This week was a start of our new “normal”. I started back to (online) school and Nathan did his (self-determined) studying. We took care of home things like laundry and shopping. We also took care of shopping for a home, since we only have this apartment for about two more weeks. For more about our normal life (if you even care), you can check out the post from earlier this week here.

I was able to get all my homework done, so that means I got to go out this weekend. We hopped on a train early Friday morning and headed north to Hamburg! The weather here is close to perfect, so we just had to take advantage of it.

With the “budget” train passes we are using, we must use the slower regional trains, we can’t reserve seats, and all of Germany can buy the same pass. So, we are learning by trial and error when EVERYONE else also wants to be traveling by train. For example, we thought that when we decided to travel back from Dresden last Friday in the afternoon, we would be avoiding rush hour. Oh no. We were right in the thick of it because everyone likes to get away on the weekend and the train to Leipzig was crazy busy. This week, we thought we would be ok, because we left our apartment at 6:30 am. Well, it was a bit better. But at one of the stations where we needed to change trains, our train got in a few minutes late, there were so many people on the platforms and in the tunnel to change platforms that it was almost too crowded to move. We witnessed a verbal fight that almost turned physical. But at least the train peeps were aware of the difficulty of changing trains at that moment and held the train until everybody could get through. Then, on the train, people were taking up seats with their luggage (very common), so there was nowhere to sit down. There was a group of about 10 ladies who were traveling together and having a rollicking good time. They adjusted and squeezed so that we could sit, so that was kind.

We got to Hamburg and headed straight (well, not straight exactly, because we stopped for some really good, authentic tacos) to the museums for a handful of composers, primarily Brahms. The Brahms Museum is housed in an original baroque building that survived the war. Brahms was born nearby. They have a small collection of items, but with good descriptions in English and it was very nice. The museum next door has rooms dedicated to Telemann, CPE Bach, the Mendelssohns, Mahler, and some others. It was also very good.

We checked into our hotel and went in hunt of some dinner. Hamburg is a big city, the largest “non-capital” in Europe and a port city. So, there are a lot of people and there is a lot of diversity. Not far from our hotel there was a street lined with all kinds of foods from different nations. We opted for Indian. Nathan’s Tikka Masala was yummy. My Korma was meh. But we had a nice meal after a long day.

We headed for the port on Saturday morning and took a boat tour that was enjoyable. We got up close and personal with the container ships and saw the workings of the port and how the city is changing and rebuilding. They have made some cool choices for how to use the real estate to make their city more livable and more beautiful.

We did a lot of walking after our boat tour. We strolled over to the Reeperbahn neighborhood, which is the entertainment and “red light” district. Not normally our top pick, but this is where The Beatles played for hours every night for months and really became musicians…it’s probably the experience that made them “The Beatles”. There is a spot called “Beatles Platz” which is just a few “sculptures” and some song titles on the ground. But it was still fun to see the neighborhood.

After that, we just wandered around town, learning about the city, eating what we liked and watching people. One thing we hadn’t had yet was a German classic and a great street food: currywurst. After WWII, the story goes, it was hard to get supplies. Some enterprising woman didn’t have mustard to serve with brats, but there was ketchup and curry powder. Currywurst was born. It might sound like a strange flavor combo, but it is delicious.

We climbed down about 100 stairs to walk a pedestrian and bike tunnel under the Elbe River. It was built in 1901 for the workers of Hamburg to get to work at the port more efficiently. Then we climbed up the same 100 stairs on the other side so we could enjoy of the city from across the river. Then we went right back across. (I should add that there are elevators, but we had to walk off pastries and currywurst.)

There is a church that was destroyed in the firebombing of Hamburg, but unlike in Dresden where they rebuilt their destroyed church, this one they left the tower and shell as a memorial to the dead and a message about the horrors of war. It’s called Nikolaikirche and it was quite lovely.

We went for dinner, which was of course hamburgers! They were adequate, but the best burgers we have eaten in Europe were in Budapest. Anyway, then we just walked around the busy shopping areas, the city hall (Rathaus), and the different parks and lakes. It was a lovely evening, but we were also biding our time because one thing we like to do when we visit a city is to try to find some live music. Once it was a bit later, we tried a few different possible locations in several different neighborhoods. We completely struck out and finally dragged ourselves onto a bus after a long but satisfying day of sightseeing.

Since we didn’t want to repeat the craziness of Friday’s train journey, and since we are fairly early risers anyway, we headed to the train station around 6:15 am. We easily caught the train, found seats, and avoided the rush as we did the same journey as Friday but in reverse. Things were starting to get busy at the Leipzig Hauptbahnhof as people were heading home after their weekend trips, but we were already home! It was a fun trip to a vibrant, living city.

It was a good weekend, and we are looking forward to apartment hunting, studying, and maybe another adventure this next week. Tchūss!