Germany - Hamburg, Hildesheim and Dresden

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We arrived in Germany after three weeks in Scandinavia. We'd had a bit of a break in Copenhagen, two nights alone after spending six weeks with family. We were so touristed out, we didn't even take one blog worthy picture in Denmark.

Our first stop in Germany was Hamburg. We were meeting up with Laura, who worked with Andrew last summer in Ottawa. We toured around Hamburg for the day and then stayed at Laura's place in the little town of Hildesheim. After three very relaxing nights, we had to head south, continuing to head in the direction of Budapest, our next flight.

Highlights:

- Seeing Laura! We'd missed her sense of humour and love of all things sweet (she will be personally responsible for a few of my cavities in later life after introducing me to real German Haribo gummy bears).

- Laura's great place. We felt like moving in. Her roommates Yurdi and Juliana and friend Alison made us feel like part of a big happy family, crowding around the table for good food and lots of laughs.

- Being big kids at the Phaeno hands-on science museum. Particularly memorable was watching Laura hurl herself against a giant padded blue wall with reckless abandon.

- Walking through the woods in Hildesheim...thoroughly relaxing

- Almost making it to Prague....We were already on the train when we realized that our 'global' Eurail passes included every country we wanted to see, except for the Czech Republic. Oops! We got off the train in Dresden instead, which we had considered seeing as well, but had axed from the list because we didn't have enough time to see both cities. After a quick one-day tour of Dresden, we took the train to Vienna, going the long way around so that we could avoid the Czech Republic altogether. Some planners we are!

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Photos

Strolling in Hildesheim
A beautiful fall afternoon hiking through the woods with Laura and Yurdi in Hildesheim. Good for the soul.

Hedgehog
This cute little guy was just about to cross our walking trail as we strolled in Hildesheim. It was the first time we had ever seen one!

Hamburg Dude
Fountain detail in Hamburg

Needles Anyone?
Laura with the drug paraphanalia vending machine that is right across the street from her place. We wanted a heroine kit for a cool souvenir, but we didn't think customs would approve.

Fun at Phaeno
Being big kids at the Phaeno hands-on science museum....we loved it.

Relax
Andrew, trying to relax his mind at Phaeno...the headband measures brainwaves, and he who relaxes more wins.....I lost this one to Jen

The Ontario Bar
Jen finds a little slice of home in Desden.

Grumpy Andrew
It was cold and damp, and I'd had enough walking around cities looking at old buildings for a lifetime (I got better)

Grey Day in Dresden
It was not a nice day to be touring the city, but it was the only day we had

Augustus the Strong
It was incredible how bright the gold leaf was on this bleak, grey day