Trip to Wedel, Hamburg

Manish and I made a plan to visit to Wedel, a beach on the river Elbe.Wedel is a town located outside Hamburg city.
On Saturday, 26 July 2008 we took S1 metro from Ohlsdorf station. The journey time as per metro route was 1 hour. The weather was hot, around 30 degrees Celsius but pleasant.

We boarded the metro and started our journey. During the journey we felt little uncomfortable because inside the wagon there was no cooling. The train reached Altona station and everybody started vacating the train. When the train was almost empty and driver changed place for other direction we thought to confirm with driver whether the same train will go towards Wedel or not. The driver confirmed that that train will not go to Wedel. This was a surprise for us. We vacated the wagon and a Deutsche Bahn service man directed us that we have to take a connecting bus to Othmarchen and from there on again continue journey in S1. Manish felt the urge to piss so he relieved the pressure inside a Mac’s. Then we came outside the station and took a bus. This was a welcome change because we were already feeling quite exhausted inside the train. The air-conditioned bus provided quite relief.

Passing through restaurant-adorned streets of Altona we reached Othmarchen in around 10mins. The connecting train to Wedel from Othnarchen was 10 mins later. The clock was already striking four. In few mins. we boarded the train and resumed our journey. The uneasiness caused by hot weather was evident from people faces but still people want to make full use of sunny weather and spend their time outdoors. A couple was seated few seats in front of us. The heat was taking it toll particularly on the male as he was sweating profusely. It appeared as if he would melt in few minutes!

The S1 bahn reached Wedel in around 20 minutes time. But this was not the end of it. We came out of the station and board another bus; number was 189. The strand (beach for German) was the fourth stop in the bus route. The stop was called as Elbstrasse. Passing through the city gave us the nostalgic feeling of Amager strand beach in Copenhangen that we have visited few weeks back. Finally we reached Elbstrasse and as soon as we got down tilting our necks we saw water. Hooray!!! Finally we reached our destination.

We began our walk towards the beach. En route to beach we saw a mini golf course where damsels were trying their hand at golf. The reflection of Sun on the Elbe was producing a dazzling effect as if though it was a sea of diamonds.
While walking around we saw yachts and boats parked at the dock. Quite a few people have come here with their family and were relaxing in a small park close to beach. The smell of smoked BBQ filled the air. We walked to the beach. People were taking sunbath in scanty clad bade wear. I wonder what they achieve by doing this. We decided not to go the shore since we where not equipped with costumes and also the scorching Sun was taking a heavy toll on us. We spent around 15-20 mins. walking around the beach. Finally we decided to call it a day and come again next week fully equipped with beachwear.

It was a nice outing on weekend and a chance to see outer Hamburg area. Especially Manish was quite pleased with this one as he was got the chance to watch bikini clad babes doing sun bath on beach :)

My dog Jojo

My dog Jojo died on 21st July,2008. :(

He was very dear to me and served my family for almost 12 years. He became a part of our family as a 3 months old puppy. My younger sister named her Jojo. He was the best dog one can have. A German spitz by breed, Jojo was very cute and naughty.

Jojo suffered some health complications when around 6 years back he was a victim of testicular infection, which led to removal of one his testicles. Post surgery poor creature had to suffer lot of pain when he was forcibly tied to his bed so that he does not touch the dressings. Jojo got well in few weeks. Jojo loved to eat tomatoes, papaya, chicken bones and orange bar.

Since last year due to age Jojo was little lethargic and caught germicidal infection in his leg. MY mother used to take great care of him. Also he was growing abnormaly in size. We all feared of abdominal tumor but vet denied.I really regret that I was not at his side during his last days.

Just before the fateful day he was unable to move and perform any activity. The following day he laid motionless tied to his chain. Vet told that there was a paralytic attack because of which he was not able to move.

We all knew that Jojo will be leaving us soon because of his age but this painful end was a heavy blow. May God rest his soul in Peace.