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YouTube just recommended me a video featuring Sophie Ellis-Bextor performing Murder on the Dancefloor – a song I’ve barely thought about for a good 20 years or so and which I can only assume is related to Orangebikini’s comment yesterday.
Why am I not surprised that Reddit’s selling my data to YouTube?
So, I said yesterday that Hamburg is much more pleasant for me to visit than Berlin… except the train station. I can’t put to words how full those platforms are. I think when I was trying to get out of the platform my feet left the ground for a second in the human mass.
I decided to take a walk in Schanzenviertel and St Pauli backstreets for a bit and then walk to the waterside. I know, what was I doing there in broad daylight –but actually it is quite nice. All very anarchist and vegan. There was even a store selling clothes by weight. I had some delicious food and inhaled some dirty city air. All great. From there it’s about 1.5 km to the river, you can see the Elbphilharmonie on the other side. The Composer’s Quarter is around there as well. It is really beautiful, I highly recommend it. There are small museums for composers from Hamburg such as Brahms, Telemann, Mahler, CPE Bach and Fanny Hansel. There’s not a whole lot to see, more to read and listen. If you like reading and listening, great.
The little recital absolutely blew my mind. The square piano is in a small room, so I was just a meter away from the pianist, who was an excellent young guy who explained a lot about the piano, its history as well as the differences to a modern piano. The main differences to a modern piano are its much longer reverb, allowing notes to mingle long after they’ve been played (but also making playing very complicated), less force required to generate the sound, and the sound volume difference between the octaves (the higher ones are much quieter, almost harp-like, while the basses are very strong). Now, I have been listening to, playing and singing Brahms for almost 63 years, but I have never heard anything like the Intermezzo played on the square piano, so beautifully, and the small space and atmosphere made it even more intimate and emotional. It is a bit hard to put to words. I won’t say it was like time travel, but a bit like eavesdropping on someone playing in their own space for themselves.
When I was going back, the train was packed to the ceiling. I wonder if it is always like that, or the 49-Euro-ticket has mobilized the people. There was a guy next to me, who wasn’t Turkish but I don’t know where he was from. He was quite tall and big, looked very serious, and was carrying two large bags full or rubber bath ducks. I wanted to ask what they are for, but yeah, it was very crowded and he was wearing headphones. Later, I was asking my friends what it could be. One said that every Christmas she and her mother choose a porch or terrace in the neighborhood and cover it with ducks (she was a bit surprised that the guy was carrying ducks out of season). Other told me about the rubber duck race, and another said that they had pranked their roomate by filling the bathtub and sink with small rubber ducks once. So it seems like they’re quite versatile.