Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

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Every time we’ve hit a new city, its gotten colder., to the point where we look back now and the first stops dont seem cold at all. Paris was cold, Amsterdam was cold, Cologne and was cold but Hamburg is in a cold league all of its own. Unlike the other cities, where it was freezing when the wind picked up, Hamburg is just freezing. No wind, but literally freezing. It was 0 degrees at 2pm and by the time the sun starting going down at 4pm, it was way below freezing ( but then it snowed and all was right in the world!)

Arriving in Hamburg we have been in awe twice, once by the size of the train station and secondly by our hotel. The Hotel SIDE where we are staying is a boutique posh hotel that is quite affordable. Ok I lied, we’ve been in awe 5 times, the third time was when we got to our hotel room, massive by the standards we’ve had so far! (I’ll get to the third and fourth times shortly).

Heading out, we headed towards the centre of town and came across more Christmas markets (I knew there would be Christmas markets in Germany, I never quite appreciated how many). After a small wander through these, and lunch with was this awesome potatoe, pastry, cheese thing (yeah I don’t know but it was yum!), we decided to head to the Reeperbahn, Hamburg’s Red Light District.

On the way to the Reeperbahn, we came across a pond, frozen pond! I’ve never seen a frozen pond so into the park we went to have a closer look and it was incredible. The smallest part of the pond wasn’t frozen over and it this part were a number of ducks, trying and failing to swim through the ice. It was amazing seeing a frozen pond and just shows how cold it is here!

The Reeperbahn, a main street in Hamburg with a number of smaller streets coming off it form the Red Light District here. While not as in your face as Amsterdam, there are a number of sex shows and table dance shows here, just not the red windows that you see in Amsterdam. I had read (thanks Lonely Planet) that there was a street in the Reeperbahn, called Herbertstrasse that women and boys under 18 were not allowed down. Naturally, we went in search of the street and I was going to send Chris down it. On Herbertstrasse as I’ve already said, women and boys under 18 are not allowed down it, you will get pee thrown on you if you do! As I wasn’t quite in the mood for a golden show, I was quite conscious of the streets we were on to make sure we didn’t inadvertently end up on the street. I needn’t have worried, we came to Herbertstrasse and it was closed! Big signs telling you that women and boys under 18 were not allowed. Of course, I made Chris go have a look (forgot to take his money this time), he came back not so shortly after to tell me the women there had nothing on the girls in Amsterdam and it would be like “proposition your teacher”. While he was telling me, a large group of women came up to the barricades and poked their heads around to have a look. Knowing I wouldn’t be the first, I went to do this first.Herbertstrasse was a very quiet street filled with red light windows that looked nearly empty.. Why they only allow men over 18 down there I dont know, obviously they just want those that’ll pay!

There were Christmas markets set up in the Reeperbahn, I jokingly said to Chris that I wondered if they would be influenced by the shows around them, and yes, yes they were! These were the naughty Christmas markets complete with a strip show after 6pm and stalls full of sex toys! It was refreshingly different and interesting to have a look through the stalls.

As we’d been approaching the Reeperbahn, we saw a fair set up and on the way back to the hotel, decided to have a look and WOW, Im glad we did (although Im not sure I’ll ever go down SideShow Alley at the Royal Show again), this was an epic fair of rides, food and games. Even though the event appeared to be a family friendly event, the rides were interesting. With rides called Love Dream and Flasher, and pictures of women with their boobs out on the rides, you wondered how much was for the children and how much was for the men that wished they were in the Reeperbahn instead. Overall, this event was very entertaining to see however by now it was dark and well below zero so we decided to call it a night, finishing off the night in a lovely steak place. We thought we’d been heading back for a quiet night in.

But when we came out from dinner it was SNOWING! Really good snow this time, that covered the streets and left them in white, not melting away straight away like it did in Cologne. We took photos, playing around in the snow again like crazy Aussies before the cold got the better of us and we headed to the room.

However we weren’t there long, Chris looked out the window to see the surrounding roof tops covered in white. We quickly rugged up again and ran onto the streets below, making snow balls as we went and buying a bottle of bubbles and covering it in snow! Like I said, crazy Aussies. I’ve never seen anything like it was here, not even in Russia, it was magical being in the snow as it fell covering the ground in a while film and I cant wait to see more of it!

The next day was filled with a three hour walking tour of Hamburg followed by 5hours in the pub with members of the group and the guide having a meal and a few drinks! The tour was great and it was a lovely way to end Hamburg.

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Comments

[mum]

i'm crying again
my little baby. the joy of that snow brings back memories of when I had christmas in Germany when I was 11 and it started to snow on Christmas Eve

[Mumsie]

Reading this over and over
Closest thing I have to my email buddy when I am feeling GRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Just keep reading this one over and over to bring my sanity back. :)