Dag 6 -- Hamburg

Ambicious day! We decided to go to Hamburg, Germany today. It is 3 and half hours drive away, and supposedly the most visited German city. Since it is the closest foreign big city, and Fabian hadn't been there either, it seemed like a good idea.

Driving over the border on the freeway was again no big deal. No passports necessary. Don't even have to stop the car actually. We drove on the famous Autobahn. There was apparently no speed limit on parts of it! There are all kinds of weird signs in Europe. Speed limits are on circular signs (most of the times) with the kilometer in the center and a circle of red on the edge. But sometimes, when the speed limit is going up, instead of having a sign with a larger number on it, there's a rectangular sign with the same number, but three diagnal lines across it, signifying that the speed limit is going up now. Apparently this is true all across Europe.

The road signs directing us to Hamburg was also not clear. At some point, the signs no longer say Hamburg, but rather HH. We weren't sure if HH was indeed Hamburg. So we skeptically drove around looking for telltale signs that we are in the right city. Nothing on the train depot. Nothing on the bus depot. Nothing on the bank. Nothing anywhere, until Fabian spotted a bus with the large "Hamburg City Tour" on its side. We breathed a sigh of relief!

The train station was packed! And apparently paying for public bathrooms applies here as well. Though there is again a public urinal (YUCK, double yuck!) where men can just stand in the semi-enclosed stall in broad daylight, and relieve themselves. yeah, ok....

There were Chinese takeout stands, where people buy noodles or rice, and just stand on the side of the street and eat out of the takeout box. Very strange sight for me. We bought a box of fried chicken strips and ate them along our way to finding downtown Hamburg.

It took us a while. We first headed to an entirely wrong direction, that landed us in what must be the shady side of town. There were scores of sex shops and run down motels along trashy streets. Turning back, we spotted the river along a far street, with small row boats and sailboats lined up along its banks. It was very pretty and peaceful.

After a few more wrong turns, we finally found downtown Hamburg. It was, surprisingly, a lot like a big American city, with wide streets and shops. The difference being that there are old churches all around, and people smoking everywhere. The smoking was really getting to me! I hated that about Hamburg.

The old churches, including one that was burnt in WWII', were spetacular. Again, we took lots of pictures, looking every bit the tourists that we were. :D We had a wonderful time taking pictures and discovering new things. I tried a couple of yummy pastries that I had never seen before, and got ripped off with a "bubble tea." I was so excited to see a sign advertising "bubble tea" at a coffee shop that I was determined to get one without knowing how much it would cost. Well, 2.95 euro (roughly $4.5) later, I got myself a small glass of milk tea with undercooked tapioca (bubbles). For those of you who don't know this, bubble tea is a Chinese thing. They put black tapioca pearls in various beverages, including milk tea, hence the name bubble tea. This, was NOT the right thing. blech!Seeing that we were in Germany, I decided that we should have German food for dinner. I asked a shopkeeper that spoke very little English who insisted that since I'm Asian, I must want Thai food. Anyway... We left him in search of a German restaurant. We found one. In fact, we found 3, but I picked the one with an old decor, and dark interior. If it looks old, it must be good, right??? WRONG! The sausage appertizer Fabian ordered both looked and tasted like overgrown hotdogs. My Goulash and noodles were tender, but funky tasting. I've had really good Goulash before in the States. So maybe these are more authentic. If they are, I like the fake stuff better. :D

Anyway... it was getting late, and the long drive home got us back at almost midnight. Bed sounded soooo good at this point. Lights out.

oh, speaking of lights, the sky was still bright at 10 p.m. In fact, at 10:30, there was still a gorgeous red and orange along the horizon. At 11, it was finally getting dark, and the red diminishing. Long days.