Hamburg Day 2

I started the day with my first true German breakfast before we all headed into the city. Our first stop was the Stuhlmann Brunnen (Stuhlmann Fountain). It was open monument day otherwise there would've been water coming out of the top. Instead we were able to go underneath the fountain and climb up to see the inner workings. It reminded me of outer space and was very pretty. A picture wouldn't have come out so well since it was dark, so I'll just show the outside.



Before making it to the Elbe, we came across the Altona Rathaus.



Once we made it to the Elbe, there was an interesting building which looked like a ship. I was told this is an office building named Docklands.



There was a sideways elevator which reminded me of Wonka.



And a few more buildings near there which caught my eye.



Then we headed to the ferry to bring us closer to the center of the city. This was a picture I took before boarding.



I made the mistake of going near the front of the boat before it started moving. As it started to move, people were sprayed with a pretty steady stream of water. Luckily my camera survived. I took some pictures from the boat.



Landungsbrücken (Jetties)



We walked near HafenCity which is still under construction to meet up with my friend's brother in the Speicherstadt (warehouse city). I saw some signs along the way and decided to take some pictures of them. The last one shows the water level when it storms sometimes. Since it can get quite high, they've built platforms for pedestrians to save themselves from the Sturmflut (storm surge). Unfortunately in 1962, 340 people died from this.



And here are some container houses for the construction workers I believe, with the ongoing construction behind.



Nearing his brothers office I took a picture of the Speicherstadt Town hall.



When we were all hanging out with his brother, he mentioned bringing us to the roofs..woo!



I love rooftops!

Here is one side of the building. There are loading windows on both sides of the offices here so they can load from boats or from the street.



We went on a little walk and found a cool building which was shaped like a boat..yes another one! This one is called Chilehaus and was named for a ship line connecting Chile and Hamburg. Around this time we also witnessed an owner-less vehicle crash into another vehicle with a little girl in it. No owners of vehicles were around, it was quite strange! Never a dull moment in Hamburg apparently haha.



Then we went for a walk into a busy part of the city. I just had to take a picture of this!



Near Lilienstraße and Gertrudenkirchhof.



We had some food around here and so I decided to try a fish (Matjes) sandwich (salted/pickled young herring). A bit salty but I really enjoyed it. We walked a little further and there were a lot of things going on and someone speaking about a car accident I believe. There was also a street artist.



We walked over to St. Michaeliskirche (St. Michael's Church), and the group began to split up. We went inside but I didn't want to pay to go to the top! Here is a picture of the outside. The first picture is actually on the way to the church. I crossed the street and wanted to take a picture so I had to wait until the walk sign was on again to go back out to the street to take it. I felt sort of silly. :)



This is the G+J building (Gruner & Jahr).



Next we went to an underwater tunnel, St. Pauli Elbtunnel aka the Alter Elbtunnel (Old Elbe Tunnel).



This brought us to Steinwerder. Here are some pictures from the island.



The group separated again and me and my friend decided to go try to find some paddle boats. Unfortunately there were none and it was starting to get late so we headed back with a quick stop at the Hamburg Water Tower in the Sternschanzen Park. This has been renovated and is now the Mövenpick Hotel.

Hamburg

This will be a quick post because I didn't really take any pictures this day. Funny too..I took a train from Berlin to Hamburg, but it didn't take THAT long. I guess I was too busy being social. And here are some social activities..the only pictures I took (oh and one was taken of me) on my first day in Hamburg.

The REAL Budweiser. Of course it's better than the American version which is very watered down but has a similar flavoring..



And Astra - Alsterwasser. This tasted a bit like lemonade as I recall..or sweet anyway.



Too bad I didn't get a picture of the wine. Holy crap Federweisser is delicious..I have to go back to Germany in September again because this wine is only available around that time and though I didn't drink much, I think I'm addicted! haha

I wish I could've brought some home, but I guess there are holes in the top of the bottle to allow for aeration.

And lastly, a picture of me chopping onions. Exciting..and yes, I did cry.



So a little about my day. This was my first experience taking a German train..or a European train for that matter. It was relatively easy and luckily most people know enough English. I wish I knew more German so that I didn't have to resort to speaking English, but I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing my first time. I also had the experience of packing my bike into my bag for travel on the ICE train.

Throughout my trip I had to take my bike down and reassemble it quite a bit, but the Montague folding system was pretty easy, so it only took me about 5 minutes when I got the hang of it. This came in useful for when I just got to the train stations with moments to spare!

I learned that it's not so easy to carry the bike when it's bagged unless it was bagged a certain way and I carried it the right way..

So when I arrived in Hamburg I was lucky to have a friend there. After picking me up and bringing me to his house, we chatted and had some tea. It was great to have a family to stay with and show me around. After tea we biked around for a bit. I didn't take any pictures unfortunately. I thought that I had taken some, but if I did I have no idea where they are!

We went to H&M (which is coming to South Portland so that's cool!) to buy me a shirt, and then we picked up groceries before heading back. I met his family and we had dinner and drank. Though the dinner conversation was in German and I couldn't follow much I enjoyed it very much. If only I could be around German speakers more I'd be able to pick up the language faster!

Berlin to Potsdam

I started out pretty late at 10:30 in the morning today. Of course I had gotten home late the night before because I was lost trying to find my way to the hotel..again.

I had decided I wanted to see Potsdam, and that it wasn't that far so I could ride my bike. Wow..what a day.

I didn't even have a map but I knew the general direction (Southwest of Berlin), so I just followed my map down to that part of the city and then took down street names and attempted to go in the right direction. Lucky for me it worked out.

First I headed for the Victory Column since it seemed like a good starting point.

I made my way to Altonaer Straße, heading by Hotel Albion near the Spree.



From the Victory Tower I took Hofjägerallee then a right on Stülerstraße and ended up on Budapester Straße which seemed like a neat area.

There was Aquarium Berlin and right across the street was the Kaiser-Wilhelm- Gedächtniskirche (The Protestant Kaiser William Memorial Church).



I decided it was time to make my journey to Potsdam now, so I found Kurfürstendamm and took it all the way to Rathenau Platz. After following the rotary to Koenigsallee, I was ready to make random guesses. I took at least 6 side roads through neighborhoods which seemed nice until I ended up at Unter den Eichen. I stopped to get food and I asked the person how to get to Potsdam. He told me to just go straight down the road I was on. I felt pretty good having my lunch and then knowing which way to go. It was quite a few miles, but it eased my mind knowing I was at least headed in the right direction.

I passed by Wannsee and stopped for a moment. I didn't get any good pictures there, so I won't bother posting. I headed on..

It was a long bike ride and when I first entered Potsdam, I was disappointed. The houses going in were pretty but there was so much construction work going on. The feeling began to melt as I biked further and away from the construction.

Platz der Einheit Square



Katholische Propsteikirche St. Peter und Paul (St. Peter and Paul Church) and a nice building across the street.



Just on a whim I started biking down a street and ended up near Sanssouci, one of the most beautiful places..

Here is a small tour. This is one of two colonnades enclosing the "cour d'honneur" on the northern side of Sanssouci Palace I believe. I took this information from wikipedia. :)



I took these a little further down the road. The windmill is more for looks I think..the rock wall was pretty cool.



After biking around for a bit, I decided to go back to the park I had seen riding up. There was a pedestrian only sign so I locked my bike up and checked out the grounds on foot.

I believe this is all a part of Friderizianischer Garten.



And then the beautiful Sanssouci Palace came into view.



There were many paths..I decided to go left here because I saw something pretty.



Chinesisches Haus (Chinese House)



I wandered around for a bit and then found my way to the largest building in the park I think. I was in awe..

Here is one of the many statues..must've been at least 100 if you include the statues on the building.



And the paths around were nice too.



And finally...

Neue Palais (The New Palace)






I was standing way back when I took these with a 35mm lens. It took 3 shots!



The Communs at the New Palace



I had been in the park for awhile so I decided to head out. Since I was riding my bike back to Berlin, I knew I should leave soon.

I headed back into the city of Potsdam and took a few pictures and snacked before leaving.

Brandenburger Tor and Brandenburger Straße.