Morgen's International Adventures: Hamburg

This past weekend I made my first foray into Northern Germany and visited my friend Michelle. Michelle has been living and working in the burg of Hams for about a month now, and I have been wanting to visit, so this past weekend I made it happen. I got to Hamburg using a good ol' Mitfahrgelegenheit for 22€ each way, can't beat it! I was a little nervous since my last experience with ride sharing left me stranded in Berlin, but I'm pleased to report this time was much better. I didn't get into the city until a bit after 10 on Friday evening and upon arrival I was greeted by Michelle at the train station. Together we headed to a 'Sex, drugs, and rock & roll' themed party at her place of work. Germans are crazy, designers are crazy, so you can only imagine how crazy a party thrown be German designers was. Plus there was an open bar. I'm just going to skim over the rest of the evening...

Fast forward many libations and a few hours and Michelle and I were waking up with große Kater (look it up). Luckily Michelle lives around the corner from an American style breakfast all day diner called Mamalicious. It basically saved my life on Saturday.

Thank goodness for Mamalicious. (Note my coffee mug)

After we mustered up some strength, we headed to the Miniatur-Wunderland, home of the world's largest model train! The walk there was through Hamburg's Speicherstadt - a little island full of old warehouses. Hamburg is a harbor city with tons of bridges and canals. Even more canals than Amsterdam and Venice says tourguide Michelle.

Bridge and harbor action

Building the crazy Hamburg symphonie building

Me and a canal running through the Speicherstadt

So this Miniatur-Wunderland. I'm going to go ahead and say it was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen in my live. The scale, the modeling, the figurines, the DETAIL. I just couldn't believe it. Every scene was so intricate, so involved, so well schemed. There were mini versions of cities in Germany, Switzerland, Scandanavia, and the good old USA. There was a mini airport with mini planes that would take off, and a mini terminal with mini parking garages filled with mini cars and mini people. The people were just barely bigger than a Polly Pocket, to give you an idea for scale. Not only were the trains and the tracks super cool on their own, but the scenes that they weaved throughout were just absolutely insane! For example:

A couple fornicating in the bushes

A mini music festival

The grand canyon and some pueblos

Mini Hamburg

We were so exhausted after the Mini-Wunderland (and still not feeling our best) so we headed back to Michelle's places for a nap. After a sufficiently long snooze we made some delicious guacamole and watched Harry Potter movies into the wee hours of the night. We needed a night in after the craziness that was Friday. Sunday we woke up feeling very well rested and set off to see more of the city. We walked around Michelle's neighborhood as well as the Altstadt downtown before eventually heading to the infamous Reeperbahn and red light district. Conclusion: Hamburg is rad.