Day 31 - Hungry for Hamburg(er)

This photo requires no caption.

Ok, I'll get it out of the way before I proceed: One of the primary incentives for me to come to Hamburg was the possibility of eating a hamburger here. This I did (with schoolgirl-like excitement) in spectacularly anti-climactic fashion on my first day by paying a visit to Burger King. So there. That's one tick off the bucket list.

I had considered making a brief aside into the desirability of advancing towards the completion of one's bucket list (or, things to do before you kick the proverbial bucket), but the content seemed morbid no matter how tactfully I phrased it. I'll therefore say (optimistically) that my bucket list is an ever-expanding entity, and chasing its expansion will be my joie de vivre.

To return to Hamburg, let me Wikipedia it for you: 

This photo is not allowed. Shhh.

Hamburg is a city-state in the north of Germany, having some 1.8 million inhabitants in the city itself. To include the wider metropolitan region is to more than double this figure. Hamburg's port is the third largest in Europe and the eighth largest in the world, and is a highly important centre of shipping. Wikipedia will not tell you that there is a Burger King in the Hauptbahnof (central station) where it is verboten to photograph signs of hamburgers, no matter their cultural or religious significance to you as a person. A hamburger will cost you €1 (as of the time of this blog post), and how rewarding this experience is for you is an entirely personal matter.


Spitalerstraße

Proceeding west from the central station, you come upon Spitalerstraße, a main shopping strip. I set up here for about an hour and a half today, and was given the most generous reception of any town thus far.

Thank you so much to those that listened and bought a CD today :)

Unfortunately towards the end of my set I started to feel a sore throat coming along, which I am hoping will not worsen with time. Tomorrow will see me venture to Aarhus, Denmark for a few nights, where I hope to make the most of the Bryggedage festival taking place in Den Gamle By. I have, by the way, not the faintest idea how either of these names are pronounced. As a result, it should be a fascinating, and I anticipate having a serious ball :) Being sick would be a total downer in this regard.

So tomorrow: Denmark. However, I can't leave Hamburg without checking out the nightlife, which is on the cards for this evening.

So, as they say here in Northern Germany: Tschüß ! (seriously. that's how it's spelt) :)

Tim