Hamburg, Pt. 2

Monday

Welcome to Hamburg, home of Europe’s sharpest corner!

This should be Hamburg’s new phrase. We actually caught the walking tour this day, although it was lucky. We arrived on time, but turns out there are several Starbucks around the city hall, so we were waiting outside the wrong one. We then tried to find the information center to just get a map or brochure and find another, non-free tour, but turns out they’re closed on Sundays and holidays. Well, that’s smart. So we came back out to the city hall, and Megan spotted a big group of people. We snuck up to them, discovered that the guide was speaking English, got closer, and realized it was the tour we were trying to catch! So we got to go on it after all. It was an amazing tour – the company does tours in several places over Europe (and in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv), it’s called Sandemann’s tours…the tours are all tip-based, and I have now decided that it would be amazing to do that for a summer, either in Edinburgh or Paris (our guide was Dutch, so I now know you don’t have to be a local).

The Hamburg tour was about three hours, and it was really interesting. I love learning the random, tiny facts about places, like the fact that one of the counting houses has the sharpest corner in Europe. Nice claim to fame.











Europe's sharpest corner!

Hamburg had a bunch of random statue/figures everywhere...





Right before it started storming








Two-thirds of the way through, it started thunderstorming. I was actually having a blast, because I’ve really missed thunderstorms, and everywhere I live seems to have them only as soon as I leave. The guide even ended up giving us his umbrella for some reason. He himself didn’t have an umbrella, and though he HAD a jacket with a hood, he wasn’t wearing it. Megan and I both had hoods, but he still told us to take it. That was nice of him! At the end he even put on a pseudo-play with people from the tour acting out the story of this German Robin Hood/pirate (who, by the way, is so cool…I don’t actually remember his name, but he was a pirate who stole from the rich and gave to the poor and shared out all the treasure equally with all his men and himself…though he prevented Princess Margarethe of Denmark from conquering Sweden/becoming Queen of Denmark – her ambition, since they wouldn’t let her rule, being female and all…).

Soaked

The tour guide's favorite view of Hamburg



Future opera house of Hamburg, supposedly going to be its defining feature - "It's the Sydney Opera House of Hamburg!" Weird...

Performing a play about a pirate

Outdoor escalator!!!

We came home completely soaked, but it was so worth it. Though I suppose it was a little backwards that in my last day in Hamburg, we finally took a tour of the city. Ah well, I think it worked out great with the weather the way we did it!

Tuesday

Sitting in the train back from Hamburg, there is a Danish family sitting behind me. It’s comforting to hear the language. I can’t understand much, but it’s MY language I can’t understand, not another unintelligible language. I’ve heard it so much that I can pretend I know what’s going on. In Germany, not knowing the language was okay – I was with Megan, and I know they almost all speak English – but it was still weird, and definitely different from not knowing Danish.

This German train is extremely nice! Very open-feeling and with a lot of wood in the hallways…Also, it’s high tech. I am always amazed at how the ticket checkers can remember who they’ve checked already, as they always check my ticket and then walk back and forth several times in the journey but never ask me again. However, here, at the seat numbers, the screen that says whether the seat is reserved or empty or whatever completely turns black after they’ve checked! It’s so fancy! Originally, my seat said “Hamburg to Fredericia” and now it says nothing, so that’s how they know who they’ve checked! So cool! I’m easily impressed, but I love it…

Wooo, I’m in Denmark! No ferry this time, but this train is nicer so I like staying in it. And no passport checks. Phew. I still can’t believe it completely slipped my mind…that could have been disastrous. But it wasn’t and I’m back (or at least in the correct country…), and the sun is shining.

I had a transfer time in Fredericia of 6 minutes…and my train? Delayed 5 minutes. So a whole bunch of us ran out of the train and all the way to the opposite side of the station, but no luck. Our train had already gone. Luckily they let me on the next train with the same ticket without a fuss. One guy people were asking “What do we do?” was giving people a hard time, but the lady on the train didn’t even ask me anything. And I get free internet on the train!