Day 29 (July 7th): Hamburg

We all slept pretty late and woke up around 10:00 AM. Anika had all sorts of rolls, cheeses and meats for us for breakfast. Everything was tasty. We then showered up, got dressed and hit the road. Anika lives 20 minutes north of the center of Hamburg and driving/parking is very difficult in the city. There is a bus stop right outside of Anika's apartment so we took the bus (had to change buses once) and made it downtown in 45 minutes. First we walked over to the Rathaus Platz (city hall) which is right on the lake. There was a couple getting married and a photographer was taking pictures by the water. The kids had fun playing with the ducks and swans and we hung out for a while. In the Platz, they were having a wine festival and Al/Anika got a wine drink with pieces of strawberry in it and the kids got a pretzel each. All of sudden the sun disappeared and it started to rain. We headed into the Rathaus (city hall) and walked around. There was a nice fountain in the courtyard and the kids kept going over to it in the rain with their umbrellas and they were the only ones out there(see bottom picture). The kids and I then walked several flights of stairs to the top of the Rathaus and looked down on the courtyard. No one else was there and they were getting scared. When we came back down another couple had just gotten married and they were taking family pictures on the steps. They were an interesting couple. The bride had a large tattoo on her back and the groom wore a strange red belt and white shoes. Someone told us that anybody getting married in Hamburg must have a ceremony at the Rathaus.

Anika had heard about a festival going on in the Reeperbahn section of Hamburg so we headed over there. Along the way we saw a number of people dressed up in very colorful outfits wearing flowers. They were obviously part of the festival. When we got to the Reeperbahn lots of people were hanging out drinking beers and other beverages. Al and Anika bought an apple shot from a guy on the street selling them from a pressure pack he wore on his back. The rains started again so we found a "dry" spot under an umbrella in a beer cart. I enjoyed a nice Warsteiner as we waited out the rain. We then motivated to another spot to get some food. We found a Subway shop and the kids had sandwiches and we used the restrooms. The Hamburg Casino was practically next door so I headed over there and got my fourth chip (ok chip). In the streets there were thousands of people dressed up and drinking. They didn't seem to mind (or feel) the rain. We then moved down the street to another spot closer to the beginning of the festival. It started raining again so we found a little Turkish food shop next to an alcove where we hung out. Al and Hannah got a slice of pizza and then the kids got some ice cream. Finally the festival began and truck loads of people began heading up the street. Each trunk was blasting different German music and everybody was singing and drinking (see middle picture). The people on the truck were bouncing to the music and you could see the whole truck moving side to side. Most, if not all, of the trucks had a beer dispenser on it and a port-o-potty. Behind each truck people were dressed up and dancing along to the music. Some people were dressed very strange, i.e. transvestites and there were glass bottles all over the place. I saw a couple of guys get very friendly with each other. The kids definitely noticed the odd people and kept saying "why is everybody drunk?". The rains kept starting and stopping until finally they held off all together and the sun came out. Everybody was in a good festive mood and we had a lot of fun. The picture on the top exemplifies the day. You can see the husband of the wife laughing at her as I'm taking the picture. Occasionally we would see an ambulance race by and we would see someone passed out on the side with medics surrounding them. Hannah saw one person vomiting and pointed it out to me. Good "eye-opening" experience for the kids? We watched the festival for over three hours and saw all the trucks go by (about 30+). It was 6:45 PM and we headed back to the subway. Along the way back we ran into the festival again as it circled back through the streets of the Reeperbahn. There was no shortage of odd individuals consuming massive amounts of alcohol. We knew it was time to head out of this area. We got back to Anika's around 7:30 PM and then went out to dinner. Anika drove us in her Yaris car and we went to a local Italian restaurant. Zach got a pizza so he was happy. I had a minestrone soup that was different than what I had expected. It had a yellow vegetable broth with chopped vegetables in it. It was fine. I had a good salmon with a beer for dinner. Dinner was good but we were all tired and wanted to head back to the apartment. We let the kids watch some of Ice Age 2 while they relaxed in bed. Al, Anika and myself stayed up and had a drink with some good German chocolate. We wanted to go to the Hamburg fish market tomorrow morning so we needed to wake up early. It was after 12:00 AM so we decided to hit the sack. We had a very busy, but fun day.