Livin' the good life

We became serious tourists today in Hamburg. Thomas and Delia had things to do, so Gene and I took the City Tour Bus and the Harbor Boat Tour. Both very good, especially since the alternative was walking around in the rain. We visited the Miniature Wonderland, an amazing display of miniatures places from around the world. (From the Alps to Florida to Hawaii) They have an airport with a schedule and taxiing planes, rock concerts with a thousand tiny screaming fans, and a soccer game, including big screen replays and, again, thousands of screaming fans cheering on cue with the spectacular plays shown on the tiny screen. This "wonderland" is so popular, you have to have a reservation to see it and there were hundreds of people looking at the four or five rooms of miniature displays.

Most interesting part was the control room, where 5 "engineers" kept the whole thing running and on track. Literally, making sure the hundreds of tiny trains were all on their specific track. These guys in the control room were landing pretend planes, staging pretend fires, creating day, sunset, night and sunrise for the entire place about every 5 minutes. While ensuring that the traffic jams in LA looked realistic and the trams taking tiny people to the top of the Alps were all synchronized. I know it sounds strange that adult people spend their lives creating, designing, and maintaining this place and that, even more people (like us), come in droves to see it. But what can I say, we are in Hamburg and things are different here:)

We got a chance to enjoy a wonderful dinner with Thomas at one of his favorite places in the village. I ordered something with salmon and spinach, thought it was a dish, so when a pizza-arrived I said, "No, that isn't what I ordered", only to find out, it was what I ordered, a salmon and spinach pizza. So I have eaten two pizzas this week with strange, but surprisingly good ingredients.

It is great being back in Germany, where everything seems amazingly cheap (compared to Denmark) and where staying with family and playing Settlers is the best part of the day.

We head to Berlin tomorrow, we are on the fast track now, less than a week left. Gene and I have been doing great. We can't believe we haven't had as much as a cold to slow us down.

Call out to Kim, if you are out there reading. My nails lasted until today. I think that is a record for me.

Final note: Gene and I planned our wardrobes very carefully to ensure we would not be too cold. So we put on our best 4 layers today before heading out into the rainy, cold day.

Results, we were much too hot. The underground, the shops, the buses and museums were all stifling. We were constantly removing our extra layers. Tomorrow it is light clothes with a rain-proof jacket. We are slowly learning how to live like a local.

Ta ta...

Carol