Leeds to Mannheim

Moin

This week has nearly been all about Cecily’s birthday with a meal on Thursday and hamburg to celebrate all weekend. I’ve also got another exam done (two to go) and finished all but 2 of my classes!

Last Wednesday afternoon I met Kathrin for cake at a café of her choosing- Café Rosterei. She chose the café for the atmosphere but certainly not the prices with a slice of, not particularly good, cake costing just under 5 euros! We had a nice chat though and it was fun to hear about what had happened at the club since I left before they went. It also sounds like a good job I didn’t go because everyone was very drunk! In the afternoon, I caught up with Cecily in the Paradeplatz as it was such a beautiful day and we thought it would be nice to just sit in the sun. We talked for so long that I was nearly late to the Insight even I was attending in the evening where we ate Wurst and Brezeln.

Thursday was Cecily’s birthday, so I made her a vegan cake when I first got up and then tutored while it was cooling. Before the meal, Eeva arrived with skittles and gold leaf and we decorated the cake ready to take with us. The meal was lovely, we went to Kombuse again and it was sweet because it’s quite a small place and there were only a few of us there. We hid the cake from Cecily and once we were finished eating, we took her to the side of the river and sang to her. She was so excited, and it was the perfect afternoon to sit outside and eat cake.

It was finally time for hamburg on Friday and after a five-hour journey, some of which was spent sat on the floor outside the train toilets, we arrived! The boys had taken an overnight bus as it was cheaper and Eeva had taken a much earlier train, so she was already there. By the time we got there, everyone was very hungry so the first thing we did, after a few pictures of the incredible Rathaus, was find a restaurant. We ended up at one called ALEX which was the only place in Germany I’ve seen that reminds me of a British chain- it was a bit like Wetherspoon’s but posher and more expensive. Most of us had a curry.

Once we had eaten, we thought we should look around a bit until it was time to check-in to the Airbnb. We started by exploring two churches, guided by Reuben who has a huge book with information about all the main cities in Germany. We then ended up In the Scientology church which was less of a church and more just an interactive exhibition about Scientology. The exhibition was more normal than I expected but we think they missed out all the weird bits! We watched videos on their take on raising children and drugs but it’s basically just common sense. They even gave us a guide to happiness through common sense which says things like don’t do anything illegal; don’t kill anyone; and don’t do harmful drugs- all very helpful advice!

We finished our quick tour with a trip to the Chile house which is a building that’s designed to look a bit like a boat. It didn’t entirely make sense as it didn’t look like a boat but I appreciate what they were trying to do... The arches are shaped like the bottom of a boat and the walls are in the same style as the sides of an older boat like a pirate ship.

The Airbnb was incredible. It was one apartment for us all but had a beautiful lounge, fully equipped kitchen and bathroom and two huge bedrooms. We were all tired but still wanted to see hamburg, so we rested there watching German TV for an hour before setting off again! This time we went to see the river and the big concert hall- Elbphilharmonie. We got to go to a viewing point on the concert hall and could see across the rivers, some of the views were more impressive than others though as there was a huge building right next to the concert house blocking everything on one side! By this point everyone was hungry again, so we set off to find somewhere to eat. Cecily and I didn’t want another big meal, so we sat with the others while they ate at an Irish pub and then went to the supermarket for a wrap on the way back. At night we played some games and then went to bed, exhausted from travelling and exploring.

As we had a kitchen, we made breakfast and ate together in the Airbnb on Saturday morning. We had toast, baguette, cheese, ham, salami and biscuits! The boys didn’t get up till quite late though, so we didn’t end up leaving the apartment till just before 12. The first thing we did in hamburg centre was walk along the river to a church that was burned down in World War 2 bombings- St Nikolai. It looked very similar to the Koln Dom so must have been very beautiful before. You could pay to take a lift to the top and see views of hamburg. I thought these views were better than those from the day before at the concert hall!

We walked back towards the main part of the city and ended up at a café with the same name as the one I had visited with Kathrin earlier in the week! It was a nicer café and incredibly busy (and the cake was cheaper). However, the cake I had was bad but that’s probably my fault for being greedy and buying cake I didn’t really need! We considered going to Miniature Wunderland but it’s quite expensive and had a 60-minute wait so instead we walked to another viewpoint in the city, took a few photos, and then headed towards the botanical gardens. We decided to walk there which meant we could see the views all along the river and walk from other parks on the way. We stopped in front of a huge statue of Otto von Bismarck which was interesting as I have been learning about him in my German history class. The park with the Botanical Gardens was beautiful, one of the nicest parks I’ve ever seen! However, by the time we arrived we didn’t have time to go in the gardens as we needed to eat before heading to Eurovision!

We got a bus from the park to St. Paulius where the Eurovision stage was going to be and where all the restaurants are. Once there we split into groups as the boys wanted fish and we wanted a good vegan place for Cecily. We ended up at a vegan burger place called Happen Pappen and had really incredible vegan burgers that tasted like meat. I think the people working there must have been having a stressful day though as they were quite rude to us. The boys ended up at a restaurant 2 buildings down from us and said it was the best seafood they had ever had!

Once we were all full, we headed to the Eurovision area of hamburg! We got into the second section which was the nearest you could get without paying. At first, we were stood by the back but Eeva and Alex dragged us all forward and we ended up at the very front with a great view. It was fun being there with so many other people watching but I thought the actual Eurovision was a bit disappointing. We had done a sweepstakes and I ended up with San Marino as my country, so there was no way I was going to win, but I cheered them on relentlessly and thought their performance was pretty good! My favourite was Spain, but they barely got any points. It was also quite funny to be watching in a German crowd when the words “sorry, 0 points from the public vote” was read out for Germany’s performance. They all took it quite well!

Despite being exhausted, we all got up early on Sunday morning to have breakfast and clean up before check-out time. We then headed straight to see Mark, a friend of Alex who had come to the Eurovision party with us, who was letting us put our backpacks in his room. After dropping off our stuff he started to show us round. First, he took us to a fish market as everyone wanted to try Fischbrötchen. I went for a fish Frikadelle one which was effectively just a fish cake in bread, but the boys were a bit more adventurous with herring and raw onion! We then went on one of the cities ferry taxis and got to stand on the top deck as it sailed across the river Elbe.

Once the ship arrived by the U-boat museum we left, partly as Mark said there was nothing further on and partly because Reuben really wanted to see the museum. It wasn’t too expensive, so we all decided to go in. It was an old Soviet U-boat that had been left in the condition it was used for people to explore. It was quite interesting but there wasn’t a lot of information about things inside. My favourite bit was climbing/ swinging, through each doorway!

With a few hours left before our train we decided to walk to Reeperbahn which is the red-light district of hamburg. Obviously, this was mid-afternoon so there was nothing going on, but it was interesting anyway! It ended at the Eurovision stage, so we decided to take the underground back to the main centre of the city by the Rathaus. Reuben really wanted to visit café Paris, so we stopped there for a quick drink before going inside the Rathaus. Despite being beautiful from the outside, I didn’t think the inside was that impressive. There was a lovely fountain in the courtyard though! We walked back out through a peaceful protest on climate change and helping refugees before heading for some tea.

The last thing we did in hamburg was eat! We went to the Europa Platz, which is a big shopping centre and sat at the top in the food court. There was so much choice that everyone kept asking if I was okay! I ended up having a falafel, halloumi and aubergine wrap with sweet potato chips which was amazing. We sat and rested for a while and then got ice creams to eat on the way to collect our things.

As we had arrived back from hamburg quite late, I was hoping to relax a bit on Monday morning. I had to tutor but I thought that would be all until lunchtime. However, my washing machine, which was ‘fixed’ on Thursday will now not work at all, so I ended up walking to Eva’s and back twice to get my washing done! My tutee didn’t show up either but that meant I had chance to revise for my afternoon German grammar exam. After a lecture and some more revision I went to the exam and it was nowhere near as bad as I expected. I definitely didn’t get everything, but I know at least some that were correct. In the evening I went to both hours of Zumba. The first part was hard but doing the normal Zumba class just feels so easy afterwards, so it was fun.

Yesterday I had my full day of lessons, tutoring and stretch class again. My final German history class was quite emotional as I’ve had that teacher for 3 classes while I’ve been here, and we finished by watching a video from the fall of the Berlin Wall.

I’ve got a really busy day of socialising today again before heading off to Berlin for the weekend tomorrow. I’m very excited!