Hamburg, Germany - July 26, 27, 2018

"The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry." Sometimes things fall magically in place like a line of well-placed dominoes or a well-oiled machine. Sometimes they just don't. On this first, let's see roughly 28-hour leg of our travels, we encountered a perfect experience that is until we made the connection from Istanbul to Hamburg. First, the flight was almost two hours late in leaving and second, it carried a complete gaggle of screeching, kicking toddlers—more than we've ever seen on any one flight. Two of them were seated directly behind us. Even the young Muslim lady seated next to me, rolled her eyes at the constant disturbance going on behind us.

Upon our late evening arrival we waited bleary-eyed for our luggage feeling completely exhausted. Stan's bag didn't show. It was still in Istanbul. That's ok. Mine made it. Plus we had the little toothbrushes that came in the little convenience packs some airlines provide on international flights. They assured us it would be delivered to our hotel in the morning. The time was near midnight.

Seasoned travelers, or gluttons of punishment, that we are, we took the subway to our hotel. Nice and easy. Then we walked two blocks to our absolutely lovely boutique hotel, the Hotel Stephan. Then we realized: it is definitely summertime here. The walk was warm, surely, but not terribly uncomfortable. We could tell we were walking through a nice neighborhood of old stone apartment buildings, but it was dark. Please know, I would never have taken that walk had I been alone The hotel is like stepping back in time . . . it is well-kept, and tastefully decorated with silk wallpaper, rich green carpets and high, 14-foot ceilings. The front door was locked because the hour was so late. Stan rang the bell and the gentleman night desk clerk let us in. We immediately sensed red flags. Although beautifully appointed and softly-lit, the lobby was hot. Hot! Maybe even stifling. Yikes, although we were exhausted, I need refrigeration in order to sleep and I need quiet and I need darkness.

The desk clerk apologized for the weather and he apologized that the hotel had no fans to lend. Throughout Germany there are few air conditioned hotels and even fewer private residences are air conditioned. Only the very large, new hotels have that beloved convenience! Germany's current weather is somewhat of an anomaly; it's usually cool and wet this time of year. "But right now," the gentleman desk clerk said, "it's hotter than hell."

We took cool showers, opened the windows and tried to sleep. It was after 1 am. I wet and wrung out a bath towel. I lay under it until my body cooled then threw it in the floor. At least it made me cool enough to fall asleep. Finally the night air became somewhat bearable and we slept.

Sometime around 6 am we woke to what sounded like The Gong Show gong. I said to Stan, well, I guess that means breakfast is ready. Actually there is a beautiful brick Lutheran church with a tall steeple immediately across the street from our hotel room and wouldn't you know, it has church bells! The bell gongs every quarter-hour.

Today is absolutely gorgeous! The air is warm but dry and the sky is completely cloudless. We are sitting outside on the covered veranda of the hotel overlooking a lovely courtyard having hot coffee and a basket of fresh bread and butter. Ahhh, European breads! Ok, Hamburg, I forgive you for having no air conditioning.

The Norwegian fjord cruise begins this afternoon. We trust that Stan's bag will indeed arrive this morning. If not, that will be another story. Not wishing time to pass too quickly, but from the little exploring we did this morning we do look forward to seeing more of Hamburg nine days from now when our first voyage is complete.