A couple of weeks ago Pelayo and I ventured off to Hamburg, Germany, for a very happy reunion. The multi-national group of friends I formed a part of while living in Gijon reunited for a week in this busy city to celebrate our favorite German's 25th birthday. We were a big, jolly group: one Polish girl via Tanzania, two Italians, three Spaniards, a few Germans, one English girl and, well, yours truly.

The whole group

I can honestly say that I've never been to a city quite like Hamburg. Really. It's true.

Hamburg is big! I didn't realize it is the second biggest city in Germany after Frankfurt. On top of that it's got one of the biggest and most important ports in all of Europe. Prostitution is pretty "in," along with lots o' immigration and a party central that far beats that of Amsterdam. It's got winding canals, an old town, a new town, a gay town, and just about everything else you'd like to see in any town. So, I am really wondering why I'd never really heard of Hamburg before meeting Moritz (the German, Hamburger, birthday-boy).

First thing's first. The biggest tourist attraction in Hamburg is the port. When you ask "What's there to see?," the locals will point you in the direction of the massive port to gawk over a number of vistas. The port is so huge that you can go to various different neighborhoods to catch a peek from a million different angles. But the best view of the port is seen from... the beach, of course! Hamburg has this absolutely stunning, seemingly man-made "beach" built up on the canals of the port. And, some of the most beautiful German houses I've ever seen sit right behind it's shore... all windows pointing towards this buzzing industrial port. Strange, yet somehow pretty. Not sure how they manage to make it hip and elegant, but they do.

So, head to the port's shore, wrap up in a blanket provided by your bar of choice 

and enjoy a gluvine (mulled wine) while you watch the cargo ships go by in 30 degree weather.

This port-shore-beach was my highlight of the trip. (Besides eating, that is.)

The food in Germany is cheeeap and goooood! The few times we went out for lunch or dinner, the bill never, ever surpassed 15 euro per person, with beer and food and dessert and all sorts of happiness included. Sausages, baked potatoes, schnitzel, more potatoes, more meat, more beer... mmmm!



So, I've been to Germany a few times now. I've visited Munich, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Trier, and how Hamburg. I have to note that every time I go to Germany I feel more and more at home. In the end, most Minnesotans have some kind of German descendant (I've got a German descendant or two) and I can see parts of our Minnesota present that definitely come from Germany. Home sweet home! The whole meat and potatoes thing? Totally German! Meatloaf? German. Beer? (You know us Minnesotans like beer), German. The only thing that is not really Minnesotan that Germans have is a pair of extra balls in wintertime. All over Germany, all winter, the balconies and terraces and outdoor restaurants are open and actually have people sitting in their chairs enjoying beer or ice cream or dinner or whatever their little frozen hearts desire! When we were at this port side beach, freezing our asses off, there were lots of Germans just chillin' and enjoying... the cold? The views? They're outdoors all year round!


Now, for a dramatic theme change, lets move onto the whole prostitutes thing. We were staying in a pretty shady, yet somehow safe, neighborhood covered in the cheapest prostitutes in the city. Every four steps there was some woman, standing alone, waiting patiently in the cold for a customer. Kinda weird. That same neighborhood was full of Turkish dudes roaming the streets. Turks are the largest immigrant group in Germany, and in this neighborhood they were accompanied by a wide variety of African immigrants.

The prostitution doesn't stop there. It extends into the famous St. Pauli neighborhood, down a side street off the Reeperbahn. This is the Amsterdam-style prostitution street in Hamburg. It's one solitary street that's blocked off on both ends, with a giant sign forewarning you that women and boys under the age of 18 cannot enter. Men only. (They should prohibit entrance to married men, too.)

The prostitute street block-off

The Reeperbahn in the name of the main party street in Hamburg. It's full of bars, sex-shops and fast food restaurants. The streets are jam packed with party-goers of all kinds, definitely rivaling Amsterdam's red light district on all levels. The Reeperbahn was filled with strip clubs, sex shops and tacky, techno-bumping clubs. The side streets off the Reeperbahn each had their own character. Fancy going to hipster bars all night? You got it! We stopped in a bar that was set up like a house from the 60's- sofas, various rooms, and filled with lots-o-Ray Ban glasses wearing hipsters. From ritzy to dive-bar style joints, in St. Pauli you can find your place.

So, Hamburg's got it all. A teeny, tiny bit of everything. The only shitty thing is the weather- which the Germans don't seem to mind too much...

Ta-ta for now.