Sunday, May 18, 2014 - Hamburg (Liz)

We got ourselves ready to go earlier than normal this morning in order to check out the Sunday Fischmarkt. It was quite similar to Seattle's Pike Place Market, full of food vendors, fresh produce stands, fresh fish, and handicrafts. This market had a completely different vibe to it compared to the Nishiki market that we visited in Japan, as this one seemed to be geared towards consumers rather than restaurants and larger food suppliers.

Indoor entertainment portion of the market

View of Hamburg's harbor, plus a drunk guy lying down

The neighborhood of the Fischmarkt also gave it a unique vibe. It is located in the Reeperbahn/St. Pauli area, know for being the most sinful part of the city. There is even one street completely blocked off that can only be accessed by males ages 18+. That being said, there were drunkards all over the market, some hung over and some still partying from Saturday night. Most seemed to be in their late teens or twenties. One of them gave Mark a high-five.

We took things a bit slower today because of Mark's tendon, but he was a really good sport. We found him some ibuprofen and that helped a bit.

Before church we also visited the Rathaus, or town hall. It is exquisite and Baroque in style, one of the most renowned in all of Europe. The Rathaus is located right near the water where there were flocks of both ducks and swans. I'm sure Claire would have loved it if she hadn't been mostly asleep.

Overlooking the harbor near the Rathaus

Church came next. I was happy to find that there were headsets available and one of the missionaries was translating the meeting into English. After sacrament meeting a Latina woman came up to us and asked us (in Spanish) if we spoke Spanish. That was unexpected and it took my brain a few seconds to switch gears. She had thought we were from Spain. Come to find out, she was from Trujillo, Peru and has been living in Hamburg for a few years now. It was a pleasant surprise for us to be able to get a little Spanish practice in!

Enjoying the train!

After taking a nap and lunch break at our hotel, our next stop was St. Michaeliskirche, northern Germany's largest Protestant baroque church (yes, that's a mouthful). As it is baroque in style, the inside was quite fancy. We took an elevator up to the top of the church tower, about 109 meters up. Looking out over Hamburg was lovely but it also gave us the heeby-jeebies.

The elevator had a screen with cool stats on it

Our final sight for the day was my absolute favorite, Miniatur-Wunderland. If we hadn't had Claire with us, we could have easily spent half a day there absorbing all of it. There is a display of trains and figurines representing different parts of the world, totaling 1,300 square meters. The display changes from daytime to nighttime as you walk though it. The immense detail is breathtaking. Not only are there moving trains but also cars, trucks, hot air balloons, UFOs, and even an airport with planes taking off and landing. Claire really enjoyed watching the exhibits. My favorite part was the Lindt chocolate factory in the Switzerland section. Much to our surprise the factory actually "produced" a mini chocolate bar about once a minute that was released to a dispenser for a passerby to enjoy. Both Mark and I took advantage of that. Mark's favorite part was the Hamburg soccer stadium. (The Hamburg section of the Wunderland was especially impressive for obvious reasons.) I am including a link to Wunderland's official video. Take a look. It's awesome. Most of our photos came out blurry.

A little blurry, but comical. Different people using their bathrooms.

The main soccer stadium in Hamburg. The detail of the fans was incredible. A game was going on while we were there and they showed the real-time score on the screen.

This would be a fun job!

Switzerland section

My chocolate from the Lindt factory!

We found dinner at an Asian restaurant close to the main station and I was happy to have a plate filled mostly with veggies. An important soccer game was on at the time to determine if Hamburg would get demoted to a lower league so that was fun to catch a glimpse of. Tomorrow we will be packing up first thing so we can head to Berlin.

Observations:

• The Hamburg U-Bahn stations that are handicap accessible have diagonal elevators that run parallel to the steps. The provide an unusual sensation when you start and stop.
• OUR HOTELS DON'T HAVE FLAT SHEETS! This was in both Odense and Hamburg. It's weird sleeping directly between the bunchy sheet and the comforter with nothing in between. Mark doesn't think this is weird at all.