the whole raw fish were give a miss. Family tales were told and conntact with the Hamburg arm of the family was firmly re-established.

The next day was spent with Elisabeth (not my aunt, one of the cousins) who showed us to a garden that my great-great-great-great-great grandfather had designed (it also turns out that he developed the Queen of Denmark rose...). After wandering around that for awhile we headed off to my great grandfather and grandmother's graves.

They were not very easy to find, and when we did find them they were a little over grown. But it was nice to get in touch with that part of my family history, especially as I have heard so many stories through out my life about these people.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in Hamburg proper looking at a few shops, and going to a gallery. Unfortunately I didn't have much time to explore, but I think I will return next time I'm in the area.

Then it was time to head further north and into Denmark.

Germany and football, what a mix!

Hello all,

Well as I only have few hours left of my trip I thought I should actually finish my blog.

So when I last left you my time in Italy was over and we were about to venture into the land of a number of my forbears, Germany. We left Pont first thing in the morning and headed towards the St. Bernard tunnel. There were very few dogs offering to give me brandy, but then again I guess I wasn't in need of rescue.

To be honest the day was spent in the car and driving long distances on the Autobann. For those of you who don't know the German highways have no speed limit. They are long, straight 2 or 3 lane highways and even when cruising along at 130km/h you are still being passed at regular intervals.

We spent that first night in a smallish town north of Frankfurt called Marburg. It is the home of one of the oldest Protestant Universities in the world. However as we were just passing through we didn't do much touristing. We did get to see the student vibe in action as Germany won one of their World Cup matches that night so everyone was out celebrating.

The next day, after a brisk walk up to the Scloss (castle), it was back into the car and up to Hamburg.

We arrived in Hamburg in good time and in the pouring rain. We arrived at our hotel (amazingly taking only one wrong turn!) and got ready to meet the distant relatives who we had come to visit.