Well… where to start. We are in Germany now and are presently riding the DB train to Freiburg. We arrived in Hamburg, which is on the opposite end of Germany. Hamburg is one of the most Northern cities in Germany while Freiburg is one of the most Southern. The train left Hamburg at 18:24 and will arrive in Freiburg just after midnight. It is presently 19:50 which means there is still plenty of train riding left for us.
The flight to Hamburg was one of the most bumpy that I have been on so far. On the landing the wings were moving back and forth. Not extremely but enough for me to pay close attention the ground. For those who travel with Airtransat I have a tip for you, “Book your seats ahead and take the first row that has two chairs by themselves.” Leona and I did that and we had more leg room than anyone else and did not have to worry about pumping elbows or people getting up to go to the washroom. It was well worth the 20 dollars.
We had hoped that when we arrived in Hamburg that we would be entering the next day remnants of a Euro Cup win by Germany, but sadly that was not the case. We did see a couple people at the airport who still had their game faces and attire on, but were not in the same mood they would have been if the game went our way. Well there is always 2010. For once our luggage came out right away, but I was stuck in the non-EU line, pretty much the last person to go through. Leona breezed through the EU line and was waiting patiently with our bags on the other side.
We made it downtown without any problems and found our hotel (Fuerst Bismark). The criterion was that it had to be close to the train station and it turned out to be directly across. It looked like it could be a block or two when we booked it, but were pleasantly surprised. We had to wait about 2hours before we could check in so we walked to a bakery down the street and had some coffee and croissants. It is hard to explain unless you have had it, but bread is different in German. It is firm on the outside, yet so soft on the inside. This bakery did not let us down. (BTW: my ears just popped, I think we are near the 300km mark). After we checked in we took a 3 hour nap. Most of the time it is not good to sleep after you travel but to fill out the day as if you had gotten up with the rest of the city, (especially myself as I could not sleep on the flight), but I think it worked out well for us this time as today we felt pretty much on schedule. We got up at 17:00 and went out to see the city. Hamburg is a port city so there is lots of water around. There are a couple advertisements which call it the Venice of Germany. (I will report on whether I think it lives up to that standard after going to Venice, whenever that is). The city was very nice we walked along the shopping strip and to a canal which flows down the centre of the city. We had supper at a nice little place and then walked back to the hotel. We went to bed early enough.
Today we got up at 9:30 and went to the same bakery as the day before for breakfast. And then check out. We brought our suitcases and put them in lockers so we did not have to haul them around the city. It was money well spent. Then we walked to the Habour front to see the boats. While we were there one humongous ship came in, being pulled by a small tug boat, which seemed tiny in comparison. We had lunch along the waterfront. Overall the day was quite warm, but at the waterfront the breeze was refreshing. We slowly made our way back to the city centre and then waited for our train to come in. The visit to Hamburg was nice and allowed me to see another German city. I will have to go to Berlin and then would have touched all four corners in Germany. Maybe sometime later this summer… Happy Canada Day (I know this is posted a day late, but I wrote it on Canada Day, my first out of the country).
The flight to Hamburg was one of the most bumpy that I have been on so far. On the landing the wings were moving back and forth. Not extremely but enough for me to pay close attention the ground. For those who travel with Airtransat I have a tip for you, “Book your seats ahead and take the first row that has two chairs by themselves.” Leona and I did that and we had more leg room than anyone else and did not have to worry about pumping elbows or people getting up to go to the washroom. It was well worth the 20 dollars.
We had hoped that when we arrived in Hamburg that we would be entering the next day remnants of a Euro Cup win by Germany, but sadly that was not the case. We did see a couple people at the airport who still had their game faces and attire on, but were not in the same mood they would have been if the game went our way. Well there is always 2010. For once our luggage came out right away, but I was stuck in the non-EU line, pretty much the last person to go through. Leona breezed through the EU line and was waiting patiently with our bags on the other side.
We made it downtown without any problems and found our hotel (Fuerst Bismark). The criterion was that it had to be close to the train station and it turned out to be directly across. It looked like it could be a block or two when we booked it, but were pleasantly surprised. We had to wait about 2hours before we could check in so we walked to a bakery down the street and had some coffee and croissants. It is hard to explain unless you have had it, but bread is different in German. It is firm on the outside, yet so soft on the inside. This bakery did not let us down. (BTW: my ears just popped, I think we are near the 300km mark). After we checked in we took a 3 hour nap. Most of the time it is not good to sleep after you travel but to fill out the day as if you had gotten up with the rest of the city, (especially myself as I could not sleep on the flight), but I think it worked out well for us this time as today we felt pretty much on schedule. We got up at 17:00 and went out to see the city. Hamburg is a port city so there is lots of water around. There are a couple advertisements which call it the Venice of Germany. (I will report on whether I think it lives up to that standard after going to Venice, whenever that is). The city was very nice we walked along the shopping strip and to a canal which flows down the centre of the city. We had supper at a nice little place and then walked back to the hotel. We went to bed early enough.Today we got up at 9:30 and went to the same bakery as the day before for breakfast. And then check out. We brought our suitcases and put them in lockers so we did not have to haul them around the city. It was money well spent. Then we walked to the Habour front to see the boats. While we were there one humongous ship came in, being pulled by a small tug boat, which seemed tiny in comparison. We had lunch along the waterfront. Overall the day was quite warm, but at the waterfront the breeze was refreshing. We slowly made our way back to the city centre and then waited for our train to come in. The visit to Hamburg was nice and allowed me to see another German city. I will have to go to Berlin and then would have touched all four corners in Germany. Maybe sometime later this summer… Happy Canada Day (I know this is posted a day late, but I wrote it on Canada Day, my first out of the country).
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