Alexander! How are you Sir! I am Caryn Mac Fadyen, I am from Glasgow, and have spent many a time in Hamburg as a performer! You are right about the clubs and record labels galore! I am personal friends with Michael Schenker founding former member of Scorpions and UFO, which are runned by his younger Rudolph which is still very much active. They are both from Cologne, Both bands started there and they have their main studios in Cologne. Hamburg as well as Berlin and Frankfurt was their first major sto ping grounds on their way to success. I myself have recorded, performed and collaberated in these cities! Back in both London and Glasgow, we have some great studios as well as record labels. For regular tourism much like Germany, Scotland boasts lush green glens and hills, warm friendly people and charisma in the streets of our big cities. Alexander are you from Hamburg! what part of Hamburg and when did you come here to the States! Just a bug in your ear; I and my entourage will be looking to open one of my fabulous theme restaurants; "Into The Pages" a full service Literary Eatery and pub recognizing songwriters book writers, poets, etc. those great artists whom make the Industry what it is, but is overlooked too much. This establishment will be solely for the writer of many genres. The food, the memorbilia on the walls and tables, the music and entertainment will reflect these very writers whom made these opprtunities in the industry possible! Please forgive the lengthy note here! I wanted to share with you some great things to come to Hamburg and Germany very soon! Watch for us! Keep on Rollin' Dunkeshen! Caryn!

Alexander! How are you Sir! I am Caryn Mac Fadyen, I am from Glasgow, and have spent many a time in Hamburg as a performer! You are right about the clubs and record labels, there are many! I am personal friends with Michael Schenker founding former member of Scorpions and UFO, which are runned by his younger Rudolph which is still very much active. They are both from Cologne, Both bands started there and they have their main studios in Cologne. Hamburg as well as Berlin and Frankfurt was their first ajor stomping grounds on their way to success. I myself have recorded, performed and collaberated in these cities! Back in both London and Glasgow, we have some great studios as well as record labels. For regular tourism much like Germany, Scotland boasts lush green glens and hills, warm friendly people and charisma in the streets of our big cities. Alexander are you from Hamburg! what part of Hamburg and when did you come here to the States! Just a bug in your ear; I and my entourage will be lookin to open one of my fabulous theme restaurants; "Into The Pages" a full service Literary Eatery and pub recognizing songwriters book writers, poets, etc. those great artists whom make the Industry what it is, but is overlooked too much. This establishment will be solely for the writer of many genres. The food, the memorbilia on the walls and tables, the music and entertainment will reflect these very writers whom made these opprtunities in the industry possible! Please forgive the lengthy note here! I anted to share with you some great things to come to Hamburg and Germany very soon! Watch for us! Keep on Rollin' Dunkeshen! Caryn!

Hamburg is extremely pretty, and great to be in. I've only been there once, for 2 days, but I remember it well. Had a wonderful time.

Where did you go to? What did you do there?

I was in Hamburg once, just passing by. I was 18, inter-railing with a girlfriend. Innocent and out of money as we were, we ended up in a very cheap and shabby hotel near the railway station (eek, I only much later read that you should keep away from them) and the place was obviously something more than just a hotel. Because of the extraordinary noise around us and in the corridor all night I checked two times during the night that our door was locked. But the old lady who kept that place was very friendl and gave us huge plates of German sausages in the morning!

Cool! I found the people there very friendly as well. And the place has an ever so slightly dingy feel about it - almost like England. I adore that about places.

And what did you do? And see? Like "I bought records at...", or something. Books. Lingerie. Rubber stuff for the husband. A walking cane. A bottled ship. Shoes. A tattoo. Elena, was that Hotel the Schanzenstern at the trainstation Sternschanze, in St. Pauli? (Good record shops within 500 meters!) Tell me something that you experienced there, some adventure...

Sorry Alexander, I can�t remember the name of that weird place, I was 18 about 18 years ago! But what I remember clearly is that in the tiny breakfast room of the hotel there were heaps of very dusty looking stuffed animals like badgers, ermines and small crocodiles on shelves, didn�t really stimulate my appetite! Possibly there were good record shops too but there were also sex shops everywhere, one was right beside the hotel door I think. That trade has never been very explicit in Finland so I really marveled at the amount of it in Hamburg.

I don't think I could afford to buy anything. I was doing a sort of round-trip through Germany, without being able to actually sleep in youth hotels, so I took night trains all over the place to have a place to sleep, and spent each day in a different city. I did buy a pin for my travel jacket at a kiosk though! Rest of the time I just wandered around, ate and drank cheaply, and sat on benches to watch the people and surroundings. I might even have made some sketches - can't remember; I'll go have a ig in the 1993 box.

Do so, please! Elena, too - any pics?

Found the sketches. Forgotten how bad they are. Looking at them makes Hamburg look not unlike a place like, say ... Billingham. Not posting ANY of it, sorry. And I'll rely on my memory instead.

So, redraw based on the sketches and your memory!

God, NO! My self-confidence has been totally shattered by what I've seen ... Don't YOU have any photos???? I mean, of all people!

Filmed a bit with Super 8... Sorry!

ha-ha!! So, between 3 people who have been to Hamburg, we have NOTHING?? This is a problem! I think tomorrow I shall open a topic on Namibia, and post LOADS of photos of my beloved dessert - which will drive everyone insane!

You won't have any dificulty with me here...

You'll find it weird, I'm sure. I mean, imagine a kind of Germany, with swaying palmtrees, wild, white beaches and rough sea, and wonderful German cuisine - with kudu, springbok and oryx. I'll get my books and pictures, just wait ...

Well, anywhere you go on this planet, there are loads of Germans! Luckily! For instance, in about 1985, I had a tiny tent on a beach in Italy somewhere near Rimini. Took a long walk and a big storm broke out meanwhile. When I found my way back to the beack in a terrible wind and rain, I found my tent in a strange shape, in a new place with big stones on the edges! Yes, it was the doing of the Germans who camped nearby. One of them ran through the rain to tell me that the wind had taken my little tent and they had rescued it from wandering off.

ha-ha! Yep, they can be useful creatures, the Germans! My friends from Germany always seem to come and visit with great Nijmwegen cheese whenever I crave it. How do they KNOW??

I'm half German by lineage. Norwegian other half.

Terry, do you speak Norwegian or pronounce your surname in the original way? Btw I am partly Swedish......let�s all trace our roots and find out that we all have them in the same place originally, the German part of the world!!! :-))

Yeah! Mine are Dutch and English mostly.

Nope I don't speak Norwegian and I have a foggy idea how to pronounce walhus in Norwegian wal hoos'

Terry Walhooooos?? �laugh� And all this time I thought of you as Terry 'Wallace'....!

I couldn't afford airfare to Hamburg, so I went to Spamburg. Seriously, though, it would have been cool to go to the clubs there in the early 60s to see the pre-fame Beatles. Maybe someday, but for now, I owe, I owe so off to work I go!

See how it goes with names ree head, just think I used to think you as: Ree Etta Readjust your mental image of mon nom.

ReeEtta!!! I still can't get over it. If I marry you, then I'll be ReeEtta Walhooosss!! HMMM. You're right - we should think it over! NO NO, Terry, your money can concur all such problems!

Then problems must be cheap to fix. If you're serious about this wedding thing, don't we have some distance and relationship issues to deal with?

No no no! I refuse to think THAT far ahead. If I have to think about stuff like that, when will I find time to love you?

That's true. Details, details! Who needs 'em?

;=}

You look like you've had a disgustingly pleasant weekend!

And how was your weekend, ree?

GGGGOOOOOODD!!! I lasted until today - we had a no-work day, which was great. The dad and two of the sons of the family I always visit in Germany came on Sunday night, and we had a wonderful time visiting and stuffing ourselves at the best of restaurants. And on Saturday we took the girls to the horsie carousel in town, and had loads of ice-cream and a walk along the lake. It was just lazy and great. Did you have a nice weekend too, Terry?

I had a good weekend. I traveled out to Cedar Creek and worked around the place, I got in a swim at my place in town, watched the Longhorns game on tv, found a new rentor (Tess Del Prete), and did a lot of cleanup. I took back the Pergo flooring because I decided to do red oak instead.

You sound like one of those guys who can do every kind of job with their hands - that's cool. Like Kitchen Man would say, 'It's all in the wrist!'

I'm half German ya' know.

MmH...Seems as if we Germans felt a strong urge to procreate when we came to the New World...( like the rabbits in Australia) flood the whole land with our offsprings...Funny that everyone in the US seems to have German ancestors somehow...even THE KING!

Elvis had German ancestors?? Now, I wonder why the Americans nevva evva mention that! ha-ha!

Maybe they don't know it yet... or like to ignore it? The "Memphis Mafia" doesn't like that idea, so Donald Presley (some distant cousin of Elvis) will publish his book in Germany first. In his book, he says, he can prove that Elvis' ancestors came from the Pfalz - somewhere in South-Germany - and their name was Pressler.

I'd be willing to bet they are Welsh in origin!

I've heard the common opinion ( and the one the Memphis Mafia sticks to) is that he's anglo-irish...Who knows?

Like all other Americans (save for the native Amerindians), we are all something of a mixture. In fact, the British are about as mixed as they can be. No one was native there till the continental tribes migrated there after the last Ice Age. So much for stuffy pretenses! Sheehs, never heard that he was Irish of any sort...there are the Preseli Mountains in South Wales.

ha-ha! I'm sure the Welsh blood would be alright, but Americans are so incredibly patriotic; for them to admit that their singing star was of German descent would be like admitting that the Statue of Liberty was a Speer design.

But is was a French design...

...by Eiffel, if I don't err...

...yeah, the guy with the tower...

...wasn't he Alsacian?...

I KNOW it wasn't a Speer-design - it was just a hypothetical comparison to measure what the reaction might have been. The Eiffel guy designed the statue of Liberty??? Wonder if it's as rickety as his tower!

...and Alsace is a department in France...

... where the indigenous people - the Alsacians, though French citizens -, speak a GERMAN dialect.

So, that makes the Statue of Liberty basically...

Speaking of Germany, did you catch the news story about the German woman who held a gun to men and forced them to have sex with her? It's true, it was in the news today. But what's with the gun? Did she really need a gun? That was for later on the get him to cuddle with her?

...*wiping off the paint from the wide brush used to paint all Americans*...Ree, are we all that bad? Are all Namibians...or all Swiss...or all of anything...?! Why do I feel ashamed and alone in this. I am American. I am not blind or brain-dead!

Did not see that article, Terry...is it That bad to cuddle for a little while? You are mostly asleep by then, anyway!

Jeez, how desperate must a person be to have to get 'em with a gun??? Marcia, all nations have their brain-dead bits - but as a nation, not as individuals. With Americans it is patriotism, with the Swiss it is a general condition of limbo, with Namibians it is short-sightedness (Namibians believe that Namibia is at the centre of the universe...). I always make fun of this stuff, because it reminds me of myself when I'm naked!

I watched a funny scene in the tv show Friends where one of the lead babes gets naked, by herself. What do people do when they get naked when they're alone? Run around the house? Dance? Act funny?

Eh, no...

Terry, I heard that this "woman" was possibly not REALLY a woman... Marcia, we European are a bunch of arrogant bastards, keep this in mind. I think this maybe comes from being "the old world" and feudal structures having survived in people's heads so long.

If your too modest and self-deprecating accessment of Europeans is true, how come all of the ones I have met have been the soul of kindness and gentility - whether I met them in person or here on theSpring? You shall not convince me that easily *grin* I love Europe and everyone I have met...!

..."this woman is possibly not REALLY a woman"... I should think "she" would need some powerful persuasion to attract men to "her" though I can think of a few men who'd rather die than...!

ha-ha! It's like that thing that happened to an English football team last year. They were on the bus, and a woman, dressed scantily, signalled for the bus to stop. The driver asked what she wanted, and she said, if they'd give her a lift to the next town, she'd give every guy on the bus a blow-job. So they took her, and she did what she'd promised. At the next town they dropped her off. As they were driving off, she suddenly pulled up her dress; she was a man!! Serves 'em right!!

Boy, I should have checked out this conference earlier. This is even livelier than the the bout in Philosophy's "How do you forgive?" and certainly more spirited than Trinidad-DeLaHoya...BTW, Felix beat Oscar in the "Odd Couple" welterweight superbout!

"I'm not dumb but I don't understand Why she walks like a woman but talks like man Oh my Lola, la la la la Lola La la la la Lola." --Ray Davies (The Kinks) 1970

Yes, I remember that song! So, what's your favourite place in the world, John?

I thought you might remember that once since your mum likes the Kinks. I've not been to Hamburg, or I'm sorry to say, Europe at all--but I have a friend from Hamburg (Marcia knows her too. She's a lovely young woman who played tennis for the local university team here in Hilo. Her father is an executive for Beck's Beer, which I consider top rate, at least among beers I have tried). Hawaii is hard to beat in my book, but other places I love--that I have been--include Vancouver and Victoria, B.C., Canad ; Chicago (grew up 120 miles west of there); San Francisco; New Orleans; Portland, Oregon; Sydney, Australia; Port Victoria, Seychelles Islands (Mahe Island). How about you, Ree?

I love London and Paris for art, musicals, opera and excitement. But Swakopmund in Namibia, on the west coast of Africa - that's where everything comes together, where I feel in place.

Sounds good. I would love to go to London and Paris one day when I'm not so damn broke. I don't know if I could get any sleep in Namibia without dreaming of cobras and puff adders. But it sure looks beautiful on the telly.

I can understand that. Chris was very worried the first time I took him to Namibia, and had to explain to him in the evening that his shoes must stand upside down so that snakes and scorpions won't crawl in. Now he loves it there though, and sometimes he even comes when I go into the desert or the bush. I would love to see Hawaii someday. It must be an unreal place to live in. All those exotic foods, the swimming, the beaches, the vegetation - sounds just wonderful.

I can't wait to see your Namibia picture(s) posted. I've seen it on the tube and it looks exciting. I am fascinated with Africa in general. I've been to Kenya, several years ago I had a girlfriend from Ivory Coast (should have been the Gold Coast, I just couldn't make enough money to keep her happy), and one of my best friends is Nigerian. Hawaii is a wonderful place to visit. It can be a difficult place to live. The economy here is terrible and our best and brightest youth have to leave here to get the jobs and economic opportunity they deserve, but it is beautiful and as long as I can make a living here, I will be here.

Namibia is pretty poor compared to European countries as well, but pretty rich for an African country. You had a girlfriend from Ivory Coast?? It is interesting about her being after money, because at my summer school a few weeks back I met a French girl whose brother is married to a girl from the Ivory Coast. And she was complaining to me about how her brother had gotten himself into a huge debt, because his wife has been going crazy with his credit cards ever since they got married 4 years ago - appa ently back then he DID have money. How weird that you should say the same thing of a girl from that part of the world.

What countries border Namibia?

Angola, Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

What is the capital of Namibia? What is your favorite city in Namibia? What is the country's flower? What does the flag look like? (when you're done with your paper, I'll give you your grade)

�biting my nails� Just don't fail me, master!!!! Windhoek is the capital of Namibia. Windhoek and Swakopmund are my favourite cities in Namibia. The most famous flower is the Welwitchia Mirabulus - its leaves are more than a meter long, and some of the ones you find in the desert are over a thousand years old. But our national plant is the Aloe. The flag is green, blue and red with a yellow sun in the top right hand corner. This stuff should be in the other topic!!!

OK OK ... I spaced out. I'll ask some more questions there.

ha-ha! Doesn't matter, Terry-guy.

Terry-guy & Ree-gal, Hamburg is big enough for Namibia. Perhaps not in size, but in style: Everything fits in Hamburg, I guess.

Palm trees and lions and sand ... OH MY!

WHY AMERICANS SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED TO TRAVEL The following are actual stories provided by travel agents: I had someone ask for an aisle seat so that their hair wouldn't get messed up by being near the window. A client called in inquiring about a package to Hawaii. After going over all the cost info, she asked, "Would it be cheaper to fly to California and then take the train to Hawaii?" A man called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that is not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, "Don't lie to me. I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin state." I got a call from a man who asked, "Is it possible to see England from Canada?" I said, "No." He said "But they look so close on the map." A nice lady just called. She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:20am and got into Chicago at 8:33am. I tried to explain that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she could not understand the concept of time zones. Finally I told her the plane went very fast, and she bought that! I just got off the phone with a man who asked, "How do I know which plane to get on?" I asked him what exactly he meant, which he replied, "I was told my flight number is 823, but none of these darn planes have numbers on them." A business man called and had a question about the documents he needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about passports, I reminded him he needed a visa. "Oh no I don't, I've been to China many times and never had to have one of those." I double checked and sure enough, his stay required a visa. When I told him this he said, "Look, I've been to China four times and every time they have accepted my American Express."