We are in St. Michaelis church awaiting the start of the Interfaith Service on Saturday morning.
Dinner on Friday evening was just a picnic in our hotel room featuring rolls purchased at the central train station, cold cuts from a neighborhood grocery, fruit from a local fruit stand, and Korean-style napkins from our hotel. The sporks are one of our usual travel accessories.
On our way back to the hotel we passed by St. Michaelis church, the site tomorrow's Interfaith Service, the first formal convention we will attend.
After lunch we walked along the river.
While eating lunch we observed paddle wheel boat Louisana Star cruising on the Elbe.
We hopped off the bus at the harbor and ate lunch of wurstsalat on the upper terrace of Blockbräu. Luckily we were under cover when a rain shower started
We hopped on a bus on Friday morning to get an overview of Hamburg.
Though we were tired after our long day of travel, we capped it off with a dinner of currywurst and Pilsner at Frau Möller, a neighborhood pub in the St. Georg district, within walking distance of our hotel.
We obtained our badges, program books, and maps at the registration hall. The relatively uncrowded scene was an advantage of our early arrival. The badges will serve as our public transit passes starting Friday.
After checking into our hotel, we proceeded to the Hamburg Messe to pick up our badges. We found Rotarians and Rotactors already snapping pictures in front of the sign near the entrance.
When we arrived at the Hamburg airport, the badge pickup area was in readiness, but we were two hours too early to use it. Instead we took the train to Central Hamburg and caught a taxi to our hotel.
The day of travel was a long blur. The transition at Reykjavík was simple, and we were soon flying oner the Iceland terrain toward Germany.
We pulled out of the driveway at 9:55 am. In the latter part of the afternoon we are awaiting our flight to Reykjavík. After a very short layover there, we'll catch the flight to Hamburg.
Registrants at the 2019 Rotary International Convention will use Hamburg's public transportation system to travel to and from the convention venue. I am reminded of the 1987 Rotary convention, where some convention delegates did likewise. This photo shows my Kongreẞ-Ticket, a five-day pass that I used for travel between my hotel in Schwabing and Munich's Olympic Park, where the 1987 convention was held.
