Hamburg Next

I waited with the Hamburg posts because I wanted to summarize some cool parts of Hamburg's (and Europe's) history that I learned by visiting.  Mainly, I wanted to talk about the Hanseatic league.  The easy answer for everyone is to check out the linked webpage here and here.

We woke up Sunday and went for a stroll after breakfast. We found a really cool park for kids that was completely built out of recycled things and natural sticks and such:

David in his natural habitat:

After the park I had a hankering for more boats. So we went to a big lake we saw on the map:

I then tried to negotiate a boat rental and was unsuccessful with the first rental vendor.  He was extremely concerned that I didn't have the correct licensing for the insurance company and wouldn't have it. He also was an instructor and was happy to have me join his class.

We eventually found a place but decided against the rental because there wasn't enough wind.  We instead sat at a coffee place and enjoyed the view:

 We also had the worlds most-expensive-per-fluid-ounce Cafe Latte.  It was so absurd that it was more funny than sad:



After coffee, we walked the city for hours.  We saw great views, listened to great street performers, and took some pictures:

The Rathaus:

This is my Mona Lisa:

I think it is really cool how Germany has these maps for blind or visually impaired people. They have Braille writing next to the important buildings:

We then asked for a "Mom" picture:

...Our guest photographer really struggled with the phone and was funny about it; David and I were entertained:

I didn't know anything about Hamburg but did not expect it to be as cool as it was. Every street had a great vibe and there was water everywhere.  It makes me want to visit Venice one day.

We ended up walking to more ships.

When we walked on to the dock, we noticed a handful of cameramen but didn't notice any action.  On our way out of the dock, we accidentally walked through the middle of a scene. There were pirates running up to the rats nest and the cameras were on the far side of the dock.  I guess the film crew didn't see us get past their first line of defense...

We then went the train station to catch our ride:

Our ride was actually a BMW through a ride sharing program. We rode with two men in their mid-fifties back to Cologne.  They were pretty friendly and told us about the "good old days" in Hamburg as well as other interesting facts about the city and Cologne.  I enjoyed the ride, and the fact that our driver went 190 kmph (115 mph) for a good chunk of the journey.