I'm now in Hamburg, Germany...a city that I must admit that I'd never really heard or thought a great deal about before this trip.

I know it sounds foolish, but I really thought of hamburgers when I heard I was going to Hamburg. C'mon, you know you did too.  More on this later…

This is a great city...a city whose history, if placed end-to-end in a single file line would circle the globe at least three times...

Seriously though, the city suffered two major tragedies in recent history. There was a massive fire in 1842 that destroyed the city. More recently, much of Hamburg, including over 80% of its ports, was destroyed in WWII by RAF bombers. This was despite extensive Nazi efforts to camouflage the port. And yes, this is recent history in Hamburg terms…

Today, Hamburg is Germany’s second largest city, one of only two German city states, and the world's 8th largest port. It also has more bridges than any other city in Europe…more than Venice and Amsterdam combined. The canals are great and many with almost 2500 bridges.

We arrived a bit later than scheduled and took just a quick walking tour of down town. Frank was our guide and he was really kewl. I’ve got a link to his tour service up top.

I’ll have more pictures later, but the place is downright cool. Hussein says he likes it way better than Paris. He says it reminds him of his hometown Minneapolis-St. Paul.

So, about the hamburgers…

We were on the bus – clearly American…at least I was…representing in my ECU sweatshirt – and this old guy turns around from the front of the bus and asks aloud, “How do you like seeing all of these real live Hamburgers?” The inevitable pregnant pause followed…

… and then the whole bus busted out with laughter. What a great moment that captured the spirit and personality of the Germany that I’ve met thus far.

Auf Wiedersehen for now…