Sentimental Sunday: Mom's 1953 Europe Road Trip - Back Into Germany

From Mom's Europe trip diary, in the "PLACES VISITED" section:

September 14, Monday – Road  between Kolding, Denmark, and Soltau, Germany

After breakfast of ham & eggs, left for border.  Had to make 2 detours (Danish word Omkørsel*) before border.  No trouble through customs except that I caused quite a stir in German customs because I was left-handed.  They were quite amused about it.  Ate lunch in a Ratskeller in Neumünster (very good lunch for about $3 for all of us).  Drove through Hamburg with no difficulty and on to Soltau where we found hotel rooms.**  Room was so cold forced to go to bed.

* Omkørsel actually translates to "diversion."

** According to the "HOTELS STOPPED AT" section of the trip diary, my mother and her friends stayed at the Meyn Hotel in Soltau, Germany this night.

Vierländer Brunnen (1953) in Hamburg / eigene Arbeit [own work], Ernst Hanssen
 / GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0

Hamburg - Vierländer Brunnen [30 June 2009] / Dietmut Teijgeman-Hansen / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

At left is something my mother might have seen in Hamburg-Altstadt (old town) - the Vierländerin Brunnen (Four Countries Fountain).  It was constructed at this site in 1878 on the Meßberg Marktplatz.  In 1922-1924, the Chilehaus (behind the fountain) and Meßberghof (to the right) were built, part of the Kontorhausviertel. This area of reinforced concrete buildings with brick facades and Expressionist architecture details suffered some damage in World War II bombings, and the fountain and Meßberghof had recently been restored when this photo was taken in 1953.  The photo below shows more detail of the fountain, moved to another site in 1978.

......This is the 38th in a series of posts transcribing entries in my mother's 1953 Europe Trip journal.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.