So much has happened in the last week that I have no idea how I’ll be able to write about all of it. But I want to talk about so much from Hamburg!

Moin: everyone in Hamburg says it. And in the morning, they say it twice. But only in the morning. So I included the second “moin” in parentheses just in case you read this later on in the day!

Once we arrived in Hamburg, we immediately went to the hostel to drop off our luggage. Once we were all settled we went on our first city tour and were able to familiarize ourselves with key parts of the city, such as the harbor and the city hall. Hamburg was once one of the most prominent cities in the Hanseatic League, and to this day is one of the most vital shipping cities in Germany. Our first day there we were also able to go through the tunnel under the Elbe, and a few of us explored the city.

The next day we visited the Church of Saint Nicholas. I didn’t realize where we were until I went through the front doors and saw the sky instead of a ceiling. Hamburg was one of the German cities that was heavily bombed in the Second World War, and the firestorm of Hamburg nearly flattened the city. Most of the city has been rebuilt. However, St. Nikolai (as it’s called in German) has instead been left in ruins as a place of remembrance. To me, it stood as a reminder of the horrors of war while also inviting me to reflect on everything that led to the war and why such things should never be allowed to happen again.

We then went on a walking city tour, and afterwards we all decided to go to an art museum (Kunsthalle). There, we were exposed to an abundance of contemporary art. Then, a few of us realized that we hadn’t seen the classical artworks with only thirty minutes left to spare before the museum closed. As a fan of the Romanticism era, I was blown away by seeing Caspar David Friedrich’s art in person. I was most excited to see his painting “Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog," given that it is the work that is considered to convey the quintessential ideal of the Romantics. I was also lucky enough to see an Edvard Munch painting there as well!

We also went to a museum that had exhibits on the history of Hamburg, and on the top floor there was an entire section dedicated to the historic presence of Jews in Hamburg. Although it is rather outdated, our guide was able to provide us with an abundance of knowledge about the lives of Jews in Hamburg throughout history. Afterwards we went to “Das Auswanderer Museum,” which discusses the emigration process of thousands of Germans as they left for other countries through Hamburg. There is a search engine there dedicated to finding the migration records of several families, and a few of our group members tried to find their ancestors through this database!

For those of you who are not aware–practically everything in Germany is closed on Sundays. As a group, we traveled to the island of Sylt: the northernmost island in Germany and a popular vacation spot. While on the train we remarked that Schleswig-Holstein (the northernmost state in Germany that used to be part of Denmark) resembled Iowa… but it was wetter. Hence, the title of this blog post. At the beach we collected seashells, and a few of us dipped our toes in the water. Ian went for one of the briefest swims in human history, but in the end we were able to warm up at a nearby café.

Our last day in Hamburg was perhaps my favorite. In the morning we went to Miniatur-Wunderland: the largest miniature railway in the world. I’m including a link to their website, where they have made a video that shows (in more detail than I could possibly hope to describe in a single blog post) some of the highlights and special features of this rather unique destination: https://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/exchange/about/image-film-wunderland/. There, the Millennium Falcon takes off and lands in the airport, Area 51 and its alien inhabitants are active, a swamp monster with glowing green eyes dwells in the swamp, Greta Thunberg stands on an iceberg and protests climate change, a unicorn rests under Schloss Neuschwanstein, a button labeled “oops” swings a crane that knocks over a lamppost, and a thunderstorm rages over the summits of the Austrian Alps. Afterwards, Jane and I took the water taxi to a beach in Hamburg and were able to find an immense amount of sea glass!

And for those of you who are worried about the coronavirus: we are taking it seriously and are taking into consideration what we will do in multiple situations, should we come into contact with the disease. We are using hand sanitizer liberally and washing our hands as often as possible.

And thus, I conclude my telling of our time in Hamburg.

Bis später (until later)!