(Hamburg's) Hagenbeck Tierpark

I. First, a few pictures of springtime in Hamburg. These are taken at Planten un Blomen, a large park in Hamburg.

From Germany 2012-2013

From Germany 2012-2013

From Germany 2012-2013

II. Ok, now on to the Tierpark(Literally ''Animal Park''). Hamburg has been home to Hagenbeck's Tierpark for about 100 years now. It's apparently the first zoo of its kind, keeping the animals in using giant moats instead of barred cages, and hiding the moats (pretty well) from the visitors with short hedges.  The idea is to better approximate the animals' natural environment, and it seems to be working well, as I saw a (2 day old) baby elephant, as well as a baby lion, alpaca, and various other animals (it seems to be a notorious problem for zoos that their animals tend not to reproduce in captivity).  The wikipedia article is informative.  Apparently, he exhibited originally not only animals but ''exotic'' humans (Laplanders, Nubians, Inuit, and Samoans). When the camera got popular, he had to get more exciting/realistic, so started a circus. 

"Using data that he had compiled running his circus, Hagenbeck had estimates of how high and far different animals could leap. Using this data, he built moats filled with water or an empty pit that he determined the animals could not cross. Using moats to separate animals that did not swim, one could look across an expanse of the zoo and see many animals at once, as if in the wild.''[from the wikipedia article]

So, on to adorable animals. 

First, the red panda. I could have probably sat around and watched these guys all day.  There were two in a tree, one curled up asleep and the other eating some fruit.

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From Germany 2012-2013

"Om nom nom"

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Around the corner were some sleepy lions.

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There were a large number of the animals that one was allowed to feed, assuming you bought either dry food from the store as you walked in, or fresh fruits and veggies cut up and sold in bags by the ''Friends of the Zoo'', near said shop. One of the neatest arrangements was for the giraffes: 

Platform for feeding giraffes. Yes, that's a baby giraffe, missing out on the food.

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The design of the zoo is such that you can look up and see a ''panorama'', lions watching zebras, ignoring flamingos. Here's the lions and zebras:

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``In front'' of the zebras were flamingos, intermixed with fancy ducks.

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Fancy duck

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There was a separate enclosure full of chirping (and a bit smelly) fluffy ducklings:

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Many exhibits had an inside and outside, I'm supposing for when it gets cold or really unpleasant out, the animals can hang inside. This one had ''domestic'' animals, which included a pig (I had no idea that were that huge) and a fake workshop with rats running around in it.

Pigs are huuuge. For scale, the piglets are maybe each 20-30cm long

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Amidst the wild(er) animals, were also several cute areas for housepets (Haustiere). Rabbits, guinea pigs, etc.  I'll guess they may've received quite a lot of the food that people doled out on a daily basis, since they are very fluffy and happy to eat everything.  

One building in the Guinea Pig village. There were two or three more.

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Except for maybe Mr. Skepticalrabbit here, looking his nose down at a piece of carrot. 

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The zoo had some 1 month old alpacas and a 2 day old elephant. 

Baby Elephant and older elephants, inside the elephant building (they also had a very large outdoor area that they were ignoring)

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baby alpaca, debating if that finger is in fact a carrot, and/or delicious

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I like the look on this alpaca's face (and the intrigued Ostrich/Emu/Rhea in the background):

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One of the inside rooms contained a swarm of antelope and another similar sort of animal from Africa, whose name I'm forgetting. They were milling around, eating a lot of hay or alfalfa:

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They were being watched over by a suspicious antelope, peering through the curtains:

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They had a neat Orangutan enclosure. Their moat had a family of pygmy otters, who also had a baby otter with them, who were impossible to take a picture of, so you'll just have to trust me. 

The Orangutan area was full of lots of ropes and things that move around, and the Orangutans were frolicking around cheerily, stretching themselves to impossible-seeming lengths to get between objects. 

The thing in the middle-ground that looks like a hollow bamboo-esque tube was atop a hing of some kind, so an Orangutan could grab it and swing/fall forward with it.

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There was a helpful chart nearby with pictures and names of the Orangutans, and then a request to not call out their names, since it just confuses them. Here's the ''chief'' of the bunch, next to their moat:

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One of the last things I went to see was Kangaroos, of which there were two, and they were inside. The building they were in also (surprisingly) housed free-flying birds, such as this guy (sorry for the blur, he was really fast):

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Also, walking around, un-enclosed were various birds and other small animals, e.g. these Pea hens:

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And, to conclude, a bunch of other stuff that was there. They had a nice pond/lake thing in the middle, surrounded by statues and things:

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From Germany 2012-2013

and a totem pole gifted to them by the city of Seattle in the '30s

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And if you stand by the water for too long, you get some ducks walking up to you and eyeing you hopefully:

Beggars

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Hamburger Dom(e)

Most cities in Germany have a ''Dom'' (Pronounced 'dome'), a central/original/important cathedral. Hamburg doesn't. Which is somehow very Hamburgish (recall the commentary about the church from the tour of the Rathaus).  Basically, the church went from churchy to churchy-monarchy and got very corrupt. In walks Martin Luther, then the counter reformation, etc. Hamburg became pretty entirely Lutheran, and the church fell into disrepair. Oh, and a war. The war is the key part. At the end of the war with France (& Austria?), some money needed to be generated to pay for stuff.

The law passed (one of the last of the 'Holy Roman Empire') was called, in usual German form, Somethingreallyawfulandlongandcontaining10subwords. That is, the ``Reichsdeputationshauptschluss''.  The summary of what this meant: 

``Based on a plan agreed in June 1802 between France and Austria, and broad principles outlined in the Treaty of Lunéville of 1801, the law established a major redistribution of territorial sovereignty within the Empire, to compensate numerous German princes for territories to the west of the Rhine that had been annexed by France as a result of the wars of the French Revolution.'' 

The solution was to take dominion over the church-owned properties. Monks became homeless, bishops lost their diocese(s?), etc. And! Hamburg tore down their Dom, circa 1804.

Wikipedia has a somewhat bumpy-English commentary on it:

''Hamburg's Senate, then holding the ius patronatus to all other Lutheran parish churches had no usage for an additional church, which did not even have the parishioners to maintain it. So the Senate, always upholding the city's vital mercantile interests, decided to demolish the proto-cathedral completely in the years between 1804 and 1807.''

Well, there's still a thing called ''Hamburger Dom''. Since 1329, there's been a fair of sorts held in front of the Hamburg Dom, on holidays and such. With the demolition of the Dom itself, the fair itself was (still?) called ''Hamburger Dom'' and has since relocated twice, to its current location.  It's now a fair that happens three times a year, each for a month. Think of a standard American migrating carnival, but a bit bigger.

Here's a map (pdf) of the current layout.

The things I took pictures of are the things that stood out for me and made the place somehow typically German. For instance, you can find booths like these at winter markets, sometimes in UBahn stations, and just kind of around at fair-like things:

From Germany 2012-2013

The hearts are an example of 'Lebkuchen' (made of gingerbread), and are somewhere between a decoration and something you eat.  The booth is also selling a big pile of dried, sugared fruit. A related booth will sell the same Lebkuchen, and then varying sorts of licorice(Lakritz). The UBahn station by the Uni smells like licorice (delicious). The only caveat I'd give is to be careful of the salty licorice.

[Aside about salty licorice: 
I've heard that Finns love salty licorice, so I figured, hey, I should try this. In the grocery stores, you can get this things by the brand Katjes called 'Salzige Herringe' (Salty herrings). Strange, but tasty. The trick is to keep chewing. Well, at the Dom they had some salty licorice stars for sale. Tried some. 


I really hope that these were a mistake or not what the Finns eat. 
The taste...when the salt melted, it tasted like how ammonia smells. It was acrid, disgusting, and lingered in the mouth. Ew. 


Ok. Quick internet search (or here)tells me the following: 

``Salty liquorice, also known as salmiakki or salmiak is a variety of liquorice flavoured with ammonium chloride, common in the Nordic Countries, Netherlands, Baltic States and Northern Germany. Ammonium chloride gives salty liquorice an astringent, salty taste (hence the name), which has been described as "tongue-numbing" and "almost-stinging".Salty liquorice is an acquired taste and people not familiar with ammonium chloride might find the taste physically overwhelming and unlikeable. Salty liquorice candies are almost always black or very dark brown and can range from very soft to very hard and may be brittle...The words salmiak and salmiakki are derived from an archaic Latin name for ammonium chloride, sal ammoniacus, meaning "salt of Ammon". "Ammon" in turn refers to the temple of Ammon at Siwa Oasis, where ancient Greeks found ammonium chloride... In Germany there is a variety available that is silvered by a metal powder that, as a side effect, makes it electrically conductive. '' ]

There were also a collection of sort of German imitation of stereotypical German pub-things. You'll know what I mean when I show you. The Mill was the first that I saw:

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And then this, German + Hamburgish (lots of nautical themed stuff):

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and this:

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Oh, and the rides. I'm not a big fan of riding theme/fun-park rides, but they were fun to look at. Some flashbacks to the 80's:

I pity the fool. (Knowing everything is dubbed in Germany, I'm now wondering what the German Mr. T would've said...)

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Beetlejuice *and* Gremlins

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They also had a very large rollercoaster (''Acthterbahn'', basically '8-path/road/track'):

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I did not crop out Mr Olderhamburger to the right there so that I could point out his hat. I have seen a fair number of older Hamburgerish men wearing these sorts of sailor hats. 

Apparently, this is the largest moveable rollercoaster in the world. Or it was when they printed this out: 

From Germany 2012-2013

Translation: Grundfläche ~ footprint/space it takes up on the ground,
Gesamthöhe = total height,
Schienenlänge = length of tracks, 1250 m ~ .77 miles
Geschwindigkeit = speed,  100km ~ 62mph
and the bottom line says ''to assemble (this) requires a 300-ton crane".
Also, yes, those are lederhosen.

There was also a sort of...animatronic train-conductor angel (with a giant mug of beer it swung back and forth):

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On the topic of stereotypes...apparently Germans have a history of thinking that this is what Native Americans look like (I find the exaggerated nose kind particularly weird): 

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Here's one of the many ''funhouses''. Looked cool. Staffed by people in white overalls. If you check the fence at the bottom of the picture, it is in fact straight. So, that's how skewed it really is:

brought to you by Crooked and Askew Construction

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...and nearby was the following corn-on-the-cob stand (complete with American flag, for some reason). Mais = corn:

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There are a fair number or rides that just circle around, speed up, slow down. This one was different. It's called  ''Die Raupe'' (the caterpillar), and at regular periods, the announcer guy would warn you, and this fabric thing would open up and over for a bit. So you can make out with the person next to you if you want to. If your lunches are both in place, still:

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They also had an area labeled ''Drachenmarkt'' (Dragon Market). 

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I was told that this would be something like a ''Middle Ages Market''.  Sadly, no. Maybe 1 or two booths selling clothes/costumes of the period, one where you could shoot a bow and one where you could throw an axe. An animatronic dragon (with dates/times listed when a person would come by to ''fight'' him). Sure. But at least 80% of it was just random stuff being sold, albeit in rough-hewn wooden stalls.

In closing, here's a random Asian food booth I saw. In retrospect, maybe I should've eaten there to try it out:

From Germany 2012-2013

Ostern Ferien (Easter break) + misc

Ostern Ferien (we have Easter Friday & Monday off, which is awesome) was spent in the area around Berlin (which is 2-3 hrs by train from here). Specifically, Potsdam and (Zitadelle) Spandau.


I. Potsdam has a palace of former Prussian kings, and a quaint downtown area. The palace is called Sansouci and is a peculiar yellow that all royal/official buildings of a certain period seem to be painted.

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There's a royal windmill (Mühle is ''mill'') nearby which is still operated, and from which you can buy ''authentic''/rustic bread or flour.

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It has a nice lawn/garden and lots of statuary referencing Greek mythology. Also, a Chinese pavilion:

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with cool porches:

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Nearby is a botanical garden thing (associated to the university there, I think):

Fern building (life cycle illustration)

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These turtles were accompanied by a note about how as young turtles, they're very cute and colorful, and then they get old and dull and mean and people ''lose'' them or ''donate'' them to, say, the Botanical Garden.

Turtles all the way down

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One of my favorite parts of any greenhouse is the arid plants areas. What kind of things can you grow in wet, overcast Germany? Succulents, at least:

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This one's pretty cool, too:

Crassulaceae Aeonium tabuliforme

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The walkway inside the greenhouse (which was subdivided into sub-greenhouse rooms per plant type), surrounded by Rhododendrons:

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II. Spandau was pretty cool. The citadel there ''is one of the best-preserved Renaissance military structures of Europe... 


In 1580, first troops were assigned to the Spandau Citadel which was completed only in 1594. Swedish troops were the first to besiege the citadel in 1675 and Napoleon was the first to conquer it in 1806. During the French attack it was almost completely destroyed and had to be restored. In 1935, a gas laboratory was installed for military research on nerve gas.


Close to the end of the Second World War, during the battle in Berlin, the citadel became a part of the cities defences. The Citadel's[...] design which although several hundred years old presented a difficult structure to storm. So instead of bombarding and storming the Citadel, the Soviets invested it and set about negotiating a surrender...saving many lives and leaving the ancient infrastructure intact.''[more here]


Inside, they also had a ''Mittlealter Markt'' (Middle-ages market) as part of the Easter festivities. Similar idea as a ''Renaissance Festival''.

Map of the Citadel(Zitadelle) and old fortifications of Spandau:

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Cute wooden model of the citadel:

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View as you walk across the moat. The tower dates back to the 1300s or so.

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Better view of the tower, and people crazy enough to climb up. There was a huge line to get up and also to get down, and the staircase was very tight and narrow. I didn't try it.

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Fortifications:

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This was the moat, in another direction was a river:

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Just past the entrance was this beauty (yup, a wood & rope and whatnot carousel):

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And the general scene of faux-fighting that afternoon that happened a few times in the center of the place:

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There's a museum in one of the buildings. It had this guestbook from a Church in the 1500s:

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And this cute miniature of a carpenter's workshop:

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And also a collection of cannons next door. Bunch from the 1500s. Some with grim, rhyming sayings. This one, for example:

Saturn (father of Jupiter) devoured his children alone. I devour you all big and small.

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One from 1586:

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Gift of somebody in India:

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Good old Napoleon also happened to leave some cannons behind:

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=====================================================
Misc stuff, some cultural:

Der April macht was er will (April does what it wants): Spring weather is especially crazy in Germany. I have seen several random snow showers, or sleet or slush, often on a sunny/warm day (17ºC), up blows a storm for 10 minutes and then flies off.

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German courses: I found out in the last few days that there will be German courses starting up week (specifically for the foreign exchange students) and that I would be allowed to take them as well. And, on campus!

German bread: I can now comfortably order bread ('unsliced' is specified by ''im Stuck'' (in one piece), which was useful to learn). Germans bake a lot of very dense bread, and some of my favorite loaves have really felt hefty enough to bludgeon someone with. This week's loaf is Dinkelvollkornbrot, which you can find a picture of and recipe for here. The other week, I had some of this, ''Wurzelbrot'' (root bread, or carrot bread (in some areas, you can say 'Wurzel' and mean 'carrot' particularly):

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The whole loaf: (oft decorated with pretty seeds)

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