The Amazing Race: Hamburg 2012!

---

The Chaperones were not so subtly trailed to Hauptbahnhof this morning by some somewhat sly students who were utilizing every advantage they could possibly come by in order to win this most amazing of Hamburg races. We arrived to find several teams already at the pre-announced starting point. We met with each group to go over the plan, provide helpful hints and a map, and to remind them of safety strategies.

By 10:07, they were all on their way! This was by far the earliest that all the teams have been on the course, speaking to the savvy and determination of all of the competitors.

It was a great day wandering the city for the adults. Checking in with teams as we spotted them, or they spotted us. We got to speak to nearly every team at some point during the contest, either in person or by phone as they utilized their lifeline. As we patrolled the streets, we happened upon a pretty cool looking tennis facility. As Chris is a big time tennis enthusiast, we moseyed on in thanks to a caterer who may or may not have mistook us for members of the club. We came to find out that this is the home of the German Open, one of the biggest tennis tournaments in Germany. It has been played annually since 1892! Past winners include Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Venus Williams and Billie Jean King! Here we were, strolling around the empty stadium! Dare we venture on to the court? Chris of course asked a worker, who may or may not have understood him, and a confused nod opened the door! Posing for pictures on the court and even in the referees chair, Chris was one happy camper!

The weather improved over the course of the day and was sunny and quite warm as we approached the finish line at the Rickmer Rickmers on the Elbe. As teams came in they all immediately launched into stories of comical events that occurred over the course of the day. The S-Bahn was buzzing with what sounded like English (it was hard to tell due to the speed of their words), all the way back to Harburg.

One of the best was from a team that was completing the Europa Passage Mall section and was approached by a group of kids about their age speaking what souned like German. Our kids said "sorry, we don't speak German." The response... "Thank God! Either do we!" And they proceeded to ask our obviosuly prepared kids for some navigational help.

I was very impressed with the effort and enthusiasm today across the board! The groups seemed to work well together and everyone seemed to have a story to tell at the end of the day! There are some VERY tired American students who will sleep well tonight!

They’d better sleep well as we are swimming tomorrow and then heading into the city to experience the life changing “Dialogue in the Dark” blind museum!

And now, the winners of the Amazing Race: Hamburg 2012!

Completing the entire course in a time of 6 hours 26 minutes and getting all but three of the questions correct as well as several quality extra credits...

Team "Cool Cats", Alec Nielsen and Maryanna Foulds! Congratulations to all of the great competitors!

Team Cool Cats prizes will be purchased soon and they will also have the luxury of picking their own seats on the flights home from any of our group.

I really want to stress what a great job EVERY team did today! They stuck with it on a hot day and on a mentally and physically difficult course. I hope that you got to see some more of this great city and will take home some fond memories of this event!

---