You know you are in London when...

…there is a brass band playing in the park on Sunday!

Although, to be honest, the other major activity in the park was most un-English. It was a rather spirited game of Australian Rules Football being played between the Wandsworth Demons and the Putney Magpies.

I arrived just after the bounce and spent a great couple of hours watching the game. The play wasn’t exactly professional standard, but there was some definite talent amongst the players and the game flowed freely. The Magpies eventually took the day, to the disappointment of the home team Demons, although most of the crowd didn't seem to notice.

The carnival atmosphere of the day was pretty well summed up by one of the goal umpires who much preferred to signal the scoring of a Behind as it meant he didn’t have to put down his beer…

Oh, and as for the brass band… I managed to find that at half time while looking for a beer myself… in the end I settled for an ice-cream and 5 minutes listening to a medley of hits from Grease before returning to the game.

Deutschland

Well, the weather was perfect, the trains were late and beer was rather good. Two out of three ain’t bad!

…and I am told that being on a train that runs late in Germany is a rare thing… and I was on two of them!

Friday night last week saw me flying out of British Airway’s new Terminal 5 at Heathrow. The baggage problems and massive delays are a thing of the past. Now that it is working properly the terminal is a breeze. No queues, open space and helpful people (is it really in Britain???). Even my return trip via Terminal 5B – the satellite terminal across the tarmac - was easy, even using the ‘Transport’ – a driverless train - back to the main terminal. It’s all very ‘Blade Runner’, right down to the polite and slightly metallic, female voice used for announcements.

Germany on the other hand was not nearly as ‘Blade Runner’ as I expected. Hamburg is a very pretty and vibrant city. It is growing at an enormously fast rate. The new harbour city area is a forest of cranes with residential and office buildings rising from the old docks. Across the river the port of Hamburg has a matching forest of cranes disappearing into the distance, lifting containers off huge ships.

My host for the weekend, Sabine, showed me around the city. We walked for most of the morning along the riverfront, took a ferry up the river and back and then spent the afternoon walking around the old city. There is plenty in Hamburg to fill in a weeks worth of exploring and I think we managed to see most of it in a day!

The following day was an early start with an 8:30 am train to Berlin. An hour and a half later (and 2 minutes late) we arrived and I was again walking. Past the new Chancellery, the Reichstag, the Brandenburg gate, the new Jewish Memorial, one of the remnants of the wall at Potsdam Place, the Museum Island.

The highlight of my day though, was the Reichstag. We joined the queue at 7pm and an hour later we were climbing the ramp of the dome to enjoy sunset over Berlin. The dome, designed by British Architect Sir Norman Foster, provides a panorama of the city as you stroll up one ramp to the very top of the dome, open to the sky, and then down the other. The dome sits high above the Plenary Chamber of the German Parliament visible through the glass floor below.

So, the day in Berlin was a big one… especially with a train back to Hamburg at 11pm… and even at that time we are rushed making the train.

My final day in Germany was a tad less hectic. Sabine took me to a small town about 30 minutes from Hamburg. Luneburg is a medieval salt mining town and has remained relatively unchanged since its economic peak in the 16th and 17th centuries. The main square is lined with gabled merchants houses with fancy brickwork that don’t look like they have changed, ever.

But the town is a living town and a prosperous one. The ancient streets are lined with fancy shops and restaurants and cafes. The locals seem to be wealthy professionals from Hamburg who have moved out of the city to a picturesque town and have plenty to spend (especially on the restoration and upkeep of their ancient homes).

Luneburg was followed by a commute to the airport and a flight back to my real life here in London. Thankfully the trip home was quick and at least Terminal 5 works now!