Day 3 Hamburg, Germany

No alarms were set last night and we were in bed before 10. I slept really good and even with clogged sinuses I made it all the way through the night. Apparently there was some snoring going on in the bed...so Guy says. I was asleep so I can't really say. ;) My first peek at the clock was about 8am and then again at 10. Not sure I moved around too much last night (or so my back is telling me so) but I made may way out of the bed moving enough to reach my water and apple tart I had waiting on me from a bakery we stopped at yesterday. Up and about I finally get into my running clothes. Excited about the lake path, I headed out about 11:30. It is gorgeous out, about 70ish degrees with a pretty good breeze. Most of the lake was packed full of people. Lots of runners, walkers, both moms and dads with baby buggies, people on blankets, bicycles, older folks sitting in the benches, sail boating, wake boarding, rowing, and paddle boats. The sky is blue and everything is green and it is like a beautiful park all the way around the lake. It was just as lovely as I had hoped, except maybe just a few too many people. Quite a bit of zig zagging around people, but still pretty darn awesome. I had set my gps because I like to document my runs. I heard my music, but apparently I had hit pause and it didn't track my path or time. I googled it and it is a very popular running spot. 4.75 miles. We did quite a bit of walking today, so not sure if I'm up for it again tomorrow, but we'll see.

After a nice hot shower, Guy and I head out for lunch. We were going to eat at a restaurant on the lake (all probably touristy type food but one was recommended by the hotel). However when we got there they were in between breakfast and lunch (or so the waiter said in broken English) and so we headed for some restaurants we saw last night. Not looking for our biggest meal of the day we thought we'd stop for pizza at the Casa Di Roma, rated pretty high on Trip Advisor. Guy ordered pizza margarita and I ordered a caprese salad. However the cheese was actually "burrata" where the outer shell is mozzarella and the inside contains both mozzarella and cream that had an unusual soft texture. When sliced, a spurt of thickened cream comes out that is rich and buttery. Paired with this amazing cheese were grilled tomatoes, basil leaves and balsamic vinegar. It was so much better than I had anticipated and I can only image how wonderful it would have been if my taste buds had been at 100%. This is the first time I had tried this kind of mozzarella and at first I thought something was wrong with it. Guy explained what it was and Google later filled in all the remaining details. It certainly was a treat!

After lunch our plans were to go to Hamburg's Miniatur Wunderland, which we already had reservations for. This is one of city's most popular attractions. I've been calling it a train museum, but it is actually the world's largest miniature train display. Our ticket said we could go anytime between 3 and 4pm. Arriving, the lines weren't too long and we got in pretty quickly. It is in the warehouse district and takes up 3 floors. As you walk around, you see replicas of countries. Switzerland, "Amerika", Germany and many more. About every 15 minutes the room goes from daytime to nighttime where all the lights go dark. So the scenery goes from day to night and the towns (or whatever you are viewing) light up. That was crazy cool. There is a little airport where miniature planes take off and land on a runway. You first hear the plane engines, then the "Wows" of the kids watching (and the adults). It is hard to get up to the handrail of that display...obviously the most popular. At each display there are buttons to push and it makes something happen, like cranes lifting things or making windmills turn. Every detail is thought of, such as the hot air balloons have flickering lights that look like the flame that makes them go up. There are hundreds of thousands of little miniature people in this place. They have everything from crowded concerts, protests on the streets, a lumber jack cutting down a tree, hippies in campers, skiers coming down the mountain, bicycle wrecks, coal mines, people viewing underground stalagmites...you name it. These artists have been working on adding to this display for over 15 years and have had over 15 million visitors. Italy is currently being created, but they already have some of it put together. I'm not a train buff, I do have to say this was pretty cool. On the little pamphlet they give you there are twenty little "scenes" you are to look for and check off if you find them. Like a game. Somewhere there was a tiny dinosaur, a ski accident, a building on fire, prisoners in the prison yard and one was a couple making out on a blanket in a flower patch. I thought that was hilarious and we couldn't find it, so Guy asked. It was in the middle of Germany just past the camp ground, so of course we went back for a photo. And speaking of photos, the Wunderland is pretty much it as far as photos go today. But I'll stop talking about it and you can just go look for yourself. Sometimes I added people in just for scale. Definitely worth the time.

Most things are closed today because it is Sunday, so the walk there and back was pretty quiet. We got back to the room and I closed my eyes for a minute, but didn't want to nap too long because I think I'm getting myself on track to the time change and don't want to mess that up! It was supposed to pour down rain today, but it is 7pm and we haven't seen a drop and the temperature reached a toasty 80 degrees today.

Dinner tonight was at the Das Dorf. It was a very unique place down in a cellar. It was an atmosphere of dark wood and was clearly very old. I'm curious as to how long the building has been there. Anyway, Guy had made a reservation and when we arrived our server, Michael, was at the front. He was super nice and his English was perfect. As we perused the menu, he brought out the nightly specials written on a chalkboard and set it by Guy and then asked for our drink order. Usually when we order a coke it is in a teeny tiny bottle, which is about 4 really good gulps. So when I ordered my "Spetzi" (Fanta orange and Coke) he said "big or small?" I said BIG! And I also ordered a large water. Well...let me tell you, it was indeed big. I managed to get all mine down, but brought the water back to the hotel. Oops! Anyway, Guy had a hankering for traditional German sausage tonight, but alas, not on the menu at the Das Dorf. I had the veal ragu with homemade egg noodles and veggies and Guy had traditional schnitzel with giant white asparagus. Actually, asparagus was the main part of the order and then you just added to it with either ham, schnitzel, pork or fish. It must be in season because it was the giant white kind. And we've see other asparagus menus where that is basically the entree and you add something with it. Funny. So as we waited for our dinner, someone began playing the piano and he was excellent. One song he was playing I thought might be "O Danny Boy" but it was actually the traditional hymn "He looked beyond my fault". I started singing the words to Guy and he said that was the only church he got today. That was true I guess. :) So after dinner (I was still working on getting my giant soda down) I wished I had left room for dessert because I'm sure it would have been fabulous there, but I came back to the room and nibbled on a few peanut M&Ms just for something sweet. And as we came back to the hotel all the bakeries were closed so we have nothing for breakfast. Will have to venture out in the morning...or maybe if I'm lucky Guy will go out and bring it to me like room service. :)

Not sure of our plans tomorrow. It is supposed to be rainy (it is right now with a bit of thunder and lightning) but we'll see. A day to read a book or watch movies wouldn't hurt my feelings at all.