On to Hamburg!

I am going to sum up my two days in Hamburg into one post, mostly because it wasn't exciting at all. I happened to venture to Hamburg - one of the famous party cities of Europe - while it was freakishly cold and raining and I knew no one there, met no one at the hostels to go out with, etc.

I left From Copenhagen at 11:45am by train for a 5-hour ride to Hamburg. No problems getting there and getting on the train. I got up at 10am (about 5 hours of sleep, not bad), had my things pre-packed, said good-bye to Noelle and went to the station. I did realize at this point I didn't print off my train ticket. Searching the station I had no luck finding a printer. Luckily, there was a little internet cafe near the station and for about $2 I printed it off and checked my e-mail (double win!).

Finally getting on the train I luck out and get an empty seat next to me allowing me to sprawl out and fail at taking a nap. I just can't sleep in vehicles of any kind, but that is okay.

After about 2 hours our train stops. I am pretty confused, have no clue where we are in Denmark or how we are getting to Germany. They tell us the train stops here, we have to switch to a ferry for 45 minutes and then hop on another train. This was actually pretty cool. Ferries are decked out with shops, comfy seats and restaurants. It was a great break from the norm. I assume we are crossing from the main Copenhagen island to Jutland (the mainland Denmark). Nope, we are going straight to Germany I guess, because when I get there everything is definitely in German.

Sounds good to me! We hop on another train and 2 hours later we are rolling into Hamburg. I get there around 5pm, get a map, ask for directions to my hostel and figure out the public transportation system, pretty much the norm. I get to my hostel and on my walk there it just starts raining. It is already abnormally cold for Hamburg today, so the rain just adds a little gloom to it all.

Now let me interrupt my self and say that rain in Europe is completely different than rain in Kansas. It doesn't pour at all. It is weird. It has the rate of a heavy rain, but the drops are so small, its almost mist like. Its actually just kind of annoying. It is like the rain is mocking you. You can still go out and do stuff, but it feels like it is mocking you the whole time by just making it less enjoyable.

I go to my hostel, which is half hostel and half hotel. It is extremely nice. I am in a 8 person room with private bath. Built in curtains for each bed, very comfy bed, etc. It was a nice place. Problem is, looks like it is a popular hostel for younger people (18/19). Seemed to be a lot of huge groups there for some sort of tour. I ended up catching up on a lot of e-mail, reading and sleep instead of doing anything too exciting.

Now I only booked one night, so I have to find another hostel for night 2. I find one not too far from my current one. As I am walking there (in the rain, in my poncho looking like the hunchback of Notre Dame with my backpacks), I notice there are a lot of strip clubs, sex shops and casino's close to my place. Yep, did it again. Booked a hostel right off a cities Red Light district. Welp, it will make walking around at night interesting to say the least.

I get to my hostel and check-in. There looks to be a camera crew across the street at a hair saloon. I guess they are filming an episode of a really popular German show there. Made for good entertainment. I sit for a bit watching the filming with the staff for awhile.

I finally go to my room, as I get ready to head up, the desk attendant changes her mind. I booked a bed in a 6-person room (cheapest they had). I was going to be in there with 5 friends from Australia. She says - "Nah, take this room, it is a 4-person and you can have it to your self." I guess she had a lot of open rooms that night and when she has open rooms she divides people up if they want. Awesome. Already I know this place is getting a great review. I settle in and prepare to take off into the city.

For the first time in a city I decide to do take a tour bus. Normally I like walking around the city and seeing the sites, but its raining, so the bus seems like the better option. The tour turned out to be mostly in German because only 3 English speakers were on the tour. Oh well, I still get to see the sites right?

About half way through I notice an Apple store. Perfect! I am relying entirely on my iPad when I travel and my adapter has died on me. Charges for maybe 5 minutes and stops. I tested with other adapters and they worked fine. I go into Apple, explain the problem and they offer to replace it for free after I explain I am traveling and won't be anywhere for them to mail the replacement too. I have to go get the broken one, schedule a meeting with a Genius and wait about an hour, but totally worth it for the new adapter. This is one of the reasons I like paying a premium for Apple products. I can go to another continent and get a faulty piece replaced for free without any hassle.

I get back on another tour bus and finish the tour. I decide to walk around a nifty area I found and I stumble upon this gem. There was a post-it war in this square and someone upped the ante to recreating the Sistine Chapel God and Man part. That is entirely in post-it notes. Insane. The best part is, I saw this picture on a social news site called Reddit.com a month or two ago, where someone talked about a post-it war getting out of hand in his building. He didn't say where it was. I love how life works sometimes.

The rest of my day and night are pretty calm. I go down to the "multicultural" district to get some food and a beer. I really want a hamburger. I discovered that we call them hamburgers because they were invented in Hamburg. I found this out while telling a joke recently about how silly it is we call it a hamburger, it isn't even ham, it should be called a beefburger. My friend goes "yea....it is because they were invented in Hamburg...." Welp, way to kill my dreams friend, but thank you for the educational lesson.

The multicultural district was the wrong place to go for a burger. I can get food from anywhere else in the world though! Finally, I find a place with a burger. I order one (it as alright), get a Hamburg beer and entire a quite meal to my self while contemplating life. At this point in my trip I am really hitting hard some important questions. What do I want to do with my life? What do I want to do when my visa expires? Etc.

I go back to my hostel still thinking. When I get close I see some mildly attractive women on the street and I think "Bet they are hookers." Almost immediately they start yelling German at me. "yep, hookers." I yell back I don't speak German, in German (I know a few phrases). They keep yelling and I just chuckle and walk off. After a rather boring day I hit the hay for a good nights sleep to catch my 10am train to Breda, Netherlands where I am meeting up with my friend Silvia. She was a German exchange student at NorthWest I got to know and stayed in contact with. Should be fun!