Fallen Cinderella: Secondella, Hamburg's vintage dream

Good morning you lovely Hansestadt

It must be sometime around 9 am. Prince is long gone and my sweet thought of staying in the silky soft queen sized bed just a bit longer, gets interrupted by the thrilling sounds of sprinkler system in work.
The Porter Promise should be known for such: NEVER TO BE TRUSTED!
So I will get up.
Opening the heavy cream-colored curtains, which give view to the unexciting backyard, shows the slightest finest arrival of new fluff. It is snowing*** and I stand there for a while, the window wide open now, breathing in the crisp scent of winter, my eyes watery with joy.
Blessed little crystal flakes, how you can make my heart go spin with wonder...
Time to get out there.
Breakfast is already waiting for me, ahhh, My Prince, still the Romantic.
Fresh juice and fruit and some typical German bread (very dark and filled with seeds and nuts) with good old-fashioned butter. Delicious!

While munching away I do some googling for a carnival costume shop, since time is running out for our VENICE MASK BALL PARTY.
Ohhhh, I can't wait!!! Venice, this magical, seductive and sensual beauty with those glorious wet feet, a place of utter romance and passion. Wildest dreams seem to breath in this setting of mystery, "Eyes wide shut" just a gondola ride away.
And this on Valentine's.
PERFECTO

I find two interesting places, both upscale and dedicated costume makers. Very excited I call, but there is nothing available at the moment. Not in my size anyhow.
How about second hand? Maybe I could find something interesting?
Google spits up a few shops, one just a stone-throw away.
SECONDELLA.
Funny name. Let's go and check it out.
I get dressed in my 'Sherlock Holmes' look. I am rather inspired by the latest Holmes and the sexy boyish dress code of Rachel McAdams.

My Sherlock version is made of a grey pair of

wool and cashmere riding pants, a grey tweed west (H&M) and a ruffled ivory silk blouse (Zara). My black riding boots are custom-made from an equestrian shop in Buenos Aires, my gloves are Hilfiger in a juicy cherry red (like my new
See full size image

Chanel Lipstick), my hat is a french Beret in black wool and my handbag a classic black LV. Oh, and the coat, my new grey Ferragamo from New York. Putting on some red makes me feel SOOOO WOMAN. I don't know what's gotten into me, but red lips are my new must-have. Maybe I am growing up and even though I think I am a girl, I am all woman now.
GIRL... YOU'LL BE A WOMAN SOON...

Neil Diamond
for the classic lovers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57q3kq4FP2o
for the wild ones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg0Hhmm07VM
Gosh, Uma is hot!

But I feel pretty hot too, today. I think it's a mix of the wild meat from Wollenberg's cuisine, the promise of snow and the dreamland of 2.hand...
I am such a VINTAGE JUNKIE!

The snow has returned in force and the tender fluff is now turning into healthy sized flakes. Oh, what beauty.
I am trying to look up, watching the glittering crystals landing on my nose, but the danger of falling is too high. The sidewalk is pure ice and every step seems a dangerous stride towards pain or ridicule.
I must focus down, what a shame, as I am missing all the fun!
The Hamburgers are out and about, sliding around the frozen shopping areas. It is a funny sight, the MINISTRY OF FUNNY WALKS.
And then I arrive at SECONDELLA.
2 levels of used bliss.
My way of helping earth. Recycling. If bottles, cans, paper or dresses. Recycling is the way to go.
Secondella is surely not your usual second hand joint. Elegant, clean and very well organized, it could be a high-end designer boutique. Only the prices give it away.
There is a lot of cool stuff. Sadly not too much in my size though.
I end up with an enormous mountain of items and disappear behind the changing curtain.
There is a fashionable Italian couple, quite noisy and attention seeking (him, not her) trying on the other half of the boutique. Everything is amazing and everything is too big. Not one dress fits right and the ABBA style JEANS, size 26, dangle under my butt.
Damn.
I must eat more or take everything in.
I will go for the first option and the second.
2 dresses (one silky red and black TIBI and one classic traveling companion - beige linen shirtwaist) are such stunners, that I take them anyhow. Big can always become small. And the same goes for a red linen CELINE skirt.
Classy stuff.
In the shoe department I discover a most amazing pair of PRADA stilettos, with a flower heel.

They are pretty out-dated (2008 collection), but can beauty ever go out of style? I don't think so. They are seriously hot stuff for VALENTINE's. And those flowers can last forever!!!
I also find a lovely pair of red Ferragamos for Prince. VALENTINE feet for both of us.
The very helpful owner sends me upstairs for some more bargain hunting. Upstairs are the winter sales.
The place does not look anything like downstairs and I am almost ready to turn back, when I spot the Italians in a messy corner. If they are here, there must be some goodies to be found.
And oh, there are.
Unbelievable!
It is like a treasure chest in disguise.
A black Gianfranco Ferre femme fatale tuxedo (floor length skirt, jacket and tie in silk)
A black ESCADA classic suit (skirt and jacket)
A MiuMiu suit (mini skirt and Jacket in grey)
A Gucci velvet suit (off-white and soooo Saturday Night Fever)
A DKNY hippy dress
A Moschino cardigan with heart shaped buttons

I don't want to brag, but the total was less than one dress at Goodman's.

Thrilled and full of bags I leave Secondella. It is already dark outside, which means I must have spend a few hours in there. How time can fly, when shopping.
The berry rings and Prince is checking in. Dinner in half an hour.
Half an hour?
But it's only 6 o'clock?
"It's Germany baby, you should know dinner time is early here".
6.30... yeaph, I almost have forgotten...
Wobbling back, with so many bags and such icy conditions is not easy, but I make it home in one piece.
No time for a private fashion-show, just a bit of red Chanel and out again for dinner date with Prince and some business people.
'Casse Croute' is just around the corner. A bistro style restaurant serving french cuisine, it is always busy, lunch or dinner. The menu is simple, the decoration cozy and the waitresses pretty and fresh. Prince is waiting with two associates at a corner table and we order Schnitzel and grannie's cucumber salad, washed down with beers.
No time for dessert, as our table is reserved for new guests, so we are just thrown out. At the exit I spot OTTO WAALKES with his attractive young wife Eva, an odd couple, but head-turning material. Otto is a famous German comedian, who wins with his jokes, not looks.
Which proofs once again, looks are not all.

It is very early to return to the hotel, so we go for a long evening walk. Hamburg is the perfect place for strolling and hand in hand in the freezing January air, we enjoy the night, the cold and each other.
When we get back to the 4 Jahreszeiten my sweet tooth is wakening and so we end up, by the fireplace, sipping Muscadel and eating chocolate crepes.
The only thing missing now is a piano player.
I must start taking lessons. What beautiful talent to play an instrument.
I must! I must! I must!

Do you know the answer people give, when they are asked at their deathbed, what they regret most?
NOT TO HAVE LEARNED AN INSTRUMENT!

Some glasses later I see the Italians rushing by. My mom is right. She says, you always meet 3(!) times in life. Guess that's the last I will ever see of them.