This morning Malia, Trevor, & I took the ICE train to Hamburg. It was a pretty nice ride. The ICE trains are very, very nice, but you pay for it too. Once we were on the train, I fell asleep and didn’t even wake up when they punched my ticket if that says anything. The ride was really smooth. When we got to Hamburg, it was raining a bit, but cleared off shortly. And boy was it FREEZING! It felt like the North Pole. I was regretting not bringing my winter coat. Thus far, I have been in denile and refused to bring out my winter coat.
We walked towards the harbor. I believe their harbor is something like the second biggest in the Europe or something. And big was it! Man, it went on for days. We decided to take a boat tour. For some reason we decided to get a 2 hour architecture tour. Only after we bought the tickets did we actually realize that the tour would be in German, of course. We had perfect timing because it started raining once we were on the boat. It didn't rain for long though. The tour was nice, but I had no idea what they were saying. My German isn't THAT bad; not great, but I can at least usually understand something. But in Hamburg they had a totally different accent. It was impossible to understand anything. I heard something about no swimming in the tour guide's first sentence, but after that we all zoned out and just watched the scenery. Boy was that tour guide talented. She drove the boat and gave the tour. She was pretty hard core. We saw some cool sights on the tour, none of which I know their names.
We did see a gigantic ship that was being built on a barge out in the middle of the harbor. Some billionaire was having it built, but he wanted it built in secrecy. So they have a giant curtain around the whole thing. The outside of the ship looked finished. They said there is a swimming pool and everything you can imagine on the ship. I believe something like 100 rooms on the ship. Crazy!! You'll have to see the pictures of the ship, once I post them.
While back in that part of the harbor we saw this ENORMOUS ship! I can't even describe how large it was. I couldn't get the whole thing in a picture. It made the Titanic look like a tugboat. It's a ship built in 2009 in Italy. It was built to connect West Africa and Northern Europe. It weigh something like 25,000 tons empty. It can hold 3,890 cars and 1360 shipping containers. It's 210 meters long, 32m wide, and 21.5m deep. As you can tell I was fascinated by this GIGANTIC ship!
Since it gets dark so early (at like 4:30PM), we decided to stay at the harbor and watch the sun set. First we had to get some french fries to eat while we waited. I was more than ecstatic because they had BBQ for my french fries. I have become one of those weird people who eats mayonnaise on their french fries. It sounds gross, but it really isn't. I promise. Anyway, back to the sunset: It was quite pretty! Afterward, we went to the "popular" area of Hamburg, which just happens to be home to an area comparable to Amsterdam's red light district. It was filled with sex shops, strip clubs, and hookers. Only they aren't in windows; you actually have to walk up to them. We checked out a couple of the sex shops. The salesmen were very nice, but not creepy like you would expect. If you are grossed out easily, don't read the next part. One of the salesmen took particular interest in us, and felt the need to explain products to us. For instance, these interesting tampons. He explained, "They are for the hookers across the streets, so that they can work throughout the entire month if you know what I mean."
We found Beatlesplatz. I'm not sure why, but they had this whole street dedicated to them. I'm not a Beatles buff, so I don't know why. Maybe they played there and it was huge or something...no clue. They had this cool metal cutouts of them too.
Before we left we had a nice dinner. I had schnitzel. It never disappoints; always amazing! I'm going to miss it! The train ride back was really nice. We sat in the diner car the whole way back. I had a chocolate attack, or so it should be called. It was a cup of hot chocolate with this massive piece of chocolate cake with chocolate icing. It was actually pretty good, despite my lack of lust for chocolate cake. Oh and a plus of sitting in the dining car, you don't have to worry about seating assignments. Hmm, a note for future reference ;)
I didn't do much the rest on Sunday. I just walked to the arts and crafts market, the one where I bought that ridiculous hat earlier this semester. I ended up leaving there with 4 scarfs believe it or not. Ridiculous, I have no self control. But....on the bright side they were only 10 Euros each. Which is exactly how I talked myself into them haha. I was a little saddened to see that the Kudamm, the big tourist street in my area, was already decorated for Christmas. (At this point it was still the first week in November.)
While back in that part of the harbor we saw this ENORMOUS ship! I can't even describe how large it was. I couldn't get the whole thing in a picture. It made the Titanic look like a tugboat. It's a ship built in 2009 in Italy. It was built to connect West Africa and Northern Europe. It weigh something like 25,000 tons empty. It can hold 3,890 cars and 1360 shipping containers. It's 210 meters long, 32m wide, and 21.5m deep. As you can tell I was fascinated by this GIGANTIC ship!
Since it gets dark so early (at like 4:30PM), we decided to stay at the harbor and watch the sun set. First we had to get some french fries to eat while we waited. I was more than ecstatic because they had BBQ for my french fries. I have become one of those weird people who eats mayonnaise on their french fries. It sounds gross, but it really isn't. I promise. Anyway, back to the sunset: It was quite pretty! Afterward, we went to the "popular" area of Hamburg, which just happens to be home to an area comparable to Amsterdam's red light district. It was filled with sex shops, strip clubs, and hookers. Only they aren't in windows; you actually have to walk up to them. We checked out a couple of the sex shops. The salesmen were very nice, but not creepy like you would expect. If you are grossed out easily, don't read the next part. One of the salesmen took particular interest in us, and felt the need to explain products to us. For instance, these interesting tampons. He explained, "They are for the hookers across the streets, so that they can work throughout the entire month if you know what I mean."
We found Beatlesplatz. I'm not sure why, but they had this whole street dedicated to them. I'm not a Beatles buff, so I don't know why. Maybe they played there and it was huge or something...no clue. They had this cool metal cutouts of them too.
Before we left we had a nice dinner. I had schnitzel. It never disappoints; always amazing! I'm going to miss it! The train ride back was really nice. We sat in the diner car the whole way back. I had a chocolate attack, or so it should be called. It was a cup of hot chocolate with this massive piece of chocolate cake with chocolate icing. It was actually pretty good, despite my lack of lust for chocolate cake. Oh and a plus of sitting in the dining car, you don't have to worry about seating assignments. Hmm, a note for future reference ;)
I didn't do much the rest on Sunday. I just walked to the arts and crafts market, the one where I bought that ridiculous hat earlier this semester. I ended up leaving there with 4 scarfs believe it or not. Ridiculous, I have no self control. But....on the bright side they were only 10 Euros each. Which is exactly how I talked myself into them haha. I was a little saddened to see that the Kudamm, the big tourist street in my area, was already decorated for Christmas. (At this point it was still the first week in November.)
No comments:
Post a Comment