A Hamburger in Paradise

Though I've been in Denmark now for a short while, I've yet to document the last days of the CBS pre-trip. The Netherlands was no slouch, and Hamburg did not disappoint. We boarded my favorite European bus service, Eurolines, in Amsterdam and prepared ourselves for the seven hour trip northwest to the great port city of Hamburg. I was feeling the after-effects of a week in Holland, and was able to entertain myself for most of the ride by simply staring out the bus window. The bus arrived at Hamburg's massive ZOB at 23:00, and I did my best to rub the Eurolines sleepy dust from my eyes, as there was work to do. The plan was to stay with someone from the couchsurfing network. If you're not familiar with couchsurfing, it's a network of people, from all over the world, who offer their couch to fellow travelers. Don't tell my parents, but I've used this resource before. It's a money-saver, the hosts are usually cool, and you have instant access to a great source of knowledge on the city. We managed to find the right bus to Malte (our host) and arrived with out much trouble. After some good convo, we crashed on the available sleeping surfaces.

Malte had to work in the morning, so Pete and I woke up and readied for the day. We left the comfortable flat in search of breakfast, and found it at a nice cafe called Bagel Park. The Germans do a nice lox, and one gross (Deutsch for big) coffee later we were good to go. Malte was only hosting for a night, so we tracked down a hostel a little north of the center, which turned out to be one of the nicer hostels I've stayed at. The dorm rooms were only four or five beds, and were roomy, clean and bright. And I actually witnessed someone cleaning the bathroom.

We were turned around on the way back, but eventually found our way. Maps are hard. That evening we planned to see a gratis hip hop show on the university campus. Our hostel was in a largely Turkish neighborhood, also known for it's anti-establishment punk roots, which made for a cool ambiance. We dined at this Turkish potato place. The meal basically consisted of a giant baked potato stuffed with pretty much anything you could think of. A Warsteiner later we boarded the metro for the University. Never found the Pony Bar, and cursed whoever printed those terrible flyers for the hip hop show. We headed back to catch a late beer at Fritz Bauch, and called it a night.

Wednesday was a big day. We started it by heading out to a museum dedicated to Ethnology, the largest of its kind in the world. There was a great photo exhibit created from archives of trips to places like Egypt, Iran, Turkey and Tunisia in the mid-1800's. It was a really cool look at these places during the birth of tourism, and before every traveler wielded a digital camera. From there we headed down to the port. Hamburg is Germany's most important port, and it connects to the North Sea via the Elbe, which flows from as far east as the Czech Republic. The "port city" label gave Hamburg a blue-collar feel, and it was interesting to see tourists walking a boardwalk looking over a bustling port.

If you weren't aware, the first Euro Cup semifinal was Wednesday, and the matchup was Germany v Turkey. Germany boasts (or claims) over 2.5 million Turks, and it was just as common to see a Turkish flag flying in the city as it was a German flag. There was a giant public viewing area set-up in a central park, and it quickly filled with fans. They closed the gates before Pete and I could sneak in, and we watched a handful of people attempt scaling the barricades. We settled for a busy street cafe with a big widescreen, and we watched the match with six-packs of Beck's at our feet and German fans all around. It was a fantastic match, and ended 3-2 in Germany's favor, so the place erupted. We followed the growing crowd, eager for some good old-fashioned rioting, and found what we were looking for by tracking a long line of police swat vans. The mob moved down a main boulevard, heading south to the Reeperbahn and singing and shouting. The Reeperbahn is Hamburg's infamous red light district, situated close to the port, for easy sailor access.

The mob grew, and eventually we found ourselves singing and shouting along with thousands of German fans. Pete took some good video, which I'll add to the bottom of the post. All this celebrating made for a late-night, and the 7:30 bus to Copenhagen on Thursday hurt a little bit. Still, we arrived mostly unscathed and running on adrenaline, and moved into Kathrine Kollegiet. I have some initial impressions of Copenhagen city life, which I'll get to soon. For now, enjoy the videos and farvel.