In which enough is enough.

Scenes from this afternoon, standing with ca. 14,000 mostly masked, peaceful people protesting police brutality and racism at the official "Enough Is Enough" demonstration in Hamburg. The police were present, but all in my area were standing quietly on the sidelines. Though the protest clearly broke the current Corona restrictions on gathering in large groups, it was decided that the best thing was to let it continue, though no longer officially sanctioned by the city, as otherwise people would have been put at even more at risk of infection -- even after a week of single-digit new infections recorded in our city of 2 million people. Same as the protest outside the U.S. Consulate General yesterday that had expected 250 people and ended up with over 4,500. Though I wholeheartedly support and follow the social distancing rules, I also know how important it was to be there and fill the streets with our bodies to stand up for the rights and lives of my friends and all people of color who have everything harder just because of the color of their skin. As a white, educated, U.S. American person living in Europe, I am keenly aware of the level of privilege that has and continues to make my life so easy compared to others, and the fact that this system exists to make my life easier is not okay. In fact, it's shit. And it needs to change. 

Stand with strangers, stand with people you love, stand up, speak up, and vote, vote, vote.

Quiet moment, Kaltehofe.

Deep breath. More soon.

In which we have a Future Friday.

Klimastreik, 12 Uhr! Hamburg was taking part in the global climate march, and I wanted to be there. I thus took the day off work, slept in, and then took my globe for a walk. 

It was expected that about 30,000 people would take to the streets in my home city, but in the end, final estimates from the police put us at 70,000 -- a picture of us even made it here! There were so many people that we first had to stand for hours before even starting the march route. 

Making my way from my apartment to the U-Bahn, I got a little teary to find myself surrounded by kids leaving school, carrying handmade posters and talking about going to their first protest. There were whole kindergartens, kids donning high-vis vests and flowers or pictures they had drawn. Teachers were there with their students, parents with their babies, whole offices that had been allowed to leave work early that day. All smiling (despite the depressing signs and reason for being there), all helping one another, like the strangers helping people in wheelchairs up the escalator when the line for the elevator was so long. Lots of kids wanted to spin my globe, several of them playing the "Where am I going on the vacation?-game", where you spin, close your eyes and point. 

Later, looking through the news at pictures from protests all over the world, knowing my friends and I had been marching with millions, I felt hope as well as worry, and hoped that hope will win.

In which we see some city (Frankfurt part II).

My schwesterliebe and long-time roomie Jules, whom I cherish not only for all those midnight wine&baking sessions that resulted in stuff like this (but also because she makes me a better person -- happy birthday again!) moved from Hamburg to Frankfurt in August, and it was thus high time to visit, explore Frankfurt am Main for the first time in the nine or so years I've been in Germany, and see/hear/marvel at Jules performing in her profession as Legit Opera Singer at Oper Frankfurt.

I would not, however, be traveling alone. Accompanying me would be the newly dubbed Stella II, the Nikon D5600 purchased with the help of my family (thank you!) after three months of grieving the sudden lifelessness of Stella I, my Sony α330 and constant companion since June 2009, who traveled with me all over Europe and the US, creating tens of thousands of photos at my every whim and fancy, and who, after not once having complained, ever, took her last picture in the sunny, gypsum paradise of White Sands National Monument on a hot, hot October day in New Mexico, and decided to call it quits. More on that when I get to the US post, but for now the point is that this trip was also a chance for me to try out the new camera and see how we got on together. After a few days of heavy use, I think it was a good choice, though I still have so much to learn about her more intricate functions, and I still have a lot to get used to. Hopefully I'll have plenty of time to get her figured out.

Anyhoo, back to business: I had Friday off from work, so boarded an early train Frankfurt-bound, arrived about 4 hours later, and was soon in Jules & Imm's darling apartment, sitting in a pool of sunshine and eating Imm's Special Porridge (thank you!) and getting caught up on life.

From there I headed back downtown, first wandering around the Main river walk and then having a peek at the excessively touristy "new" Altstadt, then later met up with Jules for a further walk and a tea and a pear-and-custard-stuffed croissant at a French café. 

("it's nothin'")

Later on we ended up back at home, drinking chai while Imm prepared his Special Mushroom Risotto, I was finally introduced to Hannah Gadsby, and we all fell asleep very, very full.

The next morning Jules had to rehearse and deposited me at the Kleine Markthalle, which was not at all unlike the Naschmarkt in Vienna, and where I stocked up on some fresh spices.

From there I followed my nose and the sound of live music to the Wochenmarkt at Konstablerwache, where I was not unsurprised to find large crowds of people drinking gleaming glasses of wine in the sun on a Saturday morning.

From there it was off to lunch at a Japanese place with Jules and then a long, lazy afternoon of sitting in Günthersburgpark and exploring the Bornheim neighborhood. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful area that I could probably never afford to live in (hashtag turbogentrification), with lots of funky shops and cafés and organic supermarkets and more crowds of people outside drinking wine.

Walking back downtown, I took a detour to the river to catch the sunset from the nearest bridge, which was full of tourists and locals with the same idea. The tourists had cameras. The locals had wine. And the view was enjoyed by all.

Then it was off to the Oper, to get misty-eyed while finally seeing Jules living her dream, little by little, on the big stage. Doesn't get much better than that.