Hamburgers in Hamburg?

Planning for the third weekend proved to be quite difficult because Norddeich Mole is in the middle of nowhere and all of the train rides would be around 15 hours or so.  Our original plan was to go to Belgium, but the 15 hour train was not appealing so we instead did a little bit of research.  Hamburg had a great connection and after reading about its largeness and beautiful architecture, it called our name.  I was also attracted to it because of the Beatles history associated with the city.  Sarah, Mikaela, Mario, Caleb, and I went, so this weekend was also the first weekend the group split up.  It was sad saying goodbye to everyone.

The first night we didn’t do much because we arrived so late to the hostel, but it was the opening ceremony of the Olympics so we all gathered in the hostel lounge to watch.  It was fun to hear people cheer for their countries as they walked out, and of course we cheered for America!

Beatles-platz!

The weather Saturday morning was typical Hamburg weather, wet and foggy.  We did get out though and began to explore things like the Rathaus and canals.  We walked around looking at all of the beautiful buildings.  It reminded me a lot of Vienna and what I think Venice would look like.  It was beautiful.  I was also excited to see Beatles-platz so we headed over to the Reeperbahn and I took a picture with the statue in the square.  The Reeperbahn wasn’t our cup of tea so we made our way down to the harbor, which was huge.  After walking around the harbor, we walked up through this park and the weather began to get better.  It was such a lovely walk even though we were pretty exhausted from the walking and the flowers were gorgeous.  The boys got a picture with a huge statue of Bismarck and the girls got our picture in a beautiful rose garden.  Everyone was happy.  We were even able to head back over to the Rathaus and the lake near it and take lovely pictures with the sun out.  I fell in love with Hamburg.

The group by the harbor

The Rose Garden in Planten un Blumen

Sunday was interesting.  We woke up not really knowing what to do, and it was raining outside so we just wanted to sleep for a few more hours.  But because of the early check out we were kicked out of our room and ate breakfast.  We decided to hang out at a coffee shop until the rain subsided so we could explore another part of the city.  Once it had cleared, we made our way out.  We decided to head to St. Michaelis Church and climb to the top of the tower.  Unfortunately we ended up getting lost and found ourselves on a beautiful bridge overlooking a gorgeous canal.  Getting lost in Europe is awesome!  The church was wonderful and the view was wonderful and before long we were back on the train to Bonn.  I highly recommend Hamburg for a weekend trip.  It was a great city. 

On top of St. Michaelis Church