Rathaus and Farewell Party

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Friday was a free day here in Hamburg. Some students went swimming with their partners, some headed up to the Baltic Sea for the weekend. A group of us met at the Rathaus for a great behind the scenes tour and a fun day in the city.

The day started when Heidi and I got to meet up with a student from the last exchange. Annika and her mom treated us to a fine hour of coffee and cake while reminiscing about the past exchange.

We met as a group at the city hall for a very interesting behind the scenes tour. We got to see original state rooms as well as the senate and representative chambers. There is a lot of interesting history to that building! The amount of plush artistic décor was truly impressive!

From there it was off on a boat trip on the Alster. It was an excellent way to find an artificial cooling breeze on such a hot day as well as see the city of Hamburg from a different angle.

After the boat trip, it was off to Planten and Blumen. This is an immense manicured Japanese garden complete with koi pond, Japanese Tea House and waterfalls. It was a great way to relax and beat the heat! We were treated to a great pizza dinner there at the park by the father of a friend of one of our German partner’s.

At 10pm we strolled over to another area of the park and found seats amongst the growing crowds. We got to watch quite a show! Changing lights colored the water fountains which were set to classical music. It was quite a show and easily made up for missing the 4th of July!

Sunday was the farewell picnic. We went to a sort of zoo where many of the animals are free to roam the park. Luckily, the carnivores are not given free roaming privileges!

It was a great time had by all! The food and atmosphere were perfect even if the weather was a bit warm. It is really hard to believe that there are just a couple of days left on this exchange!

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Comments

[Anna]

You're pictures are truly spectacular and your accounts wonderful. Thank you!