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HAMBURG IS NOT THE HOME OF THE HAMBURGER. Just thought I should let you know, incase you were excited and expected some kind of recollection of all the hamburgers I ate whilst I was there. If you want something like that, check out the sausage fest 09 album.
We had arranged our first official couchsurfing expedition in Hamburg. Nicolai, a lovely man of 38 agreed last minute to put us up for 3 nights while we explored Hamburg. He came and met us at the station and took us back to his little apartment, where we had a couple of beers but then hit the sack because we were very tired. The next day we woke up to the most amazing breakfast! The germans do breakfast in a fantastic way.
There is bread, there are cold meats, there is cheese, there is camembert, there is jam, there is belgium biscuit spread, theres mayo, theres butter, theres coffee, theres vegetable juice, and theres everything but the kitchen sink. Maybe had a bit of a squeal when I walked out of the bedroom and saw that.
Nicolai didnt have to work on our first day so he took us around Hamburg. Its a pretty great place. We had really nice weather so we wandered around the Harbour, had a big coffee that was tasty, saw the town hall which is more impressive than Buckingham palace. Nicolai works on the german train network. He loves trains. He took us to a modelbahn, which is a mini model train museum. I had so much fun. They have train models from Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and America. If any of you have seen me playing with a train set, times it by about 1000 and thats how excited I was. We spent about 3 hours or more in there looking at all the trains. The amount of work that must have gone into it was unbelievable.
Nicolai wanted us to cook him an Aussie dinner that night, but because there was a large lack of vegemite and coles pasta salad in the german supermarket we made him huge burgers with beetroot and egg in them. It reminded us of home and I missed every single one of you.
Next day Nicolai had to work so Megan and I embraced Hamburg on our own and wound up in the fabric/red light district which always seems to happen in these cities. We found a carnival and went on a ferris wheel and bought eachother ankelets and got married. Well, it felt like that. Megan and I seemed to have merged into the one person and have the same thoughts all of the time. As I write this I bet she is sitting a few computers down writing the same thing about me. Its kind of like having a twin.
Nicolai made us dinner this night, bratwurst and potatoes and heaps of salad and it was tasty. We had a bottle of really terrible wine that Megan and I had leftover from Amsterdam and we went to bed. The next morning, bright and early we hitched a ride with two german girls to Berlin because we cant afford proper transport anymore. They were really nice and had set up a business that was called 'eat the world' and they take people on tours of Berlin to show them authentic and tasty German cuisine, and I think they have a very cool job. We spent a lovely 3 hours in the car together. We got to Berlin and found our hostel. We bought quite a bit of booze because beer is only 89 cents a bottle and settled in at the hostel for a bit of a session. Met a handsome english man called Mike and an Irish guy called Steven and we all sat together drinking till the early hours of the next day. I think I got to bed at about 5am.
Oh dear.
Never Drinking Again.
Woke up in the wrong room. Stumbled back to our room. Had the WORST headache ever and spent the morning chundering in the toilet because I was so hungover. Andy, our special friend from the Green Man came and met us and laughed at me a little bit in my hungover state. We went for a little wander around Berlin but I really felt too s***ty to do anything so we had a quiet one. The next day was beautiful weather so we had a really really big walk and Megan gave Andy and I the 'Megan Fraser free tour of Berlin' because she had already been there on her Contiki tour. We ate another Durum. It was a big day.
We got some beers (I had just decided that maybe I could drink again) and sat in the park like naughty 14 year olds except we werent naughty because its not illegal to drink in public in Berlin. That night Megan went to bed early and Andy and I stayed up late talking and what-not. Drank some wine and ate some cornchips. Learnt that just because a hostel room description says something, doesnt mean it is true.
Very tired the next day AGAIN. Make mental note not to stay up late and drink ever again on the trip. Yes, I do realise that is the second time I've mentioned it in this blog entry. No, it is by far not the last time that has happened between then and now. AH WELL.
After another day cruising Berlin we managed to grab a room for three in the hostel so it was just us and we had a ball. Until we realised we had to get the train at 4am to get our plane to Stockholm the next morning. Which would have been fine, had it not been a saturday night. Did I forget to mention that there was a nightclub right underneath the hostel? We didnt get any sleep. Said an emotional fairwell to Andy bright and early.
Made a mission of the German rail system. Trains were cancelled. We dont understand German. Long story short we nearly missed the plane. Very grumpy. Decide never ever to get an early flight because its just not worth it.
I enjoyed Germany.
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