Bremen to Hamburg back to Frankfurt

From Hannover our next stop for a quick stay in Bremen. We were scheduled to leave Hannover in the morning with a direct train to Bremen and would have taken one hour. We arrived at the train station and as we went to board our train, the attendants at first didn't want to let us on. Eventually they let us on and after we sat on the train for a bit, I started to pay more attention to the train announcements which of course were only in German. I finally figured out something was wrong and that our train was going to be delayed but I wasn't sure why or for how long, but what I did understand was that we needed to get off the train. There was quite a bit of confusion on the platform and we found another passenger who spoke English and explained to us that there was a massive train fire en route to Bremen and that our train was cancelled. That threw us for a bit of a loop because we didn't know whether we could wait for the next scheduled train instead and get there a couple hours later than we had anticipated. We also contemplated just changing our itinerary altogether and perhaps find a train directly to Hamburg because we were only spending one night in Bremen anyway, but we were unable to cancel our hotel without a penalty so we decided we'd try to figure out a different, indirect route there instead. We took a quick look at the DB app and found another train leaving in about 15 minutes time and the ticket we had booked to go direct to Bremen would work on it. It would just take us about three hours time total instead and had a connection we'd have to make. We figured this was a better option than wait it out at the Hannover train station for the direct. It was a little spontaneous change of plans, something I'm usually not comfortable with, but in the end worked out quite well. We got to our connection in Buchholz and realized a connecting train would be arriving shortly according to the DB app and that it was on a certain platform, so we hurried up and down the stairs taking us across a different platform which had a train sitting and waiting on it.... we got to the empty platform and waited a few minutes to much closer to when the connecting train was supposed to depart, only to realize the train that was already sitting on the other platform was the train we wanted and to catch it we had to hustle back up and down the stairs across the train track back to the train only to have it depart just as we arrived at the front of the train. Turns out there was a platform change but the platform signage hadn't updated and the DB app wasn't entirely helpful either. This now meant we had about 45 minutes to wait until the next train, so we wandered into the small town for a quick lunch because we didn't want to miss the next train...needless to say our hurried lunch was that necessary after all because just our luck with the oh so reliable German trains, this one was delayed by 20 minutes. The train ride itself was only just under an hour and our hotel in Bremen was just outside the train station so it was very short walk after a day's travel. 

We arrived mid afternoon and got straight to exploring Bremen as we only had the one night. While convenient to the train station, it was about a 20 minute walk to Bremen old town. At this point we were starting to get hungry but it was a bit early for a proper supper and as we were walking along to the old town, we came across Falafel Ya Hala where we stopped in for a tasty pre-supper meal. 

Bremen is a charming, historic town with a rich maritime history. The old town city centre is famously known for its Marktplatz where you will find the Rathaus, the Roland statue, and the Bremen cathedral, St. Petri Dom nearby. You'll also find the famous Bremen Town Musicians statue which is dedicated to the Grimm Brother's fairy-tale animals. Walking around the square we searched for a special manhole cover that if you drop a coin into it, it will "speak" to you. We managed to find it after circling the square a few times and discovered the sound wasa dog barking. We quickly figured out that what this manhole cover does is makes the individual sounds of the town musicians... we didn't want to throw another three coins in it to hear all four, but at another point when we were walking by, others had discovered it and it was making the sound of one of the other animals. We found ourselves wandering the medieval maze of the Schnoor Quarter, Bremen's oldest district made up of cobblestone, car-free lanes lined with 15th and 16th century houses and shops. We got to this part of town early-ish evening but all the shops had already closed for the day and so we just wandered around admiring its quaintness. It started to rain, our only rainy day, as we were going to head back to the restaurant we picked out for dinner and we weren't really prepared for rain, so instead we hopped on one of the city trams which was included in our train pass for the day and took a round trip tour of the city out to the university and back. By the time we got back the rain stopped and we enjoyed a lovely Argentinian supper while taking in whatever football match happened to be playing at the time. The next morning we were catching the train to Hamburg for the final leg of our trip, but first we had a great breakfast at a eclectic restaurant called Greta's. 

The train from Bremen to Hamburg, and honestly I can't remember if this one ran on time or not was about 45 minutes. From the train station to the hotel we had to transfer to the metro and then walk a bit to the hotel. After a couple days in Hamburg we realized that had we exited through a different metro exit, the hotel would have seemed closer. But honestly didn't really matter because we would have been either walking underground or above ground and above was probably better in the end. We really enjoyed our time in Hamburg. We stayed at the Hamburg Marriott hotel which is well located inn the historic heart of the city and was perfect for our time there. We found the city clean and quite walkable but also with a good tram and metro system. We did a walking tour here which gave us a good insight into the city's history, including its time during the WWII, and several different neighbourhoods. Our tour ended in Speicherstadt, a historic warehouse district famous for its neo-Gothic red brick architecture and the canals surrounding these buildings. Now a UNESCO site, this large network of warehouses spans 260,000 square metres and was built betweenn 1883 and the late 1920s on large oak poles on the Elbe River creating the canals between buildings. Located in one of these warehouses is the Minatur Wunderland one of the most popular attractions in Hamburg that you 

have to book your entry ticket well in advance, but we lucked out and snagged a ticket for early evening. It is definitely worth the visit. It's astonishing how well they replicated different parts of the world and included many interactive features. I think my favourites included the Monaco F1, which featured an actual race with different results each race time, and the Hamburg airport with actual planes landing and taking off. We also found a really amazing coffee roaster here and enjoyed an afternoon coffee with apple strudel and a chocolate lava cake. 

Nearby is the Elbphilharmonie, a striking modern philharmonic concert hall featuring a glass wave-like structure built atop an old brick warehouse. 

We also learned our on walking tour that Planten un Blomen, a park about 10 minute walk from our hotel featured an evening water and light show at 10pm accompanied by live classical music. 

While there is so much to explore in Hamburg including Brammibl's donuts where we just had to try the Bienenstich donut (oh my!! SOOOO GOOD!), we also decided to take a day trip out to Lübeck. There is a direct train from Hamburg that takes about 45 minutes. Lübeck is a historic port city on the Baltic coast in northern Germany. The old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Centre. You enter the Altstadt through the Holsten Gate which is a famous twin-towered medieval city gate that was historically used to defend the town. Lübeck is also famously known for 

marzipan

because of its historical role as a major trading hub and strict high-quality standards. Niederegger, the most popular local confectioners, is a must stop even if you don't like marzipan - which is the case for both of us. They have a lovely cafe above their store when you can grab some lunch or just have a coffee with a slice of delicious cake. The trouble is figuring out which cake slice you want! We had a great time strolling around the streets and discovering common nautical themed souvenirs found in many of the shops. We happen upon a marching band's performance in the city's main square; only thing was the band wasn't marching, but they played great music and attracted quite a crowd. 

We had an extremely early morning flight. The ongoing debate was do we Uber or take the train to the airport...my vote was always take an Uber... but alas I was convinced that the train was the cheaper option and that early in the morning would be a breeze as it wouldn't be very busy.... or would it be?? By extremely early, I mean that no one in their right mind should be up at this time of the day early! Considering I like to ensure we arrive at the airport in plenty of time, we had to catch the train like at 4am and after a bit of directional confusion, understandable because no one should be up at that time and required to think, we figured out the correct track to catch the train bound for the airport. We were surprised to discover the train packed with people when it arrived at our station. Not only was it packed with people, but these were all very drunk people that had apparently been watching the football game and with the time difference the game had ended shortly before 4am and everyone was now headed home. 

Our early morning flight to Frankfurt gave us a full day to explore. One of our main focuses though was to find a place to watch the football match. We spent the say exploring mostly the old town, and stumbled upon a wedding taking place in the main square. We found a very suitable Germany Christmas ornament to add to our tree this year, noting our time in Germany during World Cup! Our friends decided to come down to Frankfurt and join us for our last day as well, which was a very nice way to finish off our Germany adventure. We found an Irish pub nearby our hotel and managed to snag a reservation on the patio. The pub manager warned us that there would be a large group of Moroccans also watching the game seeing as they were one of the team playing that match. It was a great atmosphere with Morocco winning the match in the end and that was then just the beginning of one of the largest game winning celebrations I've witnessed in my life. The streets were quickly packed with people celebrating as if they had just won the World Cup! Little had we known that Frankfurt has one of the largest Moroccan ex-pat communities in Germany. There were cars jammed in the streets honking their horns in celebration, firecrackers going off, and people everywhere. It was quite the sight to see with the celebration going well into the night. And with that our time in Germany was over and we were headed home the next day. By this time as well, my German was finally coming along enough for me to feel a bit more comfortable. And on that note....

Zu reisen heißt zu leben... Bis zum nächsten Mal! Life is good!! 

Our Germany Adventure - First Stop Hannover

We had both individually been to Germany before, but this was our first trip together. Considering I learned to speak German growing up, it was assumed that I'd be the one doing all the communicating on this trip as well... the sad reality was that my language skills were rather rusty so not to be counted on. Though the more immersed we were and towards the end of the trip, I felt my abilities were coming back even though I didn't really get the confidence to try and hold a long conversation with anyone. It did come in handy at one point in the trip where we had an issue with a train, but more on that a bit later. 

After a bit of a last minute kerfuffle on departure morning where my seat changed and had me sitting in another part of the plane, we boarded our overnight flight that brought us into Frankfurt fairly early in the morning. Z being an amazing gentleman, let me take his more comfortable seat instead. Not too long before our journey to Germany, Europe introduced a new electronic entry/exit system and we had read enough nightmare stories of people missing flights that we made sure to give us enough time upon arrival to make it through immigration before we needed to catch our train to Hamburg. What we didn't anticipate when we booked this trip was that Europe would be undergoing an extreme heat wave and we ended up arriving on one of the hottest days of the summer at that point in time and with a lack of air conditioning in general, it made for a pretty warm and stuffy wait in the immigration line. When we arrived, we went through the new electronic entry system, which didn't actually work very well and we were directed towards the line up for immigration regardless, except that we had to get into a line up for the line up and realized this would take hours! We could have skipped trying out the new system but we still would have had to wait hours to make it through. Thankfully though after waiting maybe 10 minutes tops, an airport worker announced to those in this back up line up to follow him as he would take us to another area of the airport to go through immigration there.... these four agents had no one waiting for them until our big group showed up and it was a bit chaotic at first to get into proper lines. It still took a descent amount of time to get through as the agents really didn't have any sense of urgency to move people through. Eventually our turn came and we were through and then had a couple hours to kill before we needed to catch our train. Now with the immense heat wave, little did we know the impact it would have on the train system, so when we arrived at Frankfurt am Main we discovered that our train was delayed. With no air conditioning, breeze or real air flow at the train station, this eventually became uncomfortable for me. We did find some relief in the food court which had fans blowing the hot air around, so at least we could sit there while we waited out the delay. Now while the heat wave was the cause of our arrival day train delay, we discovered that the train system is no longer as on time and reliable as I remembered it or has historically always been thought to be. We took the Deutsche Bahn ICE train direct which took about 2 hour 15 minutes. The train ride itself was pleasant once we got going... we had preselected seats, but didn't realize they were in a train cabin with four other seats. There were three others on the train and by the time we got on the luggage storage areas were mostly taken, so thankfully we didn't have anyone beside us and we could put one of our suitcases on the seat with the other on the floor, cramming Z's leg space somewhat. From the Hannover Central Station we boarded the local tram which brought us to our hotel, the Sheraton Hannover Pelikan Hotel. This hotel is located in the restored former Pelikan fountain pen factory and blends its unique history with modern day decor. The hotel is a short walk from the tram station which was fantastic for getting around. We stayed in a deluxe room which had a large separate living room and bedroom with air conditioning - which was much needed to escape from the heat. The room had really high ceilings with very large tall windows as well. The room decor was all writing themed with a quote from Mark Twain over the bed "Writing is easy, you just have to leave out the wrong words". It was a very comfortable stay to get us into the Germany zone. The hotel had a lovely breakfast buffet that we were also able to enjoy. 

On the evening of our arrival we met up with our friends who had recently moved to Hannover for a milestone birthday dinner for one of them. This was actually the reason for our trip. For the next couple of days we played tourists with them in their new home town. We strolled through the old town marvelling at the beautiful architecture of all the buildings, including the neo-classical Opera House. It was a mix of colourful half-timbered houses and red brick buildings. The streets were mostly cobblestone and were lined with shops, cafes and restaurants. The old town was quite quaint and cozy and easy to get around on foot or on the tram system. 

We stopped in at the new town hall for a bit of a reprieve from the heat - when you first step in you are taken aback by the 38-metre high main hall with beautifully carved stone walls. In the main foyer you'll find four miniature town models that depict Hannover in 1689, 1939, 1945, and present day. It's fascinating to see how the city evolved over that time span and the destruction that took place in two world wars. Walking around the city you could also notice the striking differences in architecture from buildings that were bombed during the war and those that were spared/missed right next door. While seeing the town models was a highlight of this visit, the real highlight was the 360 viewpoint of the city from the dome. To get there you have to take a unique inclined elevator; one of a kind in Europe. The elevator has a transparent floor and roof which allows you to see the angle while going up and down. The lift was built in 1913. It starts vertically before shifting sideways by over 8 meters along the irregular 17-degree parabolic curve of the dome while it travels up 43 metres tilting the cabin as it rises to reach the 97.7 metre high viewing platform. It was a pretty strange sensation riding the lift hoping it would make the 2 minute journey up and down without any issue because it's pretty crammed quarters fitting only six people total with little room to move. It was very worth it though because the views from the top were stunning and we were lucky with having a very clear day. 

The Aegidienkirche is a church built in the 12th century and destroyed in 1943 during the war. The church was never rebuilt and the ruins remain there today as a somber reminder of the tragedy of the war. The Peace Bell which hangs in the tower entrance of the bombed-out church was donated in 1985 by Hiroshima, Japan, which is a sister city of Hannover as a symbol of peace and international reconciliation. 

We spent some time exploring Kröpcke which is the main pedestrian square and the social and commercial heart of the city. This is also where our friends currently live. So it was cool to see their neighbourhood and check out the shops, restaurants and cafes and the general vibe. The Kröpcke clock is an iconic landmark and popular meeting point. The U-Bahn transit hub is located here underground as well. 

Herrenhausen Gardens are a beautiful and peaceful, 50 hect
ares of sprawling botanical gardens that are worth a visit. These gardens date back more than 300 years and were originally planted for the royal court for their summer palace grounds. The gardens are beautifully manicured and are designed in quadrants with a fountain in the centre. Statues line different parts of the garden, including an area filled with golden statues. 

The city also has a lot of green space and about 500kms of bike lanes making it a very beautiful and livable city. Apparently there is a city rule that says from every place you need to have a 10 minute walk max to a park.  

FIFA World Cup was going on while we were touring around Germany and there was no shortage of places to catch any game. The best place though was watching games at the local beer garden for a true Germany football experience. There were a few games that we were all interested in while we were in Hannover, so we may have spent quite a few hours at Lister Turm Biergarten over a couple days... we never missed our home team play. Given the hot weather, the outdoor beer garden was perfect. The atmosphere was amazing, everyone was there to have a great time and watch some great football matches.