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!