And of course... My train WOULD break down on the way to Hamburg.. but I was able to get ahold of Louisa, my host, to tell her. When I arrived (about hour late) we went to her flat to put my bag down and then headed out to find something to eat! We ended up going to a baked potato place.. I had the Mediterranean one, and Let me tell you.. it was more delicious than Chipotle! Afterward, we walked through the tunnel underneath the harbour! Then had a great view of the city from the other side.. it was really nice. No skyline though.. that's what America is known for.. not cities in Europe.
The next day I lollygagged half the day, doing couch requests, showering, cleaned some clothes, then finally headed out around 3:30 lol.. when it starts getting dark (it gets dark around 3/3:30 here).... I grabbed lunch at a nearby bakery (sidenote, cappuccinos are becoming my new mocha), then headed toward the tourist information office in the main train station, haptbanhof, for a map, and then.... it just so happens, with my amazing luck! That when I finally head out, it starts raining! Seriously!? Right when I go out to walk around the city, when I FINALLY get out and about.. it starts raining.
I didn't let it deter me though! I walked around a bit.. Haha it was in the wrong direction I wanted to go.. but I walked around! Lol I passed many shops that I decided to go into, and I got more warm socks! Since I only brought one pair.. Then I set up shop in a cafe.. where they had mochas!! I got a white chocolate mocha, caught up on my journal, and chatted with the baristas.
I went to the Freezers game tonight; the Hamburg / Berlin hockey game. It was awesome!! My couchsurfing host, Louisa works at the O2 Arena in Hamburg, and she ordered me a ticket for the game!
Let me just talk a bit about this experience.. first I was late, then I couldn't figure out where to pick up my ticket.. and no German knew the words "pick up" ..when I finally found a person who did, they told me the wrong place to get my ticket, Haha then the lady at that ticket window directed me to another entrance... Which was locked.. of course. So I went into the next closest entrance but it looked very VIP, so I had my doubts about this one because it looked like the rich person entrance. Haha well, sure as shit that was where I was supposed to be!! Weird though.. they didn't give me a ticket, but a wristband.. made of ribbon, and then just told me to go upstairs. I figured it would lead me to an area like in the Gund Arena where there are different entrances based on your seat number.. little did I know, I'd be walking through long closed off and really classy looking hallways, with people to help me if I needed anything every 50 meters, which opened up to a really nice bar/lounge. There was a number on my wristband which told me where to go.. I thought it was a seat number, Nope! It was a lounge number! VIP to the max!
The game was great, a lot of fun, and the Freezers (Hamburg) won!! It seems no matter where you are, the tunes of the cheers are the same.. the only difference is the words in the cheers... they totally weren't in English (of course), but I forgot for a second that I was in a foreign country, until I was yelling "Charge!" and.. they weren't yelling that at all lol. I will say though, that they have a lot more chants than we do for hockey (maybe it's this way for all sports here too?) It's really cool.. I was in the lounge just above the cheering section of the crowd, it was great!
I'll actually write about the city of Hamburg tomorrow.. when, hopefully, it isn't raining..
(Soo glad I found a jacket and boots...)
<3 M
Thanks for expanding on the experience! Despite the rain and the dark and other things that might not go exactly how you want, you have to admit that you are pretty freakin' lucky with how things work out. You know that everybody's jealous of your life, right? =)
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