first installment-- hamburg

In this multiple-part series, I will attempt to remember all that we explored while on our romp through Scandinavia and other random countries.

Backtracking to October, I spent weeks trying to figure out where to go on this two week trip. We knew we'd be meeting up with our Florida friends Alex and Bobby in Paris for New Years-- the rest was up in the air as to what to see. An exciting time, but a bit daunting to research every possible place!

We decided to head north in the hopes of seeing the northern lights, and a trip evolved from that idea.

First stop was Hamburg, a large city in the northern part of Germany. We'd heard from a ton of people that it was worth checking out, so we found train tickets on a Friday night after Mike got off work and took off, overpacked-backpacks in tow and not knowing what to expect.

The rain held out as we joined a walking tour of the highlights:

Like much of Germany, this church was obliterated in WWII. But, unlike much of Germany, it wasn't reconstructed. What you were left with was the church's spire and bits of the nave. Definitely eerie (hence the obvious need for black and white photos.)

This next part might sound a bit dorky, but bear with me! Hamburg is known for its miniature train museum, and believe me when I say it was SO COOL. It was set up by different countries-- thousands of tiny figurines complete with moving trains, cars, boats... there was even a huge airport that had multiple planes taking off, landing and pulling into the different gates. We also found a chocolate factory that produced real chocolate you could eat. It was unreal!!

Oh, and every 10 minutes or so it transitioned to nighttime. No big deal. 

Funny story-- we went to check out a happenin' Hamburg spot (the Reeperbahn) that looked a bit like a mini Nashville/Vegas combo, stumbling upon a Christmas market. But given the area, the market had a certain saucy theme to it which manifested itself in the types of items sold and the Christmas 'shows' offered. I'll leave it at that.

But, enjoying some gluhwein by the light of a fake living-room setup, we heard small explosions and police sirens nearby, realizing we were caught in the middle of a riot! The market closed up and we were penned in, just enjoying our drinks on couches and listening to the craziness taking place around us. It was interesting to say the least. When we tried to go home, we kept getting turned around by riot police. Kind of crazy, but makes a good story, right?

Now the US is advising tourists not to visit, which I think is kind of silly.


So Germany has really awesome old-school playgrounds that would never fly in the US. You know, the old ones we used to play on, but a bit more dangerous? We stumbled upon one and of course had to try everything out--

Like this supercool wavy slide volcano thing that you entered from the middle by going up a ladder

Or check out this candid shot of the boys having a blast digging in the sand pit. Cute, huh?

Hamburg delivered indeed. 

I'll leave you with an obligatory kissing-under-the-mistletoe-not-forced-at-all shot:

Please note Mike's enthusiasm at having to take this shot 5 different times until it was just right. 

What a good sport :)