Day 3: Cologne to Hamburg

Two words:  Terrible Sleep!  We tried and we just had a hard time falling asleep!  We made the short walk to the train station for our four hour journey to Hamburg, Germany.  While the seats are comfortable we are both struggling to stay awake and this train ride seems like it will never end. Longest 4 hours ever!  Just awful but the views are still impressive out the train window.  

We both agreed this train ride was the worst because it was so much slower than the previous days train; more stops and towns so guess it is difficult to go fast.  I have never been to the northern part of Germany so I am excited to see how different it is from the south.  We were so glad to get off the train but within two minutes of getting to street level, we were not impressed.  It was busy and crowded and a lot of struggling (homeless) people.  Train stations are usually known to be in less than stellar areas but the smell was just awful.  We could not find a taxi to take us to our hotel so we gave up and walked.  It’s only 72 degrees outside, but I am sweating like it’s Texas at 105!  The walk was a little over a mile and we noticed streets blocked off with bicyclist whizzing by us so fast which is when we discovered the World Triathlon is taking place this weekend; great!  We are immediately less impressed.  Even Colin said hey let’s just get on a train to our next town early.  I thought about it but as we walked I liked what I was seeing.  The buildings were beautiful red brick lining the canals.  

I was intrigued but secretly glad it was just a one night stay.  We arrived at our cute hotel, PIERDREI Hotel HafenCity Hamburg, that has a fun theme.  So hard to see in the photo because the room is super small.  

The room is tiny but has a good air conditioner!  So tiny this is the most that will fit in the photo frame.  Even Colin noticed the theme and decor of the hotel and comments on how cool it is.  We took a short power nap which is why we probably can not sleep at night, but I needed that hour sleep . . . we both needed that hour sleep.  Hamburg was one of Colin's 3 . . . specifically the main reason we came to Hamburg was for Miniatur Wunderland.  I wasn’t so sure that this out of the way detour would be worth the hassle for just one night; we are here!  Our hotel included a ticket to Miniatur Wunderland (for an extra fee of course) and it was literally just a few blocks away.  So off we go . . . honestly I had no idea what to expect and how Colin found this place I do not know.  We are in the warehouse district and it was in a large building on three different floors.  Here are the stats before we entered:

I thought we would be there maybe an hour and on our way . . . almost three hours later we exited (through the gift shop of course)!  It was very cool!  There were more adults there than kids.

    

Here is a better view of how it is set up!  The displays are massive and so detailed too.  The vehicles move and do things.  One of the scenes had a car crash with smoke and the polizei (police) made their way to the scene and then off they went.  The airport scene had planes taking off and landing too with baggage carts driving from plane to plane.  It was a bit crowded but not horrible.  

The control center was something to see too.  There were workers monitor any mishaps . . . it looked comparable to mission control.  The engineering behind each display is amazing and I can not imagine how long it must take to put each one together.    

We walked around warehouse district peeking into side streets and courtyard.

We did not find many restaurants near the hotel (probably from lack of looking) but remembered a window sign that had pizza and gelato so off we backtracked to find it.  We arrived at 805 and the gelato closed at 8 but pizza until 830.  We ordered pizza and found a place outside.  

Yes, pineapple belongs on pizza!  My favorite is Pizza Hawaii with ham and pineapple!  We called it a night and headed back to the hotel but realized we forgot to buy water.  I remembered reading the hotel had a mini store that was a honor system.  Of course Colin did not believe me but I found it and used the room key to enter.  It was just us so we had fun checking things out.  When you are ready to 'check out' you just write your name on a piece of paper with your room number and how much you 'spent'.  It was pretty cool but we also thought this would never work in America!

Upstairs to the room to relax before we move tomorrow! 

steps:  11,645 

miles:   5.1