As per usual, Leah and I made the twenty-minute walk through downtown Odense with our bulky baggage. After validating our EuRail passes, we headed down to the tracks and our great journey began without any difficulties. We transferred trains once and to our surprise, an announcement came on and directed us to get off the train and take the ferry into Germany. I groaned ever so slightly, as I had just gotten comfortable and wasn’t necessarily looking forward to carting my belongings around in the rain. We were shocked when the train actually pulled onto the ferry. What a novel concept! Though we did have to debark the train, we left our luggage onboard and made our way to the upper decks. This certainly wasn’t any ferry of my imagination; it was much like a cruise ship with restaurants, shops, lounges, and an arcade. I was quite giddy, as I haven’t been on a cruise in almost three years and I was feeling overwhelmed by nostalgia, even if it was only for forty-five minutes.

Once across the German border, we settled back onto the train and were welcomed by a friendly ticket taker who smiled and said, “Guten tag.” We played a rousing game of Yatzy (the Danish equivalent of Yahtzee) and soon found ourselves in Hamburg’s Central Station. Luckily, it wasn’t too cold or wet because our hostel was relatively far. It’s a quaint little place with lots of character, thoughtful amenities such as bedside lights, and hot showers. We happened upon a group of guys from Dayton, Ohio. What are the chances?

I rejoiced at the thought of sharing the room with a bunch of guys, since they aren’t nearly as chatty and don’t take hours to get ready in the morning. I validated this thought when they stumbled quietly into the room at 2am and fell right to sleep. I spoke too soon. At one point during the night, all four guys were snoring and each was very distinctive. One sounded like a door creaking open, one sounded like an asthma attack, the other sounded like a strange animal, and the other one was only slightly obnoxious. It was a symphony of snores and I ended up taking three Tylenol PM just as the sun was about to come up.

We slept in later than we had initially planned, made our way to the train station to make good use of the lockers, and then headed off to see the city center, which was surprisingly very delightful. Hamburg is a beautiful city with swans swimming along the river’s edge, men strolling around with accordions, living statues, cider stands, and chalk artists. There aren’t many “can’t-miss” attractions in Hamburg, so we leisurely shopped and took countless pictures of countless cathedrals.

One particular cathedral stands out among the rest, St. Nikolai’s Memorial. It was built in the 19^th century and destroyed during World War II with Operation Gomorrha. Only the tower and a few walls remain today. Inside, there are memorial statues constructed from the barracks of concentration camps. One of the most memorable statues was that of an angel with many hands reaching up to her. Underneath there was an inscription that said, “Take my hand and let me guide you back to yourself.” Needless to say, I was very moved.

Afterward, we made our way to numerous parks and monuments, most of which were desecrated by graffiti, and not the artistic kind you think of when you think of Germany. Since there was no one around, Leah shoved me about six feet up a cement wall so that I could pose with a statue of Otto von Bismarck. Then we headed to the overlook of the Elbe River, which was alive and well with hundreds of boats and ships. At this point, we had seen most of the city, so we began a roundabout path back toward the train station, taking many peeks into the little German shop windows.

We decided to catch an earlier train to Berlin, as we were already exhausted. Unfortunately, half of Hamburg seemed to have a weekend trip to Berlin planned as well, so the train seemed to be at double capacity. We crammed ourselves inside a tiny passageway and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with strangers for most of the journey. Eventually the crowd thinned out and we were lucky enough to grab some floor space. I was listening to MIA’s song, “Paper Planes” and it made me think of that scene in Slumdog Millionaire where they were hopping on and off the trains. How fitting.

Pics to come later, but in the meantime, here's Leah chilling on the floor.