Hello everybody! I hope you had a great week this last week, cause I know I did. The week had a start that was filled with homework, packing, and last minute planning. We had to use our time to prepare for our first long travel break which we began on Wednesday, so I'll just jump to that.
On Wednesday, after German class, we entered the Haupt Bahnhof to catch our train that was headed for Hamburg, Germany. It was everything a train ride should be. Easy, quick, relaxing, and beautiful. We arrived just before the sun went down, and made it to our hostel while there was still light outside. Once we were settled in, we met up with one of our German mentors, as she lives in Hamburg and was on semester break. She took us to a pig themed restaurant on the other side of town (so exciting), and while we were out walking about the Altona region with her, it began to snow heavily (even for German standards). We returned a few hours later, shook off the snow on our jackets, and went to sleep.
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| Red train in German countryside |
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| Hamburg harbor at night |
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| Hamburg Rathaus in night |
The next morning, we woke up ready to explore the town on our own. We stopped at a fancy cafe for breakfast, that had a killer strawberry jam. After, we visited the art museum that had a majority under construction. The art we saw was gorgeous, but because so much of the museum was closed, a bit limited. We left then for the Warehouse district of Hamburg, which is an old and small peninsula in the harbor that has rows upon rows of red brick buildings that used to be designated (and some still are) for imported goods. Within this strip, we found the Miniatur Wunderland. The Miniatur Wunderland is a multi-story building that is comprised of hundreds upon hundreds of professional dioramas of real world places. While I was expecting to have a good time, I was certainly not expecting to be blown away by it. The sheer amount of man-hours required to make a place like that was stunning. Finally on Thursday, we saw the German version of
Love Never Dies. Hamburg is Germany's "musical city", which we could see from the large amount of advertising for musicals throughout the city.
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| From Hamburg art museum |
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| Warehouse district |
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| Bridge in Warehouse district |
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| Soccer stadium in Minatur Wunderland |
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| Tiny festival |
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| Miniature Castle |
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| Real life giant building a town |
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| Las Vegas at night |
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| Outside our German operahouse |
On Friday we met back up with our German friend, Jojo, and we walked to the Harbor with her. The harbor in Hamburg was the location I was looking forward to most, mostly because I wanted to ride the ferry. And ride a ferry we did. It was a short trip, but being on a boat was simply fantastic. We visited St. Michael's church, and ended the long day of walking the harbor by eating at a fantastic burger restaurant,
Hans im Gluck.
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| Harbor on a normal day (too dreary and misty to see anything) |
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| FERRY RIDE! |
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| A good ol' boat |
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| Hamburg Philharmonic |
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| Random submarine |
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| Urban music art |
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| Grand Organ in Michael church |
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| View from the top of Michael church |
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| Sweet, sweet burgers |
Our final day in Hamburg was quite the exciting one. We went to the a local waffle house called
Happy Waffel, and had delicious waffle sandwiches. We then walked through the Botanical park in Hamburg, and though everything was dead because of winter, we were able to have fun by using the outdoor ice skating rink. Soon after, we packed up our bags and left for the train station. Our train came right on time, and left right on time. It seemed like everything was going to go smoothly until we stopped about 30 minutes into our journey. It seemed like an odd place to stop, and when I asked an employee why we were stopped on a bridge in the middle of nowhere, he told me that the train was defective. Announcement after announcement came over the loudspeaker, though we understood none of it, as they were all in German. The entire train had to debark in a small train station in the dark, rainy, middle of nowhere, and stand around waiting for another train. 40 minutes later, our second train showed up that was stuffed to the brim with people. We sat in the luggage area in the very back of the train for two hours to get to Berlin, where we had to get back off to get on a connection train to make it to Leipzig. End of story, 110 minutes later than expected, we arrived in Leipzig tired but unharmed.
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| Happy Waffle from Happy Waffel! |
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| Blurry ice skating picture |
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| Blurry ice skating picture where someone fell down |
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| Waiting for a non-broken train |
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| Us in the Luggage section |
Before I end this post, I want to have a small disclaimer. I am enjoying my time in Germany, truly, fully, and intensely. This is a time of my life I will never forget. However, all of Germany's big churches and tasty foods are nothing compared to the people that we left behind in America. My family, friends, church family, teachers, the list goes on. You all (all 3.5 of you reading) are in my thoughts all the time, and to be honest, I miss you all. I will still continue to have fun and explore, but just remember that I am thinking of you, and am excited to share so many stories I couldn't include with you when I return in the Summer.
Keep it fresh.
-TK
