Paisano European Tour 2010 - Day 13

Day 13 is September 19

Today was a day trip to Hamburg!  Very cool day ahead of us.  I woke up early again and tried to be quiet while everyone else slept.  Luckily, I've had practice "creeping around", so I try to be stealthy.  Of course, usually at my house I don't have to be too quite because when I've got the boys here, they sleep like rocks and my girls are awake at the crack of dawn.

I must say I really enjoy that first cup of coffee in the morning, especially in a sleeping house.  This morning was Beautiful!  The sun & the horses out the back door were a very nice touch.  While we were waiting for Jana's return from church, we got some laundry done and relaxed.  Unfortunately, Marc is still feeling poorly.  I guess I should explain that.  Marc went on a class trip to Poland and as a souvenir, he brought back a cold.  That will be important later on.

We head into Hamburg and our first stop is Heike's office.  She's got an Amazing view of the harbor and clock tower.  This building is named "Stella House", but I think based on my personal opinion, we should rename this "Heike House"  It just has a better ring to it.

After our tour of "Heike House", we decided to take a walk along the river.  It was very windy out along the shore & pier, but still very a cool parade of boats and ships.  Near the river there was much traffic due to futbol game St Pauli vs Hamburg.  I'd like to say I remember who won, but if you know me, then you know that there's So Much  crap/stuff in my head that details like that just seem to fall out.  I'm just hoping that one day something Really important doesn't fall out of there, you know, like how to ride a motorcycle or open a bottle of wine.

We spent a good amount of the day driving around Hamburg, well, OK,  we were riding as Frank was our chauffeur.  The Elbe River flows in and around Hamburg and allows for some great sightseeing.  One of the most interesting aspects of this trip was that at one point, we drove over the Elbe and then at another point actually drove under it.  I knew it was possible, of course, with things like the Chunnel, but I hadn't ever experienced it.  Pretty cool stuff.  The whole idea of driving under the water can be pretty freaky, but since I shut my brain off, not so much.

Our next stop was the simply amazing Süllberg Hotel.  This is a special location for our guides and rightfully so.  The cappucino & other "hot beverages" and tortes were perfect.  The prices seemed to be a touch on the expensive side, but if the decor and the views were an indication, it was more than well worth it.  The expansive view from the "elevated beach" was very cool and as someone said, the picture from that vantage point looked like something out of a story book.

We had the pleasure this evening of attending an EF informational meeting in Hamburg and got to watch Marc "at work".  Marc is doing great stuff with EF and the German office seems to be rather pleased with him...as they should be.  Other than not understanding most of what was going on, it was a good, interesting meeting.  I even had a couple questions come my way as well.   I found it interesting that even Momma noticed that some of the girls in the meeting were much more likely to be successful than others, simply based on their interactions.



  As we call it a day, we finish up with a great chicken, rice & broccoli dish, all finished off with a very nice Rioja.  Yum!  Tomorrow, Marc & Jana "get" to go to school, but Frank & Heike get to play hooky and take the day off.

What a great day!  Time to get some rest and get ready for another fun day tomorrow.