My plan was to stay two nights in Hamburg and the catch a train to Copenhagen, Denmark and then get picked up in Copenhagen two days later. Hamburg was a beautiful city. It is known as the Gateway to the World and is the second largest shipping harbor in Europe. It was nice to walk around the city, see the infamous Reeperbahn, hear the German language, and enjoy all that Germany had to offer.
Besides the city being beautiful, my favorite thing in Hamburg was the Miniature Wonderland. An entire two floors of a building dedicated to miniature recreations of places in the world. There was everywhere from Switzerland, to the Americas, to Hamburg, and Scandinavia. The work in progress is Italy and that should be very cool when it is complete. All of the worlds are connected by trains, 12 km of track to be exact. It is such a huge place and you could spend many hours there (I spent three). It's something you have to see to really appreciate. I was very excited when I saw the tractor pulling portion in Bavaria! It was really neat to have tractor pulling shown off. One really great thing about the miniature world is that there were little quirky things hidden everywhere; a tractor crashed into a house, a nudist colony, a group of hippies, kids in the sunflower field, etc. I would definitely recommend going here if you are ever in Hamburg!
I caught the train to Copenhagen and had one scare on the way there. I fell asleep with headphones in my ears and woke up to a stopped train and everybody getting up and getting off the train. I was really confused and ask the people sitting near me. The only reply I got was "Didn't you listen to the announcement?" I have to admit I was freaked out for a bit! So, I just followed everyone and hoped for the best. Turns out, that while I was sleeping, the train was loaded onto a ferry to cross the water. This was quite a relief for me. I have decided that I really enjoy riding trains and it is one of the best ways to get around. They are smooth, scenic, and comfortable.
Copenhagen turned out to be beautiful! I was there alone for one day and the following day the Italians plus Latvian came and I hung out with them the rest of the time. I really fell in love with the part of the city called Nyhavn. It was a beautiful area with a ton of people and cool boats. On the last day of the trip we ate smørrebrød, near Nyhavn, which was absolutely delicious. At one point I misjudged the white stuff to be cheese and it turned out to horseradish. Wow, was I in for a surprise! Overall, the danish cuisine was really good and I would eat it again.
A really interesting part of the Copenhagen trip was the free guided tour that we joined. The guide was very friendly, funny, and told great stories. We spent three hours walking around the city and learning the history. Copenhagen burned down multiple times, which in turn required a watchman to be in the tallest tower in the city in order to catch a fire before it spread. We saw the harbor, opera house, Royal Palace, Marble Church, and much more. It's easy to see why so many tourists love Copenhagen. We also visited the famous Little Mermaid although it turned out to be nothing too special.
I had another amazing adventure through Europe. I absolutely love traveling. It is great to see and experience new things. I believe that you learn just as much traveling as you do by going to school. It's one thing to read about history in a book, but when you are there seeing the sites or learning in a museum, it feels so much more real. Lesson of the day: Never stop traveling, never stop learning.
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