europe part II... GERMANY!

So after 2 nights in Stockholm, we headed to Hamburg, Germany. I was very excited to go to Germany as I'd never been there, but it was somewhat of a letdown. I learned later that a big part of that was that I was in Hamburg - not Frankfurt or Munich, which are the cities you want to see if you want to see Germany how you picture it in your mind. :) Hamburg did have some very interesting history, but the problem was, we were there on a Sunday, and it's not like the U.S. - EVERYTHING is closed on Sundays, with the exception of a few restaurants, and Starbucks of course. :)

We arrived in Hamburg very late Saturday night. We hadn't eaten dinner, so we asked the hotel to point us in the direction of a restaurant that might be open at 11:00 on a Saturday night (it's Germany right? Everyone should still be up drinking). They pointed us towards a street several blocks away and we headed that direction. As we are walking, Danny (my co-worker) says something about thinking we just passed a bar (of the same-sex variety). I didn't notice, and we kept walking. Then another, then another. And we realize, we are in the "rainbow" district -rainbow flags EVERYWHERE. On a Saturday night. Super. We did finally find an open restaurant, and the whole experience was good for a laugh later. :)

And the biggest waste of time in Hamburg? The fact that we stayed up until 3:00am (b/c Hamburg is 7 hours ahead) to watch my beloved OSU Cowboys get their hineys kicked by Houston. We expended way more energy that we should have to find someone in the states to loan us their slingbox and allow us to watch the game, only to have them lose. I was NOT pleased.

So the highlights - our hotel was awesome. Probably in the top 2 of nicest hotels I've ever stayed in. And of the 5 different hotels I stayed in on this trip, it was the second cheapest. Things in Hamburg were much cheaper than Stockholm! On the safety scale, it still felt safe, although not as much so as Stockholm. Hamburg is made up of numerous canals, and several lakes, so it was very pretty. There are some very neat churches to see, and we saw all of those (hey, churches are open on Sunday). :) One of which, St. Nikolai, has been turned into a memorial to all those that died in WWII, and the church itself essentially "died" then too as it was bombed to pieces. The only structures remaining were the large steeple and the crypt. The steeple is very black due to the bombing, and you can actually still go up the steeple and get a very cool view of Hamburg. There are numerous photos, and text to go with each, too bad it's all in German. I mean really - they have to know it's a tourist attraction? There was ONE plaque in English, and to summarize, it basically said that the Americans bombed all the ports and factories. The British bombed all the residential areas, and that was a huge violation of numerous treaties. But, oh, we (the Germans) probably deserved it since we did kill millions of people and bomb London for like 52 nights straight. It just almost seemed nonchalant to me, and therefore was very disturbing. (I'm sure it's all just lost in translation) It just really bothered me...

Ok, on a happier note. I did try authentic German fare - wiener-schnitzel (very good)! And here's the big shocker, I went down to the Reeperbaun (RB). This is Hamburg's red light district. But before everyone completely freaks out, let me explain a little... The RB is a very strange mixture of really nice restaurants, some fast food, lots of shopping, and oh, here's the XXX shop over here. Really disturbing - but a huge tourist attraction. We ate at a great chinese restaurant down there actually though! I was warned not to wear pink, and not attempt to walk down the actual street (which is barricaded off so you can't see - thankfully). Apparently pink is reserved for the prostitutes (good to know - maybe they should put that in the tourist guide), and women are not allowed down the actual "bad" street.


So here's my take on Hamburg. I'd go back - to see the things I didn't see this time. But I'd really like to visit Munich and Frankfurt. I found that the German people weren't as friendly as the Swedes, and not nearly as many spoke English. In Sweden, we didn't meet one person that didn't speak English. Seriously, not one. In Germany, we had to do a series of weird hand gestures and charades in some cases to get our point across. :) And I'm fine with that because I realize I'm in a foreign country, and I do NOT expect them to speak my language... Simply an observation... :)

This is St. Nikolai... (note the black color - a result of the soot, fire, ash, etc)

A view of one of the canals:

The square in front of the city hall.

The view from the top of St. Michael's Church. Another amazing church with tons of history in Hamburg.

The back side of Hamburg City Hall (which was gorgeous by the way):