Hamburg in November

November 13th--I woke up at noon.

A far cry from 6 AM in Dublin, right? Well, here in Hamburg I had a comfortable bed, no real timetable...anyway, I got down to Hamburg later than I would have liked, but I still saw some cool things.

In another mark of the tourist offseason, one of the main churches in the city center looks like this:

Also, in the category of annoying social commentary I offer you this old monument turned into a Burger King.

I moved on through the fairly crisp Hamburg afternoon as it started to drizzle. Despite that, the birds were out in full force--this trip has seen two firsts now: first time seeing a swan, and first time feeling genuinely intimidated as they crowded up to me for food.

I wandered around the city center some more and took some pictures before seeing a big dark tower and making my way to it.

The tower turned out to be St. Michael's, one of the big architectural draws in Hamburg, and as I approached it I decided that all these towers should be seen in half-light in freezing rain. It just makes it that much more of an experience.

Yessssss.

After seeing the tower, I met up with Karim to walk around some more. He took me to the University of Hamburg and then we had a drink at an enormous traditional beer hall before it really filled up, which was cool to see. Kitschy, but cool.

Something he told me as we walked around fascinated and awed me. He said that 80 percent of Hamburg was destroyed in WWII. Eighty percent! After this unimaginable devastation, they built many of the old buildings exactly as they had been, but with new materials, creating an interesting look.



Then we drove up to have dinner with the family, another fantastic German meal. It was great to be able to see and talk to people I haven't been around in 11 years.

Five great examples of the "Has the timer gone off yet?" face

The day finished with me typing away furiously on Karim's laptop to give you all the blog updates you crave. I resolve to get up earlier tomorrow and see the Hamburg harbor, including one of the biggest miniature cities...IN THE WORLD.