Day 4 Hamburg, Germany

Last night at midnight we were still wide awake and watching Thor (in German). Finally we just decided to turn the TV off and give it a go. Guy fell asleep pretty quickly but I don't think he stayed that way. It took me quite some time to fall asleep, but it was definitely a night of tossing and turning for both of us. At 10am, I had NO DESIRE to get up, but Guy managed to hop up and go get us breakfast. Just like my prediction (or wish) from the night before, I woke up to breakfast in bed. :) He had gone around the corner to one of the bakeries close to the hotel. I told him I didn't care what it was, just so long as it had some kind of cream filling or pudding. The one he brought back also had giant strawberries on top. My dad would have loved it. He also brought me coffee from downstairs. They sure do make a delish coffee latte here.

At about 11 am we headed for the boat dock. By showing our room key, we can ride the boat around the lake for free. So we hopped on and grabbed a seat as we took a leisure stroll around the lake. The little boat stopped at every stop (kinda like they do on Lake Como...almost like a little water taxi) but the stops aren't towns, just other locations around the small lake. At one point the majority of the people got off. It looked like it might have been a nice lunch spot, but for what ever reason, it was a hot spot. That just left us with another older couple, German I think. When the group got off, that opened up some seats outside so we made our way back to the back for better photo ops.  We sat down next to the only other coupon on board and the lady said to me "Nice place to live". I agreed with her. The day is humid and chilly. Ok with just long sleeves, but Guy ended up putting his jacket on. The boat ride was at least 90 minutes, but was a fun relaxing way to start the day.

When the boat got back to our stop, we got off and headed for some lunch. We had an early reservation for dinner (6pm) so we didn't want to eat too much. We went into the three local bakeries and chose Dat Backhus as it had the best selection of sammies. :) We both choose pretzel bread (and it's legit) but Guy had salami and cheese while mine was just cheese and veggies. I also picked out an apple tart of some kind. It was like apple pie with a bit of icing on top. REALLY good. We ate inside because for most of the day it looked like it could rain at any minute. But I think by carrying the umbrella that pretty much ensured no rain would fall. Ha Ha.

After lunch we headed to the train station to see about exchanging dollars for euros and to get our bearings for the train ride tomorrow morning. Guy thought the hotel had a high exchange rate, but the money exchangers at the train station were like legal robbers. Yikes...but our euros were getting low and we do still need a few for Amsterdam (we exchanged when we got back at the hotel) The train station had lots of food, so Guy wants to get breakfast there tomorrow and we'll get some snacks for the train ride. There certainly are lots of people watching opportunities in the train station and a good word to describe the area is at best "sketchy". But I had my umbrella from the hotel in had ready to poke any weirdo that got too close. :) After working our way through the train station, it led out to the pedestrian only street that was lined with shops. Most of them were big named stores, Nike, H&M, etc., and with nothing really to buy, we headed to the boat dock at the small end of the lake to see if we could catch our free boat ride back to the hotel. The lady at the counter said yes, but it would be an hour. That was still fine, but we opted to enjoy the cool breeze on a park bench in the shade for a bit and then take a slow stroll back to the hotel. Even tho it was humid, cool and cloudy, it was still a very nice day.

Once we got back to the hotel we checked our phone app to confirm our train tickets for tomorrow. One section with the big QR code they scan said our train left at 9:46. Perfect. But when you clicked over to "My reservations" it said our train left in the afternoon! What? We tried to figure it out, but the wifi at the hotel was cranky today so we headed down to the desk where a beautiful redhead with the last name of Weinberger (her grandpa had come to the US and was a dentist...hmmmmm) helped us. She, too, was totally confused by what she was looking at. So she looked online and found the phone number to DB Bhan and even tho she was switched to several different people and was on hold forever (she looked at me once and said "We'll figure this out") the train company assured her that our 9am was correct and they had no idea why the app was displaying the wrong time. She sent us to the 8th floor where we logged into the train website and were able to print out tickets just as a back up. So much for technology and mobile purchases! Erf.

Back to the room I started getting ready for dinner. It was raining pretty good and I was glad we chose to stay inside. Dinner was on the 9th floor of the hotel at the restaurant called Heritage. We had reserved a table by the windows that overlooked the lake and the view was great. We'd been going up each late afternoon for a coffee and that is where I've been writing my blogs (on the bar side next door) so the view wasn't new, but it certainly was entertaining. For the first time today the little sail boats were out, wake boarders and the boats with the multiple rowers. It appeared like people were getting lessons in both sailing and rowing. Well...here comes up quite a little downpour with some lightening and all the boats started coming in right away. I felt sorry for some of the rowers....they were really going at it to get in quickly. The rain was no biggie, but the lightening was making me nervous. I was glad when they all finally got onto the dock. This was all happening as we were getting our fabulous food. When I came back from washing my hands there was already a selection of breads with different kinds of spreads. Olive oil, something kinda spicy that tasted Mexican to me, a roasted tomato butter and sea salt. We started by splitting a goat cheese salad (it was sooooo gooood!) and then Guy went for asparagus and salmon while I opted for the asparagus risotto. Wow. I think I pretty much nailed it tonight as the winner of the best dish. It was cheesy with a great flavor. Savory, but not too salty. Just perfect. Afterwards we followed all that food by splitting a eclair. Chocolate of course. Perfection.

We came back to the room and I called my mom to chat for a bit and text my sister. I was going to blog on the train tomorrow, but it is just easier while it is all fresh. You know the saying "I can't remember, I've slept since then!"  Well.........

Tomorrow starts our next adventure. Amsterdam! Can't wait!