Five Ways to be Hella Happy in Hamburg

It's been three whole weeks since I've last posted, but I'm sure you can understand that while I enjoy writing about life, I most especially love concentrating on living it. This week, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about my experience in the city of Hamburg. I absolutely LOVED it there. The city is nice, the people are friendly and open; the food was great, and the shopping was a dream for me but a nightmare for my budget. These are the five things that I’m going to share with you today. Oh, and the Reeperbahn.

The City

The cultural history of Hamburg is as rich as many of the residents themselves. We took the time to visit the absolutely beautiful city hall and take a guided tour. It was worthwhile, and based on these pictures I snapped with my phone, I think you can see what I mean.

We encountered many friendly people, who were cordial,open and conversational; greeting strangers and passersby was a completely normal and natural occurrence (The whole “Moin” – “Moin, moin” greeting is so cute). In many parts of the southwest region of Germany, it’s almost considered a weakness to even acknowledge the presence of another person. It was so refreshing to see (once again) that this is not typically the norm in the country, but unfortunately more of a regional thing.

The Food

Anyone who had something to say about Hamburg (and of course, that was everyone) recommended two things: Taking an hour-long cruise along the harbor – which was very interesting and informative – and eat some of their delicious seafood. People were raving about the seafood and how fresh it is and so tasty…  Sorry, I ate enough seafood there at various price ranges and while it was good, well most of it, in my case, it was nothing worth writing home about. Meaning home to my fellow Floridians, of course.

Our understanding of “fresh” seafood is that we actually see the one fishing it out for us, cleaning it, plopping it into hot water and serving it up about a half hour later. Hamburg was excited about having had the seafood shipped to them earlier that morning. Okay.

A word of advice – the picture below may look like a shrimp roll (I love the shrimp and lobster rolls in New York), but unfortunately, it was just nasty. I ended up throwing those icky seaworms away along the pier. The meals I had later were well prepared and tasty (and not just seafood!).

The Shopping

My budget was very unhappy with me by the time we ended our trip, but my husband and I were hella-happy.

(Sorry, I couldn’t resist. This is a new beverage line released in Germany and it makes me laugh every time. I noticed it for the first time in Hamburg.)

If you have the cash, they have the goods. If you don’t have the cash, then you can look at the goods and have a good time with that. We certainly did. Some things were almost impossible to pass up, and my husband wasn’t immune to the great shopping opportunities either, bwah ha ha.

The fashion palate there is a bit more expansive than what I have typically associated with Germany over the years – meaning that it can generally be described as “European” as opposed to specifically “German”. I suppose that could be considered a backhanded compliment, but facts are facts.

Beyond shopping, the architectural structures throughout the city are AMAZING. The city is a successful combination of historical and modern, hip and traditional.

The Reeperbahn

I don’t have much to say about this area, except that the street is certainly an eye-opener. To be as euphemistic as possible, I can assure you that there was not one Disney or Nickelodeon product in the area; nevertheless, every single store boasted of selling a vast selection of toys.

Having been to Amsterdam twice, it wasn’t as shocking for me as some areas we stumbled upon there the first time; also, we were in St. Pauli during the week and avoided the weekend crowd. There was also a very strong police presence, and we did discover a really cool Turkish restaurant in the area.

Visiting the Beatles' monument (Beatles Platz) is a must for any music lover. The Reeperbahn, located in St. Pauli, is where the Beatles first performed and gained their fame throughout Europe. Initialy, there were actually FIVE Beatles, but one guy fell in love with a German and stayed there. Hmmm. Familiar story somehow.

By the way – most Germans don’t know about the beer St. Pauli Girl, which is one of the most popular beer exports from Germany. The irony of it all is that the brewery has nothing to do with Hamburg, the Reeperbahn or any “girl” – the smaller brewery is within the Beck’s huge brewery in BREMEN!

Have a great week.

xoxo CountryEuroCityMouse

©2012-2013 CountryEuroCityMouse™. All rights reserved.

I Hope this Isn't the Leading Brand of Gum...

I went to the grocery store to pick up some coke and saw this at the cashier's counter. At this point, my silly nature has been established, so you can already guess that when I saw this, I burst out laughing. There was a punk couple in front of me, and the girl turned to look at what I laughed at... She leaned in and started laughing as well. All I could say was, "Beinahe, oder?" (Pretty close, right?) She laughed and said, "Absolut." In any case, as always, pictures are worth a thousand words.

Smile - you've survived Hump Day (the middle of the week)! Have a great week.

xoxo CountryEuroCityMouse

©2012-2013 CountryEuroCityMouse™. All rights reserved.

Five Things I Love About Germany

I spend so much time talking about all of my very interesting (read: crazy) encounters, annoyances and strange events here; it's just now occurred to me to spend more time thinking about the things that I absolutely love about Germany. So, without further adieu, I will present to you five things that I love about my adopted Fatherland.

1. My husband. Well, he's German. This counts.

2. The Landscape. There are so many gorgeous regions throughout the country, and I've only seen a small fraction of them. I do hope to remedy this in the near future. It all depends on what you love to do. I tend to gravitate towards more cosmopolitan areas, but believe me, the German countryside is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful in the summer, fall, and winter; it's still wonderful in the spring, but it may be a bit wet. In any case, if you're ever in the country, be sure to have your camera ready.

3. The Baked Goods. I know, this sounds so stereotypical, but facts are facts. German bakers know how to make delicious bread. It's torturous if you have a sensitivity to gluten, but guess what? More bakeries are noticing a demand for gluten-free or gluten-reduced breads… at least in my neighborhood. Just around the corner, I have the choice between fresh baked Brötchen made from 100% rice flour or from spelt flour at one of my favorite bakeries. My husband, of course, has a smorgasbord of breads to choose from, including tons of pretzel breads, pastries, cakes, and marmalade-filled donuts (known as Berliner, in honor of JKF after he famously said, "Ich bin ein Berliner." What says "American" more than a jelly-filled donut?), cookies and more. Germans don't know what "pies" are the way we Americans know them to be - rich buttery, flaky crusts encasing fruits or nuts; however, they still make pies, calling them either Kuchen or Torte depending on the recipe. For the USA version, I've had to learn to bake my own from scratch. A pretty handy skill, but the inconvenience of it has probably saved me from gaining 20 lbs.

4. Public transportation. It doesn't matter where you are, more likely than not, you're going to have access to affordable and (generally) reliable public transportation throughout Germany. This is absolutely AMAZING. No matter what your level of income, using PT is almost treated as though it's a civic duty here – which is a good thing. It's environmentally friendly, it lets you take care of things while someone else is driving, and especially on the weekends or late nights, provides a safe way for people to get home who could have otherwise been in a position to harm others. The German trains are most prevalent, but there are trams (trollies), buses and also opportunities to register share bicycles and cars. Of course, taxis and rental cars are also available everywhere.

5. The architecture. Some of the most beautiful buildings are right under your nose, so to speak. When you go about your day-to-day activities, it's very easy not to notice the beauty that surrounds you. I don't care where you live - there is always something new for you to discover and appreciate. You just have to take the time to do it, and look at your environment in a way that you usually wouldn't. I call this living like a tourist. I can always spot a tourist miles away because he or she isn’t looking straight ahead or around like locals do. They are always looking up and around. This was especially true in New York, where you could recognize immediately who was used to the skyscrapers and who wasn't. The same thing happens here in Germany. There are so many edifices that are literally centuries old, and they're absolutely beautiful, and it's worth remembering that as you walk around. Germany, France and Spain have done such a wonderful job of preserving historical buildings by restoring them and often also incorporating modern architectural works –usually in a tasteful and artistic manner. In my opinion, France has done an exceptionally wonderful job of balancing the historical with the modern, most specifically, in Paris.

I originally wanted to write the top TEN things that I love about Germany, but I don't want them to get a big head or anything. ;-) I hope to have more opportunities visit this subject again later – maybe I'll even incorporate a few pictures.

Have a great rest of the week.

xoxo CountryEuroCityMouse

©2012-2013 CountryEuroCityMouse™. All rights reserved.