Where are the hamburgers?

After a bit of a late start, I drove to Hamburg this morning. The drive was really nice without much traffic at all. I did come to a complete stop on the Autobahn once due to an accident, but it was only for about 10 minutes. I just switched on the TV that´s part of the navigation/entertainment system and watched some tennis. This car is really cool.

Speaking of cars, I haven't talked much about the Autobahn. It's really fun to drive on and what they say about no speed limits is mostly true. There are areas where you have to slow down and there's usually traffic, but for the most part you can go as fast as you want. I was cruising at close to 200 km/h for most of the way. I'm not sure what the conversion is, so I don't really know how fast that was, but I can tell you that it felt pretty fast! I don't think I would have felt comfortable going much faster. In my car, yes, but not in this one. The suspension was a little loose, which made for a better ride, but made me a bit apprehensive as I´m used to feeling every part of the road in my car.

Anyway, once I got to Hamburg, I quickly found parking near the hotel, which was nice and checked in. I hopped on the internet around the corner from the hotel and was able to print out my discount train ticket that I had reserved online the night before. I had to do it online to get the discount, but it was half price, so definitely worth the hassle.

I walked around the city for a bit and checked out the sites. Hamburg is a strange place. There are some super seedy areas right next to some really beautiful ritzy areas. They're just jammed together and it's a stark contrast. You can walk down one street and see high class department stores and the next street over you see shady guys and girls and just stuff you don't want to see. The tourist board claims that there are more millionaires living in Hamburg than any other city in Europe. I find this impossible to believe, but that´s what they say.

There are lots of bridges and canals here. It´s a bit like Venice in that regard, but not quite as scenic. Still, there are some beautiful places too. Best of all there are great cafes here. I had a milkshake overlooking the river Elbe and picked up a free city map at the tourist information center. I also bought a "welcome card" for traveling on the subway tomorrow.

After that I stopped for a quick spaghetti dinner and walked to a super nice place called Cafe Melange near the Rathaus and by a canal. There I had a Milchkaffe. Like a latte, but with regular coffee and in a big bowl. It was still bright at 10am which is strange, but I guess I'm pretty far north.