Adventures in London: Issue 61

First of all, I should start by saying that I am not in the best of moods. While trying to download my photos from Hamburg, I ended up deleting all my photos. So sadly that whole weekend has become a void of photos :-( I have borrowedthe photos from Anne (Stan, I hope you don't mind). I honestly do not know how I managed to do this, of all albums to do it with too!! First it was corrupting y 2008 photos and now my Hamburg photos. Note to self: avoid the computer and photos when you are in a mood as I end up in one way or the other messing things up.

So anyway, back to the weekend. This weekend I made my first trip to Germany to visit Stan (aka Anne), my roommate from university. It was here birthday weekend and Hamburg was the desired location to meet up. It had been nearly a year since we last saw each other - amasing how time just goes by when you are not paying attention.

I arrived in Hamburg on Friday morning, after take a (very) early morning flight. I spent the day napping, waking around the city and taking photos. It was a good "ME" day.

I did discover something rather crucial though...I DO NOT speak a word of German. From the airport, I followed Stan's directions to the metro stop for our hotel (cutely we decided to stay at the Boston Hotel). When I arrived it dawned upon me - the map to the hotel was left at the office. The panic started to sink in as I had no idea how I was going to find my way to the hotel. I asked the cafe shop, the train information, the off-license shop...finally I went to the grocery store where 2 15year old boys (who did not speak a word of English) offered to take me to the the street of my hotel. I later discovered (after walking around the block and through a park) that the hotel was just down the street from the metro station...oye.

That evening Stan and her husband arrived. Once we met up it was as if no time had past between us. We started our evening with a drink in Central Park (a faux sandypark with beach chairs and bean bag seating). I guess these sorts of "parks" are quite common in Germany....I will say it was so relaxing to be in the open air, drinking a beer (earlier in the day I enjoyed a beer while reading Harry Potter). From there we walked over to Schulterblatt S, a cute street filled with restaurants of every cuisine you can think. We decided on a Spanish place and had a collection of tapas.

The next day after enjoying a German breakfast we enjoyed a leisurely day with a walk around the city centre, a canal tour of the harbor and a 3-hr beer break at a rooftop beach bar. Similar to Central Park, this beach bar was another faux beach bar situated on the top of a car park. The three of us sat on the rooftop, soaking up the sun and watching the boats go by. It was truly the most relaxing day that I have had in a long while. There is not a lot to see in Hamburg, which allowed for the perfect weekend - catching up with a dear friend, enjoying the sunshine, getting a massage and just being away from London. Oh and did I mentioned the delicious 3-scoop banana split...let's just say YUMMMY!!! It was gone before it got to the table. I don't recall the last time I ask an ice scream sundae that quickly!!

Well I think that it is for me. I hope you all are well. Stan, I hope I get to see you before you ship back to the States.

xx

T