Weekend in Hamburg, Germany

From Denmark II

The big weekend plans were spending Sat & Sun in Hamburg, Germany... my first overnighter in Germany. I had not heard about the German Christmas markets until I started research on events in Hamburg... the 2nd biggest city in Germany (Berlin beats it).

Saturday morning it took just over 3 hours to drive to Hamburg. Now, this was an experience in itself. Mapquest quoted a 4 hour trip. However, the directions also involved the German autobahn. I went 240 miles in 3 hours... and that includes non-highway driving. Yep, I averaged 80 mph.... going mostly 90ish and topping out at 108mph. It was all very safe in the Audi A6. I could tell I was in Germany when the cars turned into Audis, BMWs, and Mercedes. Other than that, a flag, and a temporary speed limit decrease, there were no markers nor customs on the border.
The transportation "issue" was navigating & driving at the same time in the city where the street names not only hard to find, change at every intersection, not in a grid pattern, but they have similar letter ordering when you do find them. There were flurries flying in the air when I arrived. Perfect for an xmas weekend!

Upon checking into my single hotel room, I began adventuring around the city blocks. Wow. I thought Aarhus lighting & decorations were fancy, this place is fascinating! The many pedestrian blocks (think many 5th avenues for pedestrians) have lighted trees, there are dozens of passages (aka indoor malls) to browse, and outdoor german xmas markets in every neighborhood's city plaza. This means there were 5 of them within a mile walk! The pictures should give you an idea of the buvarian stands w/ evergreens, trees, lights and ornaments around the stand. They were selling wursts, bakery items, xmas products, homemade products (not many), and plenty of gluwein (heated spiced xmas wine). The streets had street muscians and miniature ponies that would happily take a donation as well.

The crowds were out in full force as well. The later it got in the day, the more people were out. Even on Sunday, when all the stores are closed (markets are open), there were crowds out and about.

Food. Yum! Other than a soup & a glass of wine, I ate by market vendors the whole time! My faves were kartoffel puffers (think thick pototo latkey), champiogns (sauteed mushrooms w/ sour cream dolluped over the top), fist-sized sypherical cookies w/ marzipan filling, and glewein!

Sat night after snacking at a cafe in hopes of meeting a foreign friend, I stopped by a crowded market gluwein stand as a last resort. Sure enough, I made eye contact w/ a blonde chic and we started chatting. She went to school in Hamburg & was hanging w/ her boyfriend, his childhood friend & his girlfriend. They all began chatting in English once I became apart of the conversation. After a few gluwein refills, we were boarding the subway to go to a different neighborhood. We hit up a couple bars there and by then the guys were wrecked and us girls were tired. Got back around midnight. They encouraged that I join them at their flat for a breakfast the next morning. Their flat was off the city map & she didn't know how to explain for me to take the city bus to get there, so it didn't quite work out.

So, I was off on my own. There's not much open on Sunday (read: no stores, even most restaurants), so it was difficult to find a breakfast. Even when I did, I had to talk the waiter into just selling me 1 OJ and 1 pastry... not the full brunch service. Anyways, I walked the huge harbor. It's quite a long walk along the harbor strand, and I didn't do 1/2 of it. Finished my visit with a final stroll through the last of the markets & spending the last of the Euros (or donating it to a street muscian or rescue dog operation).

The last highlight was picking up the car from the hotel's parking "lot". When arriving, I had driven the car into a 2 car back-to-back garage w/ a rotating platform in front. It seemed the car was driven onto the platform, rotates 90 deg, then driven through the side wall of the garage. Well, when I picked up the car, it was way, way cooler than that assumption. I was instructed to go wait "downstairs" in the garage. I went downstairs to where there was a 1-car garage w/ a ramp up to the street. Suddenly a door opened, and out came my car, w/ no one inside! It was being pulled from its underside by a mechanical pull. Once the car was in place, the pull retracted behind the door and the door closed. I was then in this 1-car garage by myself. It was effecient & neat! There was a picture of the system on the wall showing vertical rows of cars. As Jamie said, it was an auto-vending machine.

Uneventful drive home.


More thumbs up and definitely add a German Christmas Market to your lifetime To-Do List.