In Munich and Back Online

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Alright, so a few things have happened since I last logged in. Yesterday Sydony and I packed up in Bremen and headed off to Hamburg. We got up and off to the train station, a bit early, but then it is so much nicer to get to the station and find your platform than to be rushing around (with suitcases). While waiting for the train we noticed an odd mother and daughter (I think that's what they were) wearing old 70's style clothes. THen as we went to our platform we noticed a few other groups of people all wearing 70's era clothing. Bright colours, bell bottoms, platform shoes, big hair, flowers, it was all there. The platform that we were on had a number of trains all going to Hamburg and these people were all getting on. Our train was a bit late but it was nice that we had a reservation because 1st class was full of people. We got to kick people out of our seats and had a nice trip sitting all the way.

When we arrived in Hamburg everywhere you looked there was groups of people in 70's garb. We waited for a few U-bahn's to pass before getting on because they were so full of people. Once we got off the train we went outside and we were faced with a huge flight of stairs (57). After lugging our luggage up all of those steps we were faced with...more steps!! Luckily there was a ramp that slanted up hill that went all the way around to the front of the hostel. Once we rolled our bags up there (and it is actually pretty hard to roll heavy bags uphill) there were more steps!! After struggling up the last 25 stairs (in a muggy heat) we finally got into the hostel. We checked in and thankfully they had an elevator up to our 6 bed female dorm. There were large lockers so we could shove our bags in there and lock them away.

We went back to reception to ask about grocery stores, a catholic church nearby and why there seemed to be a huge infulx of people from the 70's. It turns out that on July 7th they have a 70's music festival where they play German music from the 70's and everyone dresses up. We went out to find the grocery stores and church but we got caught up in the mass of people on Reeperbahn (the main street). After that we stuck to the side streets, we walked parallel to the main street until we hit the street the church was on. It was a nice little church which has been around since the late 1600s. We kept walking down the street which turned into strip clubs, one after the other, until we hit the main street. We went into the grocery store and got a snack and went outside to sit on the curb and people watch. That worked well until it started to rain, but by then it was almost time for evening mass so we walked back to the church.

It was an interesting experience beause it was all in German! I didn’t understand most of the sermon but I could follow a bit when they were doing prayers. After church we stopped at a grocery store to pick up food for dinner. Since it was still raining we took the U-bahn back to our hostel, and climed all those steps AGAIN! It was much easier without our bags though. We tried to go to bed early so that we could get up early to go to the fischmarkt.

Having your room mates come in and turn on the bathroom light (which was across from our beds) and then open the window so the noise from the street comes in and you hear the fireworks which makes it sound like you are in the middle of a civil war. We finally got to sleep but morning came early just the same.

This morning we got up early and went to the Hamburg Fischmarkt. It is basically like a really huge farmers market. I am really glad that we went. I ended up buying a couple mango's and Sydony got some Strawberries. There were a few places that sold these huge baskets full of different types of fruit. I would have been tempted to buy one if we were not leaving for Munich. There were a few stalls which had guys yelling and it almost seemed as if they were auctioning off their fish and trees. It was interesting to watch. With our comparitively meager purchases we made our way back to the hostel in time for breakfast. Once we packed up and checked out we had to get our bags back down all of the stairs.

We got to the train station and found the platform. We stored our luggage behind our seats and then settled in for our 6 hour train ride across Germany. I read my book while Sydony fell asleep. Then I listened to music and Sydony read a book. Then we both listened to music for a bit. Well you get the point, it was a long trip! Our Hostel is very close to the train station though so that was nice. We are on the 4th floor and we have a balcony. There is not really much to see outside our window but there are a couple of chairs so one night we will have to sit out there with some drinks and just bask in the warmth of Germany.

After a rather sleepless night we are planning an early evening so that we will be rested to explore Munich.

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