Stop-over in Hamburg

Monday, 7/18

This morning was about finding what we American's call a Danish. We found small shop with fresh pastry in many varieties and deemed ourselves successful at eating a Danish made by Danes while in Denmark. Before we knew it, it was time to saddle ourselves with those familiar backpacks once again and hike to the station. As we waited for our train to arrive, we watched local children play with a model train set in the center of the waiting area. We are not sure if our perception of this is correct, but Denmark seems to be very child centered. It seemed like every third woman you passed on the street is expecting and new parents pushing prams are just as numerous. This led us to wonder if there is some sort of amazing state aid for parents or maternity/ paternity leave that is standard in this country. We have had a great deal of fun people watching on our trip and Denmark has been no exception. In a sea of dark clouds, the white haired Danes stood out even more brightly than usual perhaps. We were in awe of how many blondes we saw who had that platinum, nearly translucent hair. (Reminded me so much of my cousin Nicolle's hair when she was a kid, white as the driven snow). Another thing to mention about Denmark is the language. There were pieces we could understand using German as a guide but mostly it was totally foreign to us. Greg had found a Spanish to Danish dictionary on the shelf in our room but that only managed to provide us with our pleases and thank yous that we are pretty sure we said incorrectly. Greg was fascinated by the language and would love to learn it but feels it would be pretty difficult.

Anyhow saying so long to Denmark, we boarded our train for Hamburg. We were pretty certain we could get some pasta for lunch on the train, poor quality microwave pasta, but a warm meal anyhow. So this is where I warn all future European travelers, do not trust the train to provide similar concessions on rides of similar length. All that was offered on this train were chips and muesli bars. It is because of this inconsistent unpredictable supply of food on the train that I have taken to making sandwiches from the breakfast buffet when we have one available the morning before a trip. I cut open a roll and smear it with some marmalade or jam, insert a few slices of cheese and presto, instant free lunch! Unfortunately there was no buffet this morning in Denmark, but luckily we had a apple and some cookies in our day bag to round our lunch of potato chips and a grain bar, but it was barely enough sustainance to get us through our four and a half hour journey. Fortunately with some good books to distract us (I now have Greg hooked on reading the Overlander series as well, he's already on book 3!) and more beautiful scenery than one can measure, our time went by relatively quickly. We were also entertained by the fact that our seats were in the first car only a stone's through from the conductor. (We could have thrown stones at him from where we sat but he kept closing his door to navigate in private. Too bad; we'd have liked to see more of the equipment, bells, and whistles that he uses... though it was sometimes disconcerting to hear a cell phone ringing, distracted driving?, and then lots of laughter coming from behind those sliding doors. How many people fit up in that area anyways?!). On this trip we had seats that were facing forward which was nice, because on the way up to Denmark we were riding backwards the whole time. This resulted in me feeling like I was being dragged backwards while sitting at dinner that night, a rather disorienting feeling. Happy to be facing the right direction, we enjoyed encountering pockets of pouring rain and staying completely dry and later witnessing a gigantic rainbow.

When we finally reached Hamburg it was nearly 7pm, relatively warm and dry! Our hotel was a short five minute walk from the station, a basic three star with clean modern decor. Depositing our bags in the room, we went in search of dinner. We found a simple pub that served hearty food. I was feeling thrilled that after spending two days in a country where I had to ask for an English menu to understand what was offered, back in Germany I could understand at least half of the words on the original menu. I was feeling relieved, comfortable, and at home. Greg was delighted that he could communicate with the waitress without having to resort to English. He enjoyed a plate of seasoned potatoes and fried eggs and I had the spinach auflauf (an augratin style baked dish). After finishing our meals, we wanted nothing more than enjoy some much needed grooming in the large bright white immaculate bathroom that was conveniently in our room, rather than down a steep flight of stairs as it had been for the past few nights. Sleep came quickly to the tired travelers and yet another day in our journey came to a close.