Going places - Hamburg

Earlier this month, I spent 8 pretty incredible days visiting friends in Germany.  After  2.5 months of London-living, the excitement of being in a new place had worn off and the hassle of navigating a far-too-big city had started to bring back emotions (read: stress) I thought I had left behind in Auckland.  A much needed break was in order, and armed with the argument that I wouldn't get another chance to use my holidays until the end of January, I pleaded my case to the Powers That Be at work.  In fairness, no argument was necessary and they granted my wish.

Germany has been on my radar for a long time now.   When I first decided to move back to this part of the world, a few days after booking my ticket to London, I booked a flight ticket to Germany for 2 days after my arrival.  Unfortunately, the plan was thwarted by employment, but I knew the opportunity would present itself again.  And it did!

I spent the first 3 days of my holiday in Hamburg, with my friend Sonja who I worked with back in Auckland.  I left my London flat at 4am and got a taxi to Gatwick Airport (which cost 55 pounds, more than the flight to Hamburg itself cost - scoff) and after wolfing down some McDonalds for breakfast, I caught my flight.  The minute I sat in my seat, I passed out, and woke up mere seconds before hitting the runway in Hamburg.  Which is hilarious, because I've travelled from one side of the world to the other 3 times now and have got no more than 15 minutes sleep on any of those six 12+ hour flights.

Side note: Long-winded holiday blog posts (and facebook albums, which I also have!) are essentially modern day versions of slide-shows, so I will condense my weekend as much as possible but still inflict it upon anyone who dares to read it:

I quickly navigated my way through the the airport and onto the train bound for the city centre (briefly stopping to check out a couple of German supermarkets - I LOVE supermarkets in Foreign countries!)  I met Sonja in the centre of Hamburg outside her work and after we had caught up, we headed to the Elbe and caught a ferry down a section of the river.  German observation #1:  The Germans are very trusting.  Too trusting?  once were any of my transport tickets checked on any of the buses, trains or boats I travelled on.  

 After taking in the sights, we stopped in order for me to have my first (of many) bratwurst in Germany.  The sausage options were seemingly endless.  Get your mind outta the gutter.  In addition to bratwurst, they also had knackwurst (a short and fat sausage containing veal and pork), weisswurst (a white version of the above but not so short or fat) and my personal favourite, rosswurst (containing horsemeat). German observation #2: They do love sausage.  To me, a sausage is a sausage wherever you go and however you present it, and in general, are not up there with my favourite foods.  Unless it has horse in it.

Then, after a rather lengthy attempt to hire bikes from what we assumed would have been a simple bike-hire machine, we cycled the length of an underground passage a couple of times before heading back to Sonja's, where her brother Sven joined us for another traditional German meal - frozen pizza and beer. From there, we decided it was important that I was exposed to the seedy underbelly of Hamburg and we ventured out, slightly drunk, to the Reeperbahn, known in English as "the sinful mile."  Sven and I faced our fears and ventured down a street that only men are allowed to venture down, for obvious reasons. As windows opened and girls started gesturing towards us, I started to move faster and hustled out of there. There's nothing I fear more than being confronted by a half-naked woman with one thing on her mind (ps: I'm referring to money). We had a few more beers, but I couldn't keep up and fell asleep on the train going home.  Shame.

 I spent most of my time on day 2 alone wandering the city, which in my opinion is the best way to take in a new place.  I recognized a few landmarks I had noticed on the previous day's ferry ride and mapped out in my mind which direction I was going to head in, in order to be back in time to meet Sonja. First stop was a huge monument dedicated to Otto Von Bismark, some Prussian/German statesman or some junk.  I high-tailed it out of there and headed to the dilapidated ruins of the Church of St. Nikolai, the tallest building in the world from 1874 to 1876, which was mostly destroyed during WWII but today stands as a reminder of the destruction of Hamburg during the war.  There was a war museum underneath and some amazing statues in the courtyard, and you could pay 5 pounds to go up a glass elevator to the viewing platform overlooking the city (I did).

I snacked on German "tapas" for lunch (pictured right) which weren't particularly good, nor was the service - but given they had to communicate with me in English, I don't really blame them. I hate ordering in English in foreign countries, nothing makes me feel more ignorant.  But if I didn't order in English, I would have to resort to pointing and grunting, and I hope I'm well beyond my caveman days.  Either that, or don't eat.  And for me, that's simply NOT an option.

 I met my host at 5 pm and we spent about an hour of indecisive ambling looking for a German restaurant, ultimately ending up in some hilarious German-steak-house chain where I ordered the biggest steak I could eat, and got to watch the chefs drink beer while cooking my dinner.  Beyond that, there was nothing about this meal worth mentioning except all the waiters were 40+ and had to hustle their asses all night, as it was an incredibly busy restaurant.  I don't know how they do it, personally.

Later that night we went clubbing in the other clubbing district of Hamburg that isn't the Reeperbahn.  I can't remember what it was called.  All I remember is techno, lots and lots of techno.  And falling asleep on a couch in the back of the bar while my company danced the night away.  And then going home to bed.

So, Hamburg.  Beautiful city, and best of all - the weather was absolutely incredible the entire time I was there.  My next blog post will be about Berlin, which was my favourite city in Europe so far.  But before I get ahead of myself, the journey from Hamburg to Berlin is one that is worth mentioning.  In Germany there exists a method of transport called 'mitfahrgelegenheit' which is essentially hitch-hiking, organised through a website, and which you pay a pre-determined amount for and get delivered to somewhere in the vicinity of your destination.  I decided to do this solely based on its blogging potential, and it didn't create the furor I was expecting, but it was an interesting and new experience nonetheless.  I travelled with 2 German men and 2 German woman.  The men didn't say a word the entire 3.5 hour journey, and the women I could literally not shut up.  After an hour and a half of talking, I had to put my ipod on and turn away as my neck was ceasing up and I had run out of things to say (and patience).  But it was an experience, and that it is what I'm looking for in life at present.  And then I arrived in Berlin...
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