Monday, April 7, 2008

Hamburg und Kiel

Hello again! How are you keeping up with all of this rapid-fire posting?

So we were in Bacharach for two nights, then on the third day we took a really dumpy train to Hamburg (through Koblenz). I figured maybe y'all aren't super humans with your German geography (Landeskunde), so I made this map with all of my stops:


So anyway, after Bacharach we ended up in Hamburg. Here we stayed with a friend and fellow Ole, Lennart Brombas, and his family. Lennart met us at the train station and showed us the town. The next day was a more serious tour of the town.


Hamburg

It was pretty chilly. We wandered around most of the city. It was very pretty. We even took a boat out on the river Elbe.


land near Lennart's house


Then the third day (again, we spent two nights in Hamburg), Lennart drove us up to Kiel on the Baltic Sea for the afternoon. The Baltic Sea is spectacular. Pristine. Gorgeous.


perfect


marina

So I don't really have anything to rank, because we didn't spend money on anything. Free housing (not to mention extremely nice hosts!) and free tours always get five stars. For those of you who don't have a Hamburger friend (ha, Hamburger), you can take a guided bus tour of the city for €10. Or you could just grab one of their maps of the tour's stops and walk it yourself.

Right now I'm in Berlin (I've been here for a couple of days now), but tomorrow we're off to Leipzig and Dresden. There I will also have internet, so you can look forward to another post, this time with photos from BERLIN!

7 comments:

Karl said...

First!

Karl said...

That is quite a trip through Germany Colin. I didn't realize you were doing such a big loop! Boat rides on the River Elbe, tours of Hamburg, and even a trip to the Baltic Sea. Wow! It does look pristine. And you re now in Berlin. Keep posting- I am loving it. Someday....envy envy envy

Catherine said...

Kiel on the Baltic looks gorgeous but chilly!
It's cold again here too now, some sleety snow this morning.
No blossoms here, that is for sure.
Wonderful that you had a place to stay and a tour guide. That is much nicer than hostels.
So I mailed off a little package of treasures for you today, supposedly it will be in Konstanz in 5-10 days.
Don't get too excited.
But hopefully you will find the contents fun (if not entirely useful)
Thanks for keeping up the blog and thank you for skyping again today. It's great to hear your voice, and then put that together with the photos and blog and I get a good sense of how you are, what you're doing.
love ya

Paul Halverson said...

Dang! I'm jealous that I wasn't home for the Skype today! I least I get to read your blog! Kiel on the Baltic looks wonderful - I've always wanted to tour the countries around the Baltic - maybe someday...

Unknown said...

You are SOOOOOOO lucky!!!!

Paul Halverson said...

In the picture of the bridge in Hamburg, I particularly like the way you placed the city background such that it almost looks like the city is on the bridge.
In the picture of the beach at Kiel - do you know what those towers with the wings are?(The wings look like NASCAR spoilers)

Pat M said...

Hi dear Colin! Am so glad you had the friend to visit in Hamburg, a place to settle a bit, boat rides etc. Now when I read about the Baltic Sea, the River Elbe...hey, I know just a bit about those spots, bc of your blog. Today on TV they had Knut walking around in his Zoo, and the new stamp with him on it. Isn't it a small world? Love, Gr Pat