The following morning, I arose early and took the S-Bahn to the bus station, where I met up with my program. We boarded the three-hour bus to Hamburg and managed to take over the entire top floor of the vehicle. The journey there was fairly boring, as the region of Germany is insanely flat and green. However, it was quite pretty, and we regularly passed windmill farms which were interesting. I chatted with a friend and continued to reread Harry Potter, a task that I had started over spring break and was now on Order of the Phoenix.
Upon arriving in the city, we went to our hostel, had lunch, and then promptly waited for over an hour for our rooms to be ready. This cut into our planned city center walk, resulting in us only having about fifteen minutes to wander around as we pleased, and then rushing to make it to our harbor boat tour in time. The tour itself was disappointing as the live audio was in German, the English commentary was recorded, and my program was incredibly loud, making it hard to hear the recorded and live commentary for everyone else, including the ten or so other tourists who had the unfortunate chance of being stuck on the boat with us. However, the harbor itself was neat, as we saw a cruise ship, several large container ships, various neat older and newer buildings and dry-docks.
On our way to dinner, we encountered a peaceful protest which was demanding German recognition of the Armenian genocide, of which it was the anniversary. It was interesting, and gave me something to mull over on the walk to the restaurant through a beautiful green park. Dinner itself was my own personal hell, as it was loud, involved lots of beer, drunken people and socializing after a long day. As soon as we were able, my friend and I fled, and walked back to our hostel, where we decompressed and called it a night.
The next morning, we embarked on a tour of the largest development site in Europe, Hafen City. It's located in a former harbor area that the city took over and is currently developing. The central location makes the area extremely influential and the project is attempting to build and create a district of leisure, residential, business, commerce, green and public spaces. I found the entire tour fascinating, although most of my peers did not. It was an incredible combination of politics, history, architecture and urban planning at work.
Oh, and to top it off, despite the miserable weather, there was a Junker flying above the city. I think, after some fighting with Google Translate and basic research, it was a Ju 52, but it was still really cool to see. When I first heard the radial engines, my immediate thought was it was a Ford TriMotor, but after a few seconds pause, my friend and I guessed it was a Junker, which was then confirmed by our tour guide.
Following that, we grabbed lunch at a local cafe and then split up into groups. I choose to go to the Miniatur Wunderland, a massive collection of worlds in miniature, including Hamburg, Scandinavia, Switzerland, America, a fully functioning airport and more. I've been wanting to see this attraction for years, when this video circulated among my group of aviation friends. The attraction was quite crowded, and I wish I had more time to spend there, as there were so many tiny little details to notice. For example, I found a man having a bath with a penguin and two cows (!) scuba-diving. Add in a functioning cruise ship model, miniature trains running overhead and under the floor and stairs, and the airport? I was in heaven. It was super geeky and amazing.
Afterwards, my friend and I headed back to the hotel where we decompressed before our bus-ride home with a few (well, him two, me one) rum-and-cokes. The bus ride home was uneventful and boring, as it was at night and there was nothing to see. I finished Order of the Phoenix and fell asleep on and off. I was quite happy to be back in Berlin, as the trip had been exhausting socially and I was ready to be by myself.
Next up, catching you all up, again.
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