America 1 + America 2 take a trip: DAY 29: Oh Jungen!!

Even when we have an opportunity to sleep in, per usual, neither of us do. Even though we're in separate bedrooms here, we still managed to wake up at similar times. Thorsten picked us up and drove us to Hamburg by 10ish, telling us about the harbour and all the changes that have taken place since it no longer requires the same amount of manpower as it did post-WW2. There, he dropped us at a museum called the Minatur Wunterland...home to the biggest model train set in the world. Basically, they reconstructed and invented bits of the world, from Hamburg itself to America (Miami, Vegas, and “the wild west”) to Scandinavia, all connected by working model trains, planes, and auto-mobiles. The had a Luftansa plane taking off and landing, working ships on water in the Scandinavian part, and trains climbing a 6 meter Matterhorn recreation. We had to fight groups of very old tourists, and were there for about 3 hours, just watching it all, especially intrigued when the lights would shift the whole place to a night setting, which was just as cool as seeing it in the light.

A chocolate factory was also a part of the experience! See the video.

After this, we wandered down the main road out of Harbour City and into Hamburg proper, stopping to get a Brautwurst and a (exceedingly) delicious pastry on the way. We then made it to the city hall and then wandered up into the shopping area, where we looked at the stores but had no need to buy anything. By that time, Hendrik had finished classes and met us to have lunch (in a cafe on the edge of the smaller of the two lakes—gorgeous), run some needed errands, and then return home, where we proceeded to have “farmer's breakfast”--scalloped (ish) potatoes, bacon, onions, and many spices inside a giant omelet bit of egg, along with Caesar salad and pickles and ham. It was amazing, as we have come to expect.

Hendrik's two friends, Sebastian (Basti) and Jani (pronounced Yani; it's taken 2 days to figure out how to spell it correctly), came while we were finishing and waited for us to get ready before heading out about 7ish. The rest of the evening was exceedingly fun with just the four of us, and then Sandra, Hendrik's sister, who met us later, around 10 at the bar/club/restaurant where we ended up.

Highlights (and lowlights) include:

Jani unable to get into the club place—Sausalitos—the first time, and me talking my way in and getting Katie in too by explaining that we both were born in 1989 and did not speak German (sidenote: I was terribly excited to be able to say that I was over 21, because it doesn't really apply to places in Europe—except this exclusive little club—and isn't important until I get back in the States).

Watching the Germans wait around for the crosswalk sign to turn green, even though there weren't any cars in the entire vicinity. “We're German: we obey the rules.”

Basti explaining that his English would get better with the more beer he had, so, when forgetting a word, he would pause and reach for his bottle, take a sip, and then remember the word and continue the conversation. An hour later, he decided that it was having a reverse effect.

Going back to Sausalitos, Jani as my “American” boyfriend—because I had already been stamped in—and STILL not getting him through. So, Hendrik, pretending to be American, Katie and I all worked on the nicer of the three bouncers and FINALLY got Jani inside.

Riding the entire way home in the taxi with my face out the window was quite memorable too. Not to mention freezing. (I don't know if we've explained this in full detail yet, but it is freezing here. To the degree of frost and we can see our breath at night).

Basically, it was good company, fun conversation, and an all around good night for the most part. It was weird to realize that we got home at about 12:30—which by all accounts is not a very late night at all.