Ever since my first visit to Flensburg in May 2010, I have made at least a half dozen trips to the city where rum was born, where one in seven people are Danish and it has a handball powerhouse in SG Flensburg-Handewitt.
Everytime I was here, I would take my ritual photo of the cityscape, looking westward from the restaurant located on the east end of the harbor.
My first shot was from May 2010:
It was a golden sunset 🌇, with no activity at the harbor. There used to be an exclusive restaurant that offered nothing but seafood entree’s, located behind me. The shot was taken while the cooks we’re preparing my fish dinner. 🦞
Then came 2016, my visit to Flensburg’s Christmas market in the evening. If there was a theme to my visit during that time, it was nothing but punch. Not 👊 as in a black eye, but so ☕ in many flavors. 😉😜 Still, this shot was taken at the same spot. The difference could not have been more obvious with the light setting. At that time, a restaurant offering German entree’s entered the same location, but it was not the same as having a restaurant offering nothing but 🐠 and 🦀, so out went the 🥩
Then there’s the most recent shot taken this past August, 2021. While the weather was overcast that afternoon, we took an opportunity to appreciate the scenery. The difference now is that the restaurant chain Gosch has taken over and there has been a lot of expansion, as you can see in this picture. A large terrace with many Strandkorbs overlooking the skyline. Gosch offers a wide range of seafood including 🐟, 🦀, 🦐🍤, and other foods typical for the North and Baltic Seas. They’ve done a lot attracting the people, but also the seagulls. 🕊️
While Flensburg has changed little over the past decade, much of the landscape has remained the same. It’s the small things that have changed that make a difference. One has to visit the places familiar and observe them over time. Some of the changes are for the better, while others are better off being left alone. In either case what is important is knowing what the community stands for and what it offers to visitors and people wishing to move there.
Therefore we should ask ourselves about the communities we live in- what does our town or city stand for and what can we offer? What can we do to make it better but keep the community’s identity- its heritage, history and tradition?
While Flensburg has had its dark sides, it has kept its identity in tact, as the birthplace for rum, the powerhouse for handball, a place to try the traditional dishes of fish and seafood, and lastly, a great area to spend the summer. Little has changed but the town’s character has not changed, which makes it worth a visit. ❤️😊
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🦞 THE FLENSBURG FILES
THE FLENSBURG FILES 