Fall Break: Hamburg and Bremen

Hi everyone,

a couple weeks ago I had my fall break from school, and Jesse and I decided to take a couple days to explore Hamburg and Bremen.  I had already been to Hamburg before, so I felt fairly comfortable navigating the city, and it was also fun going to a new place, Bremen.

We took off on October 15, arriving in Hamburg and making our way to our hotel, which was located in central Hamburg, in St. Pauli.  We ate dinner at a nearby restaurant called Feuerstein, and then we took a walk down the Reeperbahn and along the Elbe River.

Beatlesplatz

The next day we took another walk down the river, ending at the Landungsbrücken, and then we hopped on the U-Bahn and rode down to the Rathaus.  This was one site I missed the first time I was in Hamburg, and I am glad we stopped to see the building.  It was really beautiful.

We then went to the Kunsthalle.  I have been to a few art museums in Europe, and this is definitely one of my favorites.  It was interesting to see which paintings I gravitated towards this time around and how my tastes and knowledge have changed over time.  We then ate some lunch at one of the restaurants there, The Cube. 

After spending a few hours in the art museum, we were pretty wiped out.  We went back to our hotel and relaxed a bit before going out and having dinner at a place called Tex's.

On Thursday the 17th we took a day trip to Bremen, where, after the rains let up, we walked around the Altstadt.  I really liked Bremen; it was so pretty and charming.  We saw the Bremen Town Musicians statue and even made a new friend...!

Overall, it was a very nice trip.  It's always nice to get out of Löcknitz and our one-room apartment for a while...!

Until next time,
Amy

The Arrival of Jesse and Supervision of Sixty 8th Graders

Hi, everyone!

Here is a short recap of the interesting and exciting things that happened in the past couple of weeks:

September 30 - I got on a train to Berlin to stay the night with a fellow Fulbrighter, Emily.  When I arrived, we met up with a full grant, Justina, and had dinner (burgers!) and stopped by a bakery for dessert.  Then Emily and I did a little shopping (I needed shampoo, and couldn't find anything to satisfy my picky-about-my-hair-ness in Löcknitz) before going back to her place and watching some Two and a Half Men auf Deutsch.

At Tiki Heart

October 1 - I headed off bright and early to Berlin Tegel... to pick up Jesse!  He arrived right on time and we made our way to the Hauptbahnhof and then to Löcknitz.  We spent the rest of the day lazing around.

October 3 - This was Tag der deutschen Einheit (Day of German Unity), so I didn't have school.  Jesse and I went to a fall festival in my town and ate some Bratwurst and Schnitzel.

Then we stopped by Cafe Traum for some Kuchen and Heiße Schokolade.  We were only going to get one piece of cake to split, but the cafe owner insisted that we get two pieces of cake and drinks, as well.  So worth it.  This place is amazing.

October 7-11 - Jesse and I went along as chaperones on the 8th grade trip to a youth hostel in Kamminke near the Baltic Sea.  The trip was a lot of fun; we went to the beach, played ping pong for hours, and rode bikes to Poland (and I hadn't ridden a bike in 12 years or so!).  By the time we got back into town though, we felt pretty run down, if not sleep deprived, and we promptly took a nap.  You can read more about our trip at my teaching blog.

Next week is fall break... and Jesse and I are still trying to figure out what we want to do!  Stay tuned.

- Amy