It was great to be in Germany again. I think it's been about seven years since I was there learning protein chemistry for my PhD. It actually feels like longer - I don't remember much detail of living there really. Our week in Hamburg reminded me of a few things though, like the great pastries, cakes, gelato and hot chocolate. And the shops that I used to love - I managed to get some nice stuff off the sale racks. We had a great Airbnb, a really big apartment, it was pretty much a house, all to ourselves. No WiFi and not well lit but it had a great shower.
We did not have a full itinerary in Hamburg, as we packed so much into our week in Copenhagen that we needed to take it easier. We both got lots of sleep, I think it took a whole week to really get used to the time zone and then in Germany we caught up on missed sleep. My brother came to Germany for the weekend so we did some tourist stuff together. We climbed a church tower, we went to the huge miniature railway, and we went to a flea market and the famous fish market. The weather turned bad so the church tower view was just average. The miniature railway was cool but we got tired before the end of it. And flea market was really good, I got an old brooch and an antique Christmas decoration and Nathan got a great deal on an almost new watch, of a make that he specifically was looking for. The fish market didn't have as much fish as we expected. It had a lot of everything else, including live bands (at 7am). Hamburg has the most markets of any German city. There was even a fabric market, right beside our apartment in Sunday! So many more options than NZ stores, all right next to each other!
We also went to the maritime museum so that's one in each city so far. It was really good though lots of stuff about the ocean and science as well as ships and navy stuff. The only thing was that there wasn't enough translation - the main story was translated but all the labels and small things were only in German.
So Daniel's visit was good, and then the he left and we went on a day trip to Bremen (where I was during my PhD) and the weather got worse. I was not wrapped up warm, the forecast indicated a decent with day. It did not say anything about thunderstorms. We arrived to a cold but sunny day and took a nice photo of the windmill, and looked in some shops. Then the showers started, which was OK because we were looking in cute little shops and buying souvenirs and stopping for coffee. Then we went to explore the old town, which is a small area of tiny alleys that are the oldest streets in the city, full of little shops and cafes. The rain really started and then it began to thunder. We hid in an antique store and browsed until the thunder and lightning stopped. It cleared up after that and we went for a walk along the river to find the pancake ship, which is an old tall ship that is now a restaurant dedicated to pancakes. We had a rather late lunch and then tried to get back to the train station but got a bit lost, which was unfortunate because the rain started again and if we hadn't got turned around we might have avoided it.
On our last day in Germany we went to a free concert in one of their beautiful concert halls. It was a big old building with really lavish decor, high ceilings, red carpets, gilded everything. It was a half hour concert from a string quartet in the restaurant area. After that we had some last shops to visit and last ice creams to eat. Then in the evening the hard job of packing. We have probably almost doubled our luggage in the last 2 weeks, just from buying a little bit here and there must days. Luckily we could have 12kg carry on each from Germany to Netherlands otherwise we'd have been screwed. We have 2 changed pieces of luggage each on the way home so no worries there.
Finally we decided to go out and see just a little more of Hamburg. We went for a walk around Speicherstadt, the warehouse district, and saw all the lights on the boats. Then we went to the Elbphilharmonie, which is a big architectural masterpiece of a concert hall. We went up to the plaza to walk around and see the view.
Anyway, travel was fine after finally getting through Hamburg airport, and we arrived to warm weather in Amsterdam. It's pretty here. Now I have to make plans for the next few days. Here are a couple of my favourite photos from our wedding photographer and some pics from Hamburg.
We did not have a full itinerary in Hamburg, as we packed so much into our week in Copenhagen that we needed to take it easier. We both got lots of sleep, I think it took a whole week to really get used to the time zone and then in Germany we caught up on missed sleep. My brother came to Germany for the weekend so we did some tourist stuff together. We climbed a church tower, we went to the huge miniature railway, and we went to a flea market and the famous fish market. The weather turned bad so the church tower view was just average. The miniature railway was cool but we got tired before the end of it. And flea market was really good, I got an old brooch and an antique Christmas decoration and Nathan got a great deal on an almost new watch, of a make that he specifically was looking for. The fish market didn't have as much fish as we expected. It had a lot of everything else, including live bands (at 7am). Hamburg has the most markets of any German city. There was even a fabric market, right beside our apartment in Sunday! So many more options than NZ stores, all right next to each other!
We also went to the maritime museum so that's one in each city so far. It was really good though lots of stuff about the ocean and science as well as ships and navy stuff. The only thing was that there wasn't enough translation - the main story was translated but all the labels and small things were only in German.
So Daniel's visit was good, and then the he left and we went on a day trip to Bremen (where I was during my PhD) and the weather got worse. I was not wrapped up warm, the forecast indicated a decent with day. It did not say anything about thunderstorms. We arrived to a cold but sunny day and took a nice photo of the windmill, and looked in some shops. Then the showers started, which was OK because we were looking in cute little shops and buying souvenirs and stopping for coffee. Then we went to explore the old town, which is a small area of tiny alleys that are the oldest streets in the city, full of little shops and cafes. The rain really started and then it began to thunder. We hid in an antique store and browsed until the thunder and lightning stopped. It cleared up after that and we went for a walk along the river to find the pancake ship, which is an old tall ship that is now a restaurant dedicated to pancakes. We had a rather late lunch and then tried to get back to the train station but got a bit lost, which was unfortunate because the rain started again and if we hadn't got turned around we might have avoided it.
On our last day in Germany we went to a free concert in one of their beautiful concert halls. It was a big old building with really lavish decor, high ceilings, red carpets, gilded everything. It was a half hour concert from a string quartet in the restaurant area. After that we had some last shops to visit and last ice creams to eat. Then in the evening the hard job of packing. We have probably almost doubled our luggage in the last 2 weeks, just from buying a little bit here and there must days. Luckily we could have 12kg carry on each from Germany to Netherlands otherwise we'd have been screwed. We have 2 changed pieces of luggage each on the way home so no worries there.
Finally we decided to go out and see just a little more of Hamburg. We went for a walk around Speicherstadt, the warehouse district, and saw all the lights on the boats. Then we went to the Elbphilharmonie, which is a big architectural masterpiece of a concert hall. We went up to the plaza to walk around and see the view.
Anyway, travel was fine after finally getting through Hamburg airport, and we arrived to warm weather in Amsterdam. It's pretty here. Now I have to make plans for the next few days. Here are a couple of my favourite photos from our wedding photographer and some pics from Hamburg.
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