Some Things About: Weinachtsmarkt

Germans are Christmas crazy! They love their Christmas markets. Hamburg alone had six! We went to the one by the Rathaus, the biggest in Hamburg. While the market does sell a lot of unique and even handcrafted items, it seemed more like an excuse to sell food and alcohol. We bought a lot of Christmas gifts here, ate a unique "pizza" and drank Elderberry and apple Glühwein, a Christmas drink specifically served hot.

Every year at Christmastime, against the impressive backdrop of the venerable, historic Town Hall of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, approximately a hundred traders arrive for one of the city's largest and loveliest Christmas markets. The lights, sounds, and decorations were fantastic! It even snowed while we were there (something that apparently is kind of rare, surprisingly). I really got into the Christmas spirit with a traditional Polka band playing in the center of the congregation.

Some Things About: Helmut Schmidt University

The university my brother was studying at was the place I probably spent the most time, simply because  my mother and I were there to visit my him, and all the preparation for the Thanksgiving feast. Helmut Schmidt was a German military officer during WWII. He witnessed the atrocities committed by Nazi military officers and after the war wanted to prevent such things from ever happening again. As the Federal Minister of Defense in 1973, he insisted that there be a formal method of commissioning officers into the Germany military. He insisted that Germany "never have stupid officers again." 

Named after him, Helmut Schmidt Universität is the armed forces war college for all of Germany. Cadets that wish to commission as officers must first attend and pass the university, which along with standard academic courses requires cadets to attend and pass certain military related activities, such as physical fitness training, a 20/25/30km march with a 25kg (~50lbs) pack, range shooting, and more.

Established in the 1970's, the campus looks just as dated on the outside; concrete was the major building block of nearly every building. The barracks (which looked more like low-end apartments) lined sidewalks arranged roughly in a grid pattern. A single unit - a student-run group of Cadets - occupies each floor. Each cadet gets his own room (better than here in America), and have their own personal fridge and freezer space in each unit's communal kitchen. There are also a few bomb shelters scattered around the campus, as it was constructed during the Cold-War era.

Some Things About: Government

As previously stated, Hamburg's central government building is the Rathaus, literally translated as the council house. From the planning stage to its final completion, its construction took around 44 years. it is a glorious 647 room monument to  its neo-rennaisnance design, spearheaded by architect Martin Haller. It was built during the time of the newly founded German Empire, and with its recent success against France, a prosperous Hanseatic city like Hamburg needed a government building to reflect its wealth. The in tire structure is rather huge to behold, especially standing right next to it; the large windows seem to betray its gargantuan size. The tower itself is 124m tall and bears both a clock and Hamburg's coat of arms.

Inside the Rathaus is a similar story. beautiful architecture, elegant columns and arches, and of course, big hallways. The lobby of the Rathaus is actually a half-story lower than the rest of the building, causing even the first floor to appear raised from the street. Everything inside the Rathaus screams: important! authority! It's a truly impressive beast to behold.

Some Things About: Religion

Germany holds a large ~65% majority Christian population, with there being a rather even split between Protestants and Catholics. Upon visiting the Fischmarkt on Sunday, we attended what one could call a church inside what used to be a warehouse. There was a choir onstage singing more American hymns than German ones, and strangely enough there was plentiful alcohol to go around. Some church! It was extremely open-air - the huge double doors were barred open and all three stories of the structure could be freely navigated.

Due to an influx of Syrian refugees, many Germans have had plentiful worries about their new neighbors. Much to their relief, the refugees make not only for great neighbors, but as fully functioning members of society as well. Germany has for a while had an abnormally large Muslim population (compared to the rest of Europe, minus France), and while a small and very vocal minority has expressed distaste for any foreigners, most Germans relish the idea to help those in need with open arms.

One of my brother's American comrades (of Bangladeshi descent) visited a small village in the countryside for a few days. He learned of the awkward situation of introducing refugees to establishments with a population of less than 500, and never having seen anyone but Germans in hundreds of years. In fact, the family he was staying with initially thought he was a refugee as well ;D (similar situations continued to plague his 4-month stay in Europe).

Day Five: History

Hamburg's borders surround little more than the port it was initially based upon, and it's the reason Hamburg exists as its own province today - by far smaller than any other except for Bremen, ironically another port city. Originally Hamburg was a Saxon missionary colony, intended to convert the native Germans (then scattered tribes) to the faith. A castle was ordered by Emperor Charlemagne, and his son had it built along a well-known trade road. After being destroyed multiple times by raiding Vikings and Danes, Hamburg finally experienced a period of peace after the Romans conquered most of modern-day Germany. Frederick I, the Holy Roman Emperor, declared Hamburg a Free Imperial City, allowing it to be mostly autonomous from the rest of the Empire.

Around the 1200's Hamburg signed an agreement with Lübeck, another nearby city, and the first steps in the Hanseatic League came into existence. Hamburg is all about its port, and even more than that, it's all about Hanse. Traveling across the Fischmarkt, you can see plenty of naval-themed items and trinkets. But no matter how far we travelled, no matter where we were, if there was a gift shop, there were Hanse gifts. T-shirts, caps, medallions, you name it. Hanseatic seals can be seen throughout the city (almost as common as American attire - no I'm not kidding).

Since its inception, Hamburg has been a place of commerce - founded upon old trading roads and near the sea made it a most ideal hub for merchants and travelers journeying across Germanic lands.

Day Four: Pricing

As Germany uses the Euro, we had to convert our currency either in America before our flight or there in Germany either in Frankfurt or Hamburg itself. Otherwise we would have to succumb to Germany's severe dislike for credit cards. Due to the rushed scheduling of our flights, we were forced to exchange in Hamburg, while waiting for my brother to arrive and take us to our hotel. At a conversion rate of (at the time) 1 Euro to $1.10, we were surprised at how similar the two currencies had become. 

Upon planning the trip to Germany, we expected everything there to be rather pricey, not only would we be living and buying in a populous city center, but we were purchasing everything in the Euro as well. However, since the two currencies had become quite similar in value, the prices in the country itself seemed to have remained very much the same. This resulted in crazy cheap prices. What six months ago would have cost us 9 American dollars then cost us only about $6.60. And German portions at restaurants were not small by any means. In fact, buying food items for our Thanksgiving dinner we were planning to host was ridiculously cheap. Enough food items for recopies we brought with us cost only about $33 for seven people!

 By far the most expensive thing we spent money on was taxi fair. We took a taxi anywhere a train or bus couldn't. And many places we were too tired to wait on. All taxis had a standard initial fare, and the average five minute ride would cost us around twenty Euros. A fifteen minute drive might run us back thirty Euros. We would ride the taxi multiple times a day. On the second to last day, we ran out of cash. No problem, we've got credit card, right? Germany hates credit cards, particularly the taxi drivers. In fact,  a few of them flat out said, "keine Kreditkarte." No credit card. Those who did accept them went through the trouble of a good several minute long process of inserting the card into a portable machine, signing a paper, waiting for the purchase to go through, and adding 'tip.' Needless to say, cash is far better.

Even at the Weinachtsmarkt, a Christmas themed market directly in front of the Rathaus held considerably cheaper prices than we were expecting. For a Christmas themed anything, of course.

Day Three: The Language

You know how you learn a language, you pronounce it correctly, you can speak it quickly, and you think you've got it? And then when you hear a native speaker your hopes and dreams begin to dim a little? That was the first couple of days for me. I knew a fair amount of German, all things that I could see myself using consistently. I knew that I had at least a fairly decent accent as well, or at least I could get the words across to someone who knew German as much as I did. 

The first few exchanges I held at the Fischmarkt were short and brief, mainly asking prices and describing things. The hardest part for me wasn't speaking it, however, it was hearing it. The same goes for when you are learning any language, really. Identical situations happened to me with native Spanish and Russian speakers. Not only do people speak much more rapidly than one might be used to practicing, but the addition of slang and local accents makes things more difficult. There were multiple times where I could initiate a conversation, but then freeze as soon as my partner replied. And knowing Germans, freezing up during a conversation is kind of annoying. After a few "successful" attempts at using German the first two days, I really started to pick up much more words by the third. My brother also helped bring to light some colloquial terms (despite the fact that he doesn't really speak German).

As the fourth day came around I had become acquainted with a number of simple phrases I could repeat and throw out with little brain power required, and I was able to formulate more complicated dialogue as well. Ordering Taxis became second nature; at first I only memorized the order of what the operator asked, but by the fourth day I was able to truly understand what they said and was able to interpret it. It was also during this time that I was able to order food at that one Chinese restaurant entirely in German. Including asking for the check and giving the tip as well (considering I could speak German to people who didn't know German too well either, I would call that a success).

Day Two: Foods

On the second day, we all decided to treat ourselves to a small Chinese restaurant just down the street from our hotel. The idea of eating foreign food in a foreign country was intriguing. As far as we could tell (by reading the German menu) there were many familiar food items on the list, but far more new ones. We decided to play it safe and ordered beef fried rice with some wonton soup. But this isn't any normal American-Chinese restaurant; this isn't even a German-Chinese restaurant. It was run by a family of Chinese immigrants, who used the same ingredients and cooking recipes as one might see while eating in China. While we had a good idea for how the meal would look, we were totally unprepared for how it would taste. Everything we had there was not only the best Chinese food we had ever had, but it would remain the best food we would eat while staying in Hamburg.  After that first encounter, we returned two more times - it was just that good. The meat was exceptionally tender and seasoned like steak, the wontons were very plump and soft, and the rice stuck together nicely, unlike traditional American rice.

After a rather non-German breakfast we visited the Fischmarkt on the Hamburg pier, although we didn't purchase any foods other than traditional hot-chocolate. While waiting in the train station for the ram to arrive, I did purchase some Käsetoast. This is an everyday, common-man snack found at every train station convenience store. The aroma and flavor was outstanding. It wasn't exceptionally exotic, but it did contain a type of cheese I had never tasted before. Plus it had very German wrapping over it.

Next we visited the Rathaus, Hamburg's central government building. Nearby was a cafe where we ordered scrambled eggs and bacon on toast. Our waiter brought to us water in a glass bottled by a company in Italy. It was the smoothest water I had ever tasted. Upon having scrambled eggs in both Germany, Norway and Finland, I can conclude that Europe has the most bland eggs ever cracked and cooked.

That evening, the three of us collected together along with my brother's comrades from A&M to eat at an American-style steakhouse. I personally love steak and couldn't accept passing up that opportunity. Unfortunately, the experience was so American, there are very little things of note to specifically mention, other than the less-traditional selection of beverages; there was no American alcohol to be found. The steak, however, does receive my seal of approval.

Upon the third day, we decided to partake in some German fast-food. We ended up purchasing two Döner boxes outside of an U-Bahn station.

These Döner boxes is purchased from a chain of food trucks much like ones you might find in America, except instead of selling tacos, they sell meat shredded off of huge hunks of.... something.

I must say, I am quite surprised at the diversity of choices we discovered in Hamburg. I mostly expected there to be true German cuisine around every corner, but everywhere we looked it was more and more foreign shops. I suppose in both a highly populated city center with both a large industrial base and in such a global society today it would make more sense that the food choices would be more diverse there as opposed to somewhere more like rural Germany. Overall, what amused me the most was the American-style steak house, the Blockhaus; especially as someone from America. It was interesting to see something so familiar thousands of miles away.