hamburg, in 5 hours or less

ok. i think i can now finish my story uninterruptedlike. so. thinking that sleeping on the night train was a smart, cheap, and restful way to go, i booked an overnight ride to hamburg. i put on my little italian slippers that i got for 75 cents, covered up with my large scarf (that i got in the czech republic to tie around my...uh...bum area to cover up the large holes that appeared in the right cheek of my favorite pants while i was walking in the middle of london but that's another story), secured my bag, and settled in for a good night's sleep. ha. haha. to begin with, i sat near the front of the car: read, over the wheels, so everytime the brakes were employed i awoke to SSCCCCCCCRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECHHHHHH!!!!!! ya. fun. i took my camera out of my bag and hid it next to me on the seat just in case someone did make off with my bag, but consequently had to wake up enough to move the bloody thing everytime i wanted to turn in my seat. now, my seat...i'll spare you.

needless to say, i was not in the mood to begin touring Hamburg when i got there at 7:30am. all tour books recommend getting up early and touring the city before the huge tour busses of old and/or asian people (no, i'm not biased against them) empty themselves relentlessly upon the town. it sounds ideal: the lovely town, all to yourself, the crisp morning air, the smell of bread baking wafts from the shops...and so on and so forth. reality check: it is like 2 degrees at 8am in oh-so-northern germany in mid-october. i couldn't find a bakery for anything. or a bathroom, for that matter. AND when you do find one (a bathroom, that is) they charge you like a dollar!

i finally discovered a coffee shop, and sat there writing postcards 'til it warmed up. it was there that i met my friend Aaron, who showed me around the town. i've been trying to spot americans. it's actually harder than you would think...we are all playing the "i can look like a european too" game, plus alot of the backpackers i run into are actually germans. the best way to tell is to figure out what brand of clothing they are wearing. that usually gives it away. germans and british use backpacks like CampMor and such, while americans go with REI or EMS. anyways. i had this guy pegged as a german. but i sneezed and he said "bless you". i responded, "thank you". then we both realized what happened and he said, "an american!?" we started chatting and ended up seeing most of the sights together. i headed out after lunch to go back to berlin. i love berlin. i wanna marry berlin. fact of the month: jedno was there! she helped tear down the berlin wall!!! that is too amazingly cool!

ok, once again i do not have time to finish my story. l8r.