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Tag: history

Interscandi!

Interscandi!

Published on 27 July 2024

After the hashy intermezzo on Thursday, it was back to normality for a couple of hours, before the main event of this trip would really start: Interscandi. What supposedly started as a joint hash event for/by the Scandinavian hashes, now extends to anywhere the vikings have been, hence the choice for Hamburg this year…

Normality usually starts with breakfast and coffee, so after a breakfast buffet at the ibis budget hotel, I headed to Milch for that coveted coffee. Unfortunately they were inexplicably closed, so I walked on for my only cultural stop today: the Kramer-Witwen-Wohnung, the ‘shopkeeper’s widow’s home’, built in the 17th century—so widows could move out of their husbands’ shops, so other shopkeepers could move in—and in use for this purpose until the 19th century. Reading this explanation probably took longer than the visit, because it was tiny!

To be fair: I limited myself to one cultural stop to be able to squeeze in one last beer stop before the less predictable part of the weekend would start… On the way there was the Elbgold coffee roastery though, so I could have my espresso macchiato after all!

But just a little after lunch time I found myself already at the Beyond Beer shop, tasting their draught beers…

I still had some time left, and I decided to kill it at BrewDog St. Pauli. I actually already dropped by there on my first night in Hamburg, but I just missed last call then…

Interscandi is with accommodation included, so I had to change venues on the day it started. So my home for the next two nights would be the Pyjama Park Hostel, completely filled with other hashers… The checkin was a happy reunion with people I met at other hash events, and of course a a substantial delegation of BMPH3 members. Let the mayhem begin! Well, as it turned out, the mayhem was too much for the people behind the bar of the hostel, so I fled to The Baby Goat Barn, and had some pizza while I was there.

After that, it was already time to start the pub crawl, no running involved this time. To my delight they had set a “beer nerds” trail as well! It brought me back to The Baby Goat Barn, BrewDog, and Bar Oorlam, but I was so happy to be drinking craft beer on a Nash Hash pub crawl!

History and Hilarity in Hamburg

History and Hilarity in Hamburg

Published on 25 July 2024

A new day in a new(ish) city, that means I had to visit some history museums! However, since today was the day before the main, weekend-long hashing event, there was also—as hashers call it—a pre-lube: a Red Bra Charity Run! And that is exactly what it sounds like…

First things first though: breakfast and coffee! The Grosse Sache breakfast at Lieblings was ample, definitely enough to keep me going until the late afternoon run. For my coffee of the day I went to Nord Coast Coffee Roastery, bringing me closer to the part of the city where I would spend most of the day: HafenCity. I didn’t expect there to be a queue, but I decided just waiting my turn was still quicker than going somewhere else. The espresso macchiato was excellent though, so worth the wait!

On the cultural programme today: the tiny Speicherstadtmuseum and of course the huge Internationales Maritimes Museum.

After that it was time to head back to the hotel, but not before finally having a sit down coffee at Playground Coffee.

Then it was time to change into my special running outfit, and go all the way back to the other side of the Nordelbe river to the Veddel S-Bahn station! Here was the start for the Red Bra Charity Run, a run organised by the Edinburgh based BRAS* and Pants H3! The charity chosen to receive our participation fees, by the way, was Kinderbauernhof Kirchdorf, not too far from the Bunthaus Schankraum, where our run ended.

(*Brewery Runs Around Scotland)

After the run and a shower, I had time for two more bars on my list: Omnipollos Hamburg and the rather uninspiredly named Craft Bier Bar Hamburg, which had great beers nevertheless!

Warszawa & Berlin – Day 6

Published on 17 October 2023

Last Full Day…

My last day in Berlin started at Town Mouse Coffee with a delicious—and just spicy enough—”Mouse Trap” sourdough toastie (with Emmental, feta, and the house chutney) and a coffee. Always nice to find places like this near my hotel!

From there I went to the Mitte Museum. I usually make a habit of visiting the ‘local’ museum of any city I visit, but Berlin is so huge, it actually made sense to learn more about the ‘Bezirk’ (borough) I’ve always stayed in. Who knew porcelain was so important for Mitte?

My next stop was at the Museum in der Kulturbrauerei, to learn more about East Germany in its communist years. I had been to a museum with the same theme last year, but this one was definitely less touristy and more educational!

For lunch I went to Burgermeister, apparently an institute in Berlin. Not bad, but definitely not the best burger I’ve had…

For my after-lunch coffee I went to Bonanza Coffee.

After a little break at the hotel to recharge, e went to BrewDog Mitte—just two new beers there—and Mikkeller Berlin. I totally forgot about the Mikkeller Running Club, which had a run right when I was there!

Last time I was there, I didn’t spend enough time in Bräugier Brewpub, so I made up for that this time.

For nostalgia’s sake—I grew up in Limburg after all—for dinner I had a classic veal döner kebap at Kebap House—”Best Döner in Prenzlauer Berg” they say themselves—which is a bit different from the Gemüse Kebap with chicken you often find in Berlin…

My very last beer stop in Berlin was at another place with a banging beer list and great service: Manifest Taproom. The perfect end of my beer journey in Berlin…

Warszawa & Berlin – Day 3

Published on 14 October 2023

On-On with Warsaw H3!

On my last day in Warszawa, I managed to be downstairs in time for breakfast in the hotel! Some breakfast elements—different kinds of sausages, cooked vegetables—must be typically Polish…

One more museum on the schedule today: the Stacja Muzeum, a train museum. Maybe it’s not as slick as the one in Schaerbeek, but the number of trains on display may even be bigger, and some definitely even cooler!

The main event of the day, however, was my run with the Warsaw Hash House Harriers. It was a small pack—there were just eight of us—and the markings were quite peculiar, to say the least… The trail was nice though—albeit rather short—and it led me to some parts of Warszawa I hadn’t seen yet.

After circle, I went back to the hotel for a shower and change, to head out again for dinner.

Tonight’s pick was Zapiecek, where I had some bigos and potato dumplings with cottage cheese. The bigos was not my favourite, I must admit, the sauerkraut taste was stronger than I expected…

My last beer stops in Poland were the very hip—think fancy cocktails and bouncers—Cuda na Kiju, and the infamous PiwPaw Beerheaven.

Warszawa & Berlin – Day 2

Published on 13 October 2023

Time for Some History…

Since I had to catch up on some sleep—working some night shifts, followed by an early arriving sleeper train will do that to you—I woke up just too late to have breakfast at the hotel. I was hoping they would have something at Ministerstwo Kawy—yes indeed, this translates as “Ministry of Coffee”, like in London—but I had to settle for a piece of pie with my coffee.

The plan was then to visit the Muzeum Życia w PRL (Life Under Communism Museum), but for some reason I couldn’t figure out, it was closed.

On to the Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego (Warsaw Uprising Museum) then!

For lunch I had somę pierogi and a glass of kompot at Wałek Warszawski. Quite a popular place apparently, since I had to queue for over twenty minutes! The pierogi were really nice though, so in the end, totally worth the wait.

After another coffee at Forum, my next stop was POLIN, the museum of the history of Polish Jews.

My last educational visit was at the Muzeum Marii Sklodowskiej Curie, in the house where she was actually born.

All of a sudden I was in a really nice and historical looking part of town, although everything looked so clean and fresh, I have to check how old it actually is…
(Edit: indeed, the “Old Town” has been rebuilt after WW II…)

In the old town I had some beer at Same Krafty and Same Krafty vis-à-vis.

For dinner I went to Zapiexy Luxusowe for, well, zapiekanka, a toasted open-face sandwich, which apparently is a popular kind of street food in Poland. I had the Chłopska zapiekanka, with—of course—cheese and mushrooms, and a topping of kielbasa sausage, bacon, and onion

Then it was of course time for more beer! On the menu for this evening we’re Hopito Chmielna, Hoppiness Beer & Food, and Chmielarnia Multitap. The last one was quite the experience: think bar in the basement of a sports hall crossed with an Indian restaurant… Still some great beers on tap though!