Visiting friends in northern Germany

18-22 May

Hi all. Just got back from another well-timed long weekend break, this time to Northern Germany. Unfortunately didnt manage to see Gow as he was somewhere in the Czech Republic doing a van tour of Eastern Europe with his brother and some mates (amazing huh! so jealous!!) but I did manage to catch up with 4 amazing German friends which meant I had a great time last weekend, so this blog post starts with a thanks to you guys. You know who you are but in case other people dont, there are photos : ) Nina (Gow's girlfriend who I got to know when they stayed at mine in London for a week in March), Sina (a friend of Arne's who I met in Japan and spent New Years in Berlin with), Jess (who I played soccer with at uni games last year when she was on an exchange to Vic) and Stefan (who I studied with for a semester at Meiji Gakuin). Thanks for all your hospitalitity guys, it was much appreciated and I hope I can return the favour when you make it to my side of the world. I had a crazy 4 days so this might be a long-ish entry (you have been warned...)

Had a few hours to kill at the airport on Friday night before my flight left, but I guess it was better to be a bit early than 5 mins late - as Ive heard a few horror stories about taking the bus to Stansted Airport and checking in with RyanAir - but what can you expect for £25 return flights to Germany! We actually arrived into Bremen a little bit early and Nina was lovely enough to pick me up from the airport. Caught up with her Dad for drinks (we were in Bremen so it had to be Becks of course) and asparagus soup (because it was in season) which was delicious! Cycled around Bremen at night and through the Schnoor, small old streets usually packed with tourists were like a maze at night, and checked out the Am Markt.

The next morning we were up for a delicious German Breakfast at home and then off to watch Nina's little brother Juri play in a soccer match - it was a lot of fun and I even got in the goal after the game and played around with the kids (nobody tell my doctor - he he). Had a beautiful relaxing lunch at a cafe by the riverside and then legged it to the Beck's Brewery to make sure we weren't late for our tour - good thing we had bikes : )

The Brewery tour was really cool, Id never been on one before so it was great to learn about the process even if the starting video was just like a ten minute Becks commercial. Funniest bit of the tour though was when Nina and I suddenly sprinted away from the group to take a photo next to a wall of Becks boxes only to turn around and see the whole group starring at us and another wall of them around the corner - classic! And then of course there was the beer tasting at the end, we got 5 drinks each, so not a bad effort and made friends with some Canadian and some Finnish people - isnt it great how beer brings people together from around the world : )

After the tour I took the train to Hamburg to catch up with Sina. It was an interesting train ride up as a final football game was on that day but managed to make it safely. We packed a picnic (cheese sandwiches and beer) and went to sit, chat, eat and watch the sunset by the outer part of Hamburg's lake (the Aussenalster). Home to nibble on Musli (reminds me of New Years in Berlin!) and picked up Sina's little brother to head out to a pub set up litke a house-party (Im pretty sure it actually used to a two-storied house) it was a cool atmosphere but the music quality let the place down, so for the second night in a row I spent the wee hours cycling around the city. We cruised up and down the red-light district and even made it all the way down to the harbour.

Not quite too sure how I managed to do it but dragged myself out of bed at 7am (after gettin home at 4) to head back down to the harbour to check out the famous Hamburg FishMarket, awesome to see the deserted harbour I was at a few hours early is now packed with people, buzzing to get an early morning bargain. The market sells everything and there are people yelling out as they pack parcels with fruit, vegetables, plants, sweets, and of course - fish and put on a show for the crowd to marvel at the bargain they are getting!

There was even live music going on in the Fish auction hall so checked that out for a little while, just stood watching the band and the people drinking at 9:30 on a Sunday morning (even earlier than England) and then they started playing "Sweet Home Alabama" and I figured nobody knew me there so I danced away with the drunken people who had come straight out from the night before - it was awesome : )

That afternoon Sina and I went to an Origami Exhibition at the Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe. This was part of the Kirschblutenfest (Grand fireworks) and Japanese culture exhibition that happens in Hamburg every May - good timing huh! There were lots of amazing pieces but I just took pictures of a few - before some lady talked to me but the only word I understood in the whole sentence was "photo" so figured I wasnt allowed to take pictures... but you can see the ones I did mange to take before that/without her noticing at http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/kiwigirlnextdoor/my_photos. Can't believe they even had one of a kiwi!! For an overview of the exhibition, check out http://www.mkg-hamburg.de/mkg.php/en/sonderausstellungen/aktuell/detail/~S323/

We sat by the Binnenalster (inner part of the lake we sat by for dinner yesterday) to eat lunch, fresh fish in rolls and a regional pastry called Franzbrotchen - looking kind of like a flattened croissant it includes a cinnamon and sugar filling. Being a Hamburg regional food, Franzbrotchen becomes quite scarce outside the borders of the ciry and doesn't even make it as far as Bremen. Our final port of call on Sunday afternoon was St Michaeliskirche - one of Hamburg's five main protestant churches and the most famous church in the city. The views out over the city were amazing as Hamburg lies at the junction of the river Elbe with the rivers Alster and Bille. It is the second largest port city in Europe.

That night I caught up with Stefan at Hauptbahnhof (Central station) and we went to see a Japanese film called "Green Mind, Metal Bats" which was showing at a small artsy theatre as part of the VIII Japanisches Filmfestival.

The next day Stefan had classes so I took the opportunity to wander around the city and take more photos than I would if I was cycling. Saw St Nikolaikirche - the second tallest building in Hamburg (left), St Jacobkirche and St Katharinenkirche. The Speicherstadt (warehouse distrct) by the harbour was cool to see and some of them are still in use. The many canals in Hamburg are crossed by over 2300 bridges - more than Amsterdam and Venice combined! such a beautiful city!

Met Jess outside Rathaus (the town hall) for lunch which was a great break in the middle of the day an a chance to catch up. Really nice area with some funcky little cafes around. That afternoon I continued touring around the city - got such a beautiful day for it - was almost too hot! Took the U-bahn up to Reeperbahn, the red light district, to check it out in the daylight and as you can imagine it has quite a different feel to it than when we were cycling around at 2am on Sunday but a lot of places were still closed off to women.

From there I wandered back down to the harbour (getting quite a good feel for how the city is laid out by now). My tageskarte (all day tranport pass) included the local ferry so I took it for a cruise around the harbour which was great to see the city from another angle : )

Caught up with Stefan after his classes at the tube station and we grabbed Italian ice-cream (a big favourite here and pretty cheap at £1 for two scoops!!) Beautiful to eat and just what the doctor ordered on such a hot day as we wandered around Planten un Blomen in the afternoon sun. So crazy that Stefan had never been here before as its a huge beautiful park - but to be fair it often happens that you find out more cool things around your city when people from far away lands come to visit : )

Had a big "farmers breakfast" for dinner (potatoes, eggs and bacon) - delicious before bading Stefan goodbye at Central station in Hamburg and taking the train back to Bremen.

Well, the last day of my holiday was spent as it should be having a sleep-in and a beautiful breakfast on the balcony of Nina's family's house and only heading out to face the world after midday. So nice to sit out in the sun - especially on a Tuesday when I should be at work : P and even managed to get a tan. We had fresh strawberry jam, chocolate sprinkles from Holland, smoked salmon and salami - talk about a breakfast!

That afternoon we went back into town to check it out during the day (as I only cycled round on Friday night). We walked through the Schnoor which was beautiful with its winding narrow streets and tiny houses. The oldest part of the Altstadt (the old town) is the southeast half, starting with the Schnoor and leading up to the Marketplatz so that was our next area to check out. Notable buildings are the Gothic Style Town Hall and the impressive Cathedral St Petri (from the 13th century) which was beautiful inside and out. Wandered around the marketplace, checked out some tombs and had bratwurst for lunch.

One of the coolest things in Bremen is the story of the Town Musicians. Depicted in Gerhard Marcks' 1953 bronze sculpture Die Stadtmusikanten which portrays the donkey, dog, cat and rooster of the Grimm Brother's fairy tale (alhtough I chose to take a picture next to the more artsy statue). The animals, all mistreated by their masters, leave and decide to go to Bremen (known for its freedom) to live without owners. They work together to scare of some theives who have been living in a cottage and live there happily ever after. I think its a cool story that can translate into working across cultures to overcome "evil" in modern times. Finished off my trip with another ice-cream with Nina's mum and an easy plane flight home, crazy that getting from Stansted Airport back to my house takes longer than the flight from Bremen to London - but thats crazy Europe for you, and Im still enjoying my adventures here : )