Day 1: Stopover in Hamburg

Although you might suspect it from the title, I am not actually in the world-famous city of Hamburg, New York https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg_(New_York), but in the picturesque German city on the River Elbe.

But let's start from the beginning: this morning at 9:40, it was finally time to start my trip to America that I had been planning for 4 months. I took the train from Neustadt station to Bremen, with the obligatory 5-minute delay.

Waiting for me in Bremen was my travel companion for today. Today is the only day of this trip that I won't spend alone. Allow me to introduce:

This is Alex.

Alex is studying in Bremen and pulled an all-nighter due to a flat party.

At the time of this power nap, Alex hadn't slept for over 24 hours.

So, Alex and I took the next train from Bremen to Hamburg. Luckily, we managed to get a seat just in time, because the train quickly filled up with colorfully dressed, slightly intoxicated beings due to the 'Schlagermove' event happening in Hamburg today. Soon, there was only a few centimeters of space to move from left to right. The stars of this mass of people were a group of men who had taken over the music monopoly in the compartment with the loudest bluetooth speaker. At first, they played a wild mix of music, but about halfway to Hamburg, it settled into 100% techno. Even a group of women aged 40-50, who repeatedly demanded Helene Fischer music with hysterical screams and laughter, couldn't change that.

After a 90-minute ride on the Hamburg Techno Express, we finally arrived at the main train station.

First, we went to my hotel to drop off my luggage, which took another half hour. Then, we headed back to the city center for the important part of this trip: food.

With full stomachs and corresponding good spirits, we could finally explore the city a little bit. We went to the Speicherstadt, following in the footsteps of 'Die Pfefferkörner' (a German children's detective series). In the world's largest historical warehouse complex (UNESCO World Heritage since 2015), we even coincidentally stumbled upon the filming of the world-famous successful series 'Notruf Hafenkante'.

Afterwards, we crossed the Mahatma Gandhi lifting bridge (mentioned here only because of its beautiful name) to the Elbphilharmonie. There, we first watched a large container ship pass by, and then the AIDA Aura.

Finally, we went up to the gallery of the Elbphilharmonie, which, contrary to our expectations, is completely free of charge. After a ride on a disproportionately long escalator, you have a very nice view of the Hamburg harbor. The balcony encircles the entire concert hall, so you can admire all of Hamburg. Definitely a big recommendation for 0€.

From there, we made the 2.5km march back to the main train station in perfect weather. While the semi-dead Alex (now awake for 35 hours) headed back to Bremen, I made my way back to my hotel. It's aware of its function as an airport stopover and has been given the appropriate name 'Cockpit'. The room is quite nice and completely sufficient for my low standards, but mysteriously, the Wi-Fi connection, which works perfectly in the hallway, disappears as soon as I enter the room.

That was my recap of today. Although the travel destination might not have been as spectacular, I hope I was able to make it interesting. Feedback is always welcome. Now I have to slowly go to sleep, because my alarm will go off at 4:15 am so that I can make it to the airport on time. Good night.

Leart