Hamburg & Bremen (January 24-26)

I really enjoyed both Hamburg and Bremen but the main thing I have to say about the trip was that it was the coldest 3 days of my life. Unfortunately, most of the things to do in Hamburg and Bremen are outside and the temperature was -10 degrees Celsius, -20 degrees Celsius with the windchill. For all of you Americans, that is about -4 degrees Fahrenheit! I never wrote about this, but I forgot my winter jacket at home (in Wichita) so I had to buy a jacket at the PGA store in the DFW airport. This was the only jacket that I brought with me to Hamburg, so I had to buy a new one right when I got there. If this gives you any indication as to how cold it was, I wore two long sleeve shirts, two coats, two pairs of pants, two pairs of socks, gloves, a hat, and a scarf and was STILL freezing cold. I also got to experience my first European hostel on this trip. Our roommates didn't talk to us, which was fine since we probably spent less than three hours there. I also experienced my first of many overnight trains on this trip. Overnight trains are often taken for trips that are about six hours long and save having to pay for a night's accommodation. They are great except that you arrive at your destination between 6 and 7 AM. I am becoming an expert at finding things to do before most places open at 10 AM. I went on this trip with two of my friends, Cynthia (from USC) and Emily (from WashU). Though most of what I remeber about the trip was that it was so cold, I will try to give an overview of my trips. I'm going to try making lists to change things up.

Hamburg:

1. 7:15 AM: arrived in Hamburg/killed time

2. 10 AM: Viewed The Rathaus (town hall)

 The Rathaus (with new jacket)

Largest Apple store in Germany 

3.  11 AM: Free Walking Tour - Walking tours are offered in most big European cities and they are great for travelers on a budget because they are free (minus a tip). The one in Hamburg usually lasts about four hours but our guide cut it down to two because it was so cold. Here are some highlights:

A Cathedral with a jazz band of elderly people

This is actually the one of the coolest things I've seen thus far. This cathedral was bombed (like most of Hamburg) in WWII and left as-is as an anti-war memorial. The bells are in a minor key to indicate sadness or "melancholy".

 Hamburg has over 2000 bridges which is more than Amsterdam and Venice combined!

 The starting point of the Fire of 1842 which burned down most of the city

The building in the far right is the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie which will be completed around 2017 and costs 600 million euros to build 

4. 2 PM: Lunch on the port -Lunch was mostly just to get out of the cold, but we ate at a traditional German meal.

5.  4 PM: Ferry Ride - Hamburg is one of the most important ports in Germany, so we took a ferry ride to see all of the infrastructure. As a Supply Chain Management Major, this was pretty interesting to see.

6. 6PM: Miniatur Wunderland - This was an AWESOME museum that had miniature models of lots of cities around the world. It was kind of hard to capture in a picture, but it was way cooler than I expected and a must-see if you're ever in Hamburg.

mini airport

 This is a miniature of the exact ferry that we took earlier in the day!

7.  9PM: Checking in to the hostel/Chinese dinner/nap

8. 12:30 AM: Reeperbahn - The Reeperbahn is like the "Vegas" of Germany and prime time to go is 3-4 AM but we went a little early. They have a Beatles tribute there which is actually not very impressive.  The crowd was a little seedy, so after walking around for a little bit, we decided to people watch at one of the classier bars on the street. 

 The Beatles Tribute (they started in Hamburg)

9: 6:45 AM: The fish market - We got home from the Reeperbahn around 3 AM and had to be up to be at the fish market at 7 AM because our train was at nine. The fish market is another Hamburg must-see. It is open on Sunday mornings and in the summer around 300,000 people are there every Sunday (I think). They had delicious fish and a live band! 

Bremen:

Bremen was very different than Hamburg. They had an awesome Rathaus which is a UNESCO Heritage site. Everything in Bremen is centered around the story of the Musicians of Bremen, which I still need to look up, but there are statues of a horse with a dog, cat and rooster on its back all over the city. Bremen was not quite as cold as Hamburg, which was nice. Beck's beer is brewed in Bremen, so we ate a the restaurant featured by the brewery. We also went to the Schnoor which is the oldest part of Bremen and has lots of little boutiques. Here are some pictures from the day:

 Making a wish on the statue!

 Schnoor

 The most important Ronan statue in Europe

The Running Dinner:

Before Hamburg in Bremen, WHU sponsored a running dinner (also called progressive dinner) where we got in groups of five and had a different course of a meal with a group of different German students. This was a very bizarre experience but featured great memories, food and meeting lots of new Germans! Here are some pictures: 

Also, that weeks Tauschie Tuesday featured food from Japan, including plum wine and SUSHI! So delicious!