Published Thursday November 18th, 2004

Funny commercial on M.T.V. Germany: "Don't have sex.. until you have a condom!" Ha ha, I love Europe.

Heh.. well, another two days have passed and so much has happened.. wow. Yesterday, on Wednesday, I got up at around 09.00 and had breakfast with my grandparents.

We took the S-Bahn to the harbour near Altona in Hamburg and got on a boat which took us on a tour around the harbour. We saw many huge, and large cranes and transport container ships. It was insane at the size of each one and the harbour. "One who drinks [water] from the Elbe does not become old.." (Because they die.) Was a joke on from the tour guide.

Heh.. I'd like to spend some time working on one of those huge international container ships sailing on the sea for a few weeks working as a chef or cleaning or something, anything.. That would be an interesting experience.

After the boat ride tour around the harbour, we got on a bus, double decker and did a tour around the city of Hamburg. Everything looked relatively new, or very new and modern.. I'm used to Bern or Lausanne; old cities which have an old and somehow antiquated feel to them, not completely new with an old retro-style architecture and feel which Hamburg and many other German cities have.

While on our bus ride we got off and had lunch at a restaurant by St. Michaelis Chruch, a famous Hamburger church. After eating my grandmother and I went up into the church's tower, then the catacombs and then into the church's interior itself.. The church chamber shaped like a basilica was very Baroque in style and decoration.. Not my favourite. Baroque is icky.

After exploring the church, we got back on a bus and completed the city tour. We returned to our hotel, the Raphael Hotel Altona Best Western and dropped of my grandpa.. My grandmother and I went back into the city into the shopping district.

In most large European cities all the major shopping districts or THE major shopping district usually lined with stores on traffic-free, or mostly traffic-free streets always right by the exit of the main city train station, these train stations larger depending on how large the city is.. Hamburg has one of the largest train stations, and the roads and shops are equally as large and amazing. Another reason why I love Europe.. It's like a European mall, or rather a mall is the American version of this European concept.. Have I mentioned how much more I love Europe than N. America.. more specifically the U.S.A.?


I can't say for countries like Italy or Spain or England and so forth, but for the most part, I love it so much in these large European cities.. Especially Germanic speaking cities.. From the language to the culture and the society to the architecture and structures.. I love it so much! Hamburg is a definite must visit again location, even a "would like to spend some time livinghere" location..

Everyone who is relatively young in Hamburg seems to have a so called fashion sense, and myself without really such a sense seem to find myself standing out with my fashion-less apparel amongst the others.. Really odd, I've never noticed anything this extreme before.

So, my grandmother and I split up and shopped around. I had seen various people wearing this jacket/coat type article which I really liked the past few days, so I knew exactly what I was looking for. A jacked/coat with fake sheep-skin interior and dark-beige plad-like exterior.. I have no Idea how to explain clothing.. Anyways, I went into an H&M store and found exactly what I was looking for.. I looked in some other stores, but finally returned to H&M to buy it for a pretty cheap price of 40 Euros (39,90).. Yey! I've never been more happy, or had more fun with any clothing article before like this.. Hatte noch nie so freud an einem stueck kleidung.

I met back up with my grandma at the U-Bahn station at 18.45. We rode back to the hotel where we were going to pick up my grandpa again.

Even young kids ages in appearance of 10-14 ride on the public transportation on their own, alone or in a group of friends without supervision. I love Europe. As I was walking in the subway, walking to another connection, I walked by some guy who caught my attention. I checked him out, and unexpectedly he checked me out and we made brief eye contact and he smiled at me.. That was odd.

People here also seem to listen to the same types of music as me. I hear it in peoples car, on the radio, T.V, from peoples headphones while they listen to music on the public transportation.. It's awesome. My music tastes are more normal mainstream here than they are in the U.S.A.. Have I mentioned how I love Europe and hate the U.S.A.? I feel at home here.

Anyway, we picked up my grandpa and then went to the supposedly famous Reeperbahn.. a street filled with live sex shows and acts type of bars, theatres, brothels or whore houses and prostitutes on the streets..

We walked up the street a bit from the metro station and walked around. We ate dinner in some steak house, across from which was a Burger King and outside this Burger Kind was a line of 10-20 females seeking employment.. For the slow readers: prostitutes. Burger King? Ha! More like Burger Pimp! Laugh at my joke, dammit! It was hilarious to see.. Have a burger, and then a fuck!

As a general statement.. What better job is there to work at a live sex show? ..or BE the live sex show? Become friends with ones colleagues and fuck around a bit and make money.. not bad.

After dinner my grandparents and I walked by the Burger Pimp on our way back to the metro-station. Opposed, or differing from the stereotypical Hollywood prostitutes, the prostitutes we passed outside of Burger Pimp and later were rather, if not quite attractive, well dressed and didn't appear very slutty at all. Dressed well or fashionably like every other relatively young Hamburger.. and that was another thing.. they were all pretty young between early and late twenties.. Heh.. Not exactly a life I'd like to lead.

As we continued walking I dozed off on some other thoughts, recalling events of the day as we walked by a line of females. I though to myself, "Why are all these attractive, relatively young girls lines up here in a nice and orderly line, so that each is clearly visible as though they were on display- ..oh! Right, I remember."

Saw a street sign for a street called "Grosse Freiheit" or.. Big/large Freedom.. ha ha.. We got back on the metro and returned to our hotel.

Instead of writing an entry, I watched T.V. after taking a shower and I noticed, as I had noted in the past few days, that there are a LOT of mobile phone ring tone, screen saver, and other mobile phone media advertisements on T.V. and I mean a lot. Many times more so than in Switzerland..



After breakfast on Thursday we continue onward on our journey. We departed Hamburg and drove north. Soon we had crossed the border over into Denmark. Little small houses scattered about the landscape with roofs made from some type of reed or stalk bound together then folded, as well as more scattered wind powered generators/windmills or turbines.. Though they did not appear as modern or new as the ones I had seen in the east of Germany.. It was flat. It's very flat here in the north.. very flat.. mountains or hills ..anyone? please? I can't orient myself! I feel lost!.. Okay, so i exaggerate.. oh well.

We ate lunch in a small town of R