A more eventful day was the excursion to Hamburg. Hamburg is Germany's second biggest city behind Berlin with 1.8 million people (however, 4.3 million live in its suburbs). Along with Bremerhaven, Hamburg also shares the distinction of being one the largest ports in Europe--Hamburg is the third largest. Bremen, Bremerhaven and Hamburg all share other important history: All three cities, along with several others, were all historically apart of the Hanseatic League. The Hanseatic League was a free, independent trading and merchant guild in Northern Europe to help preserve and protect the member citys' trading interests. Anyway, to move on from the history lesson...
The day in Hamburg was a totally different feel from my days in Bremen. For a start, the sun came out and stayed out all day. Besides that, though, being a major city, Hamburg felt much different than Bremen. Bremen is a decent sized city, but while walking around, it certainly doesn't feel like that. Hamburg, though, had the energy and bussle of a big, important city. The river that flows through Hamburg is the Elba and our day started with a river boat tour and a walk through the underground tunnel that connects the two sides of the city--All of which we did with hundreds of other tourists. Later that day we tried to reconnect with our developing German side and partook in the lovely German tradition of "Kaffee and Kuchen" (coffee and cake) in the afternoon. I felt that Hamburg had a international and fairly large feel, but the lake that sits in the middle of the city and by which we had our coffee (Actually, I didn't have coffee because if you know me well, you know that I hate coffee, but I do love cake.) oozed serenity and charm. Hamburg was a lovely mix of charm and energy with fun and youthful things to do. I am also fond of Hamburg for one simple reason: It is the first place I've been since leaving the US that had public water fountains...Three cheers for non-carbonated water that I didn't have to pay for!
Now on the to hamburger...I must confess, I actually have not had any hamburgers since coming to Germany. I have been to a "barbeque" though, where we "grilled," and yet I have had no hamburgers. In place of hamburgers, I have been served bratwursts....and lots of them in a multitude of varieties. The assumption that Germans loves their brats is no misconception--it is 100 percent accurate. I've always been one to enjoy mushed-up and mixed-up meats thrown together and squeezed through a machine to create a casing, so I'm OK with the wursts. At the grocery store I have the option of at least 10 different flavors, sizes and meat-origin. Our/my love of hamburgers is definitely equal to their love of wursts.
My first Friday in Bremen I had the opportunity to eat a mixed-up, mashed-up meat sans casing in a dish called "Knippe." Knippe is a very traditional (and actually delicious) Bremen dish, which is ground pork, mixed with oats and spices and then lightly fried. The menu described the "mischung" (German word for mix and also the best way to describe Knippe) as "haggis-like," so my decision to spend a whole 10 Euros on this was quite a leap of faith. I was very pleasantly surprised, though, especially with the apple compote (or in other words, applesauce), that was served as a topping. My meal sure was better than another PPPler's meat and cheese dish that was served with raw ground pork....Ew.
To paint a more complete, and less traditional, picture of the food in Germany I will move on from the ground and reformed foods. As many of you may know, the majority of Germans believe the largest meal of the day should be lunch. At lunch the meal could really be anything, but Germans do favor lots of potatoes and pork. In the four large meals my host family has served me since my arrival, one has had chicken, three have had pork and one had fish. All had potatoes....Good thing this blog, unlike my Ireland blog, is not entitled "No Potatoes Please."
For the other meals the Germans gravitate towards deli meats, butter, cream, honey, more butter, more cream and cheese (they want to make sure their dairy farmers stay busy). Oh--and beer. I kind of hate to say it, but Germans aren't really disproving any food stereotypes here. My average bread consumption has never been low, considering I count bread as one of my favorite foods, but it has now reached new proportions, which I think, if you ask my family, is saying something. If I ever feel like I should eat multiple German things at once, I can easily find a bratwurst stand, order one for a couple of Euros, and also receive a small, horizontally sliced white bread roll (the beloved German brötchen) that looks foolishly small as it "holds" the wurst in a manner similar to the more proportional American hotdog rolls.
There is German word "komish" that means funny, comical or strange. I love food and I am enjoying all the food I eat here in Germany, but sometimes I just laugh because it is so komish and different from much American food. Though, sometime between Hamburg, my seventh bratwurst and finding hummus at the grocery store this afternoon, I realized my life here is far from komish--In fact, it has already been full of new and wonderful sights, sounds, smells and tastes, each of which belong in this one year adventure.
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