Hamburg (by the numbers)

Where to begin? There were eight people from seven countries, who had known each other for only six weeks, decided to drive five hundred kilometers four (fore? for) three days and two nights in Hamburg, Germany, in one cozy car. Yeah, that car was really a bit too small. But we survived.

Exams finished last Thursday, so Friday night at dinner at Imraan's (South Africa), Giorgia (Italy), Alejandro (Columbia), Maria (Spain) and I finalized our road trip plans for the three day weekend with Rosy (Serbia), Elena (Spain), and Bin (India). On Friday morning we took the train to Rotterdam and trekked through the rain to rent our car (there were none available in Delft) and proceeded to spend 10 hours on the road. Our directions were alright, but one wrong turnoff added an extra hour and we seemed to take our time on the multiple coffee breaks. When we arrived in Hamburg it took us almost an hour to find out hostel, which was the only place in town with bed space for eight. Bin was fortunate enough to stay in the room with the five girls, because Imraan and Alejandro were placed in a boy’s dorm with a snorer and barely got an hour of sleep on Friday night. Anyway, after we had checked into the hostel, we went to St. Pauli, which is noted as the night club area, but seemed more like bachelor party meets red light lite with some drunken underage teens. But we were lead to a tasty German restaurant that served nothing but pork (it was called Schweinske) then drank at a posh bar and walked back to the hostel at around 3AM.

Our hostel was located on the Elbe, right across the river for Hamburg's port. We had an amazing view (though I'm sure that every English speaker there was bored by the breakfast conversation of the three port engineers among the rest of us nerds). While meeting for breakfast at 8:30AM the girls found out about how horrible the boys dorm was and promised that they would not have to stay there again. We broke that promise very shortly. We got kicked out of the hostel at 10AM and phoned around for places to stay, only to find out (after much begging) that they did have eight beds available, a room of five for the girls and three beds in a dorm for the boys.

We spent Saturday walking the city and visiting the Christmas market. German Christmas markets are amazing. There are so many people, including us, willing to suffer the cold for a glass of mulled wine (Gluhwine) and a sausage (not to mention the meat on a stick, fried potatoes, waffles, candies and chestnuts). After a quick nap we headed to the Schanzenviertel neighborhood for a drink then an amazing dinner at Le Sepia, a Portuguese restaurant. I love how Europeans eat, it's so lively and always an event. In the US people tend to keep to themselves, but there we got serenaded by a Spanish guitar player and met some Sicilians. We finished our night, once again at 3AM, at a club which seemed like a former dormitory.

The boys suffered with minimal sleep that night as well. We found out in the morning that they shared a room with an arguing German couple (which seemed unfair b/c we were told that the dorms were not coed and would have preferred a room for all eight of us, but we took what we could get). I need to add an extra sentence here so the pictures don't run into each other.

So Sunday was once again spent at another Christmas market with a race back to the hostel to meet Rosy and Giorgia, who we lost in the crowd (running wasn't a good idea, my leg muscle was still sore so I ended up getting a piggy back ride from Alejandro for part of the way back). But we got on the road at 1:30PM and were back in Delft at 8:30PM, thoroughly exhausted from our brief weekend. Photos to follow shortly.

Oh, and I found my French cheese (roule)!