Breakfast at the Ikea then Treasure Hunting

After returning home from a wonderful weekend getaway to Munich, we were facing our last day in Hamburg. Somewhat disappointing, yes. The only thing Brother Bee and I had planned was picking up some awesome Hamburg souvenirs. Oh yes, and breakfast at Ikea, the furniture store. And I dead serious. Maybe it’s just me that didn’t know that Ikea not only sells you somewhat quality furniture at low prices, but they also sell you somewhat quality food at low prices. After seeing an article in a German newspaper that raked Ikea third, out of ten, in a list of the top 10 fast food joints with the best customer service, I HAD to try it out! Turns out German Boyfriend Bee also had a hankering for Ikea breakfast. So, Brother Bee decided to sleep in while German Boyfriend Bee and I headed to the furniture store for some breakfast. I had a traditional German breakfast:

While German BF Bee had Swedish Meatballs. With Ketchup.

What else would you have at Swedish Ikea?

Well, it was good, actually the service was fantastic, and the food was decent. If you can ignore the screaming children who have been pulled by their non-working mothers (not that there’s a problem with non-working mothers) to a furniture store at 11am in the morning. Isn’t that nap time or something?

After a filling breakfast at Ikea. Wow, I still can’t say that with a straight face. We headed back to get Evan up and begin the end. German BF Bee was leaving again, and we accompanied him to the local train stop and then to the Hauptbahnhof, where he was on his way to Berlin, and us to treasure hunt (my new name for buying souvenirs)!

Treasure Hunting lead us to another copy of Harry Potter 7 for the Mother Bee, and some picture books-a good start to our collection. After that, we decided to check out the Planten un Blomen, or Hamburg’s huge city park. It was gorgeous. The flowers are blooming this time of year…mainly daffodils and tulips and cherry blossoms. We took a stroll through the park, visited a completely free Botanical Gardens. Oh yes, this is where the little old German lady tried to talk to me about the flowers, and I just didn’t know what she was saying, so I talked to her in English. It worked quite well, actually. I mean, imagine a little (shorter than me) lady who as soon as she saw us was asking me questions in German. I gave her the common, contorted face that immediately told her, “I really want to help you, but you’re speaking a foreign language.” This face had become common place on this trip. But, instead of being discouraged, I listened to her…covering up the snickering of Brother Bee behind me, and we went on our merry way. Passing the couple, for the 5 time, who were intent on eating each other’s faces in the gardens like some twisted Romeo and Juliet…but I digress.

After the Gardens, we headed to the Japanese Tea Garden, which happens to be the biggest in Europe (a whole 1.5 acres) and just for a moment you can put blinders on, focus on the quaint tea house with it’s straw roof, pool of Koi and running water, and imagine yourself back in Japan. It was lovely. With the cherry blossoms encircling the pond of 2 foot long, orange Koi. Aww.

It was time to get back to the flat to meet Anja so we could pack and visit the local mall. Odd thing to do in a foreign country, but then again, the mall was odd. It had the same upscale shops you’d find at Cherry Creek Mall in Denver, minus the GARDEN of real grass and flowers in the middle of the hall. Yes, complete with garden gnomes. Twice. Even Anja was amazed. Then there was the food court. No, this is not where you’d find an over priced peace of grease that maybe resembles pizza, or a soggy box of MSG Chinese Orange Chicken. No, this is where you get fresh fruits and vegetables, hummus that is freshly mixed with figs or almonds, your own personal assortment of olives and fresh cut meats. Oh yes, and pastries right out of the bakery. This is dinner!

Back to the humble abode for one last night’s sleep in Germany. It all started with a German breakfast at a furniture store.

Wednesday Catch Up

Ok, before I write about our Berlin tour, I supposed I should do some catch up. After our educational yet very fun day on Tuesday, with Beer and Brats, we didn’t have much planned for Wednesday. Hamburg is a great city with lots to see, but not too much to do. It hasn’t been know as one of the most visited centers, which is really nice when touring it. There were lots of tourists, but not very many English speaking tourists. Which is in one way kinda nice.

So Wednesday we got up late, kind of becoming a trend, and got ready. My main goal for this day was to visit the Hamburg Kunsthalle or Art Museum. It is supposed to be one of the best in Germany. So we took the train to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof because the Museum is right next to it. The art museum was great. A lot of art of course, dating as early as 1500 and as late as three years ago. The newer art is, as you can imagine, interesting, yet I’m not sure I understand it. I am more of a fan of studying the faces of 300 years ago. So, we saw more of that art after a quick tour through the deep and unusal minds of artisits today. The big steel cage with florescent 1 + 1 = 2 didn’t really inspire me. Sorry. We saw lots of German painters, a Monet and a Manet, which were beautiful.

Then we moved on. I had one quick errand to run before we travelled to our next destination, and what do you know, it was on the way. I had to stop by a book store, just a Barnes and Noble-type to pick up 2 copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the British version. One copy for myself, one copy for Big Brother Bee who is patiently awaiting the copy as it was to be his birthday present last year!

After that we traveled down to the location of our short, third walking tour. This took us by some 17th Century homes:

Then we tried to go to the Johannes Brahms Museum, but apparently they are only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So, I looked through the windows and took a picture of the entryway. Sneaky.

We walked across the street, through the park that surrounds the Hamburg Historical Museum, and back to The Dom, where we picked up some of the funnel things that German Bee had the night we were there, and back to German Bee’s house for dinner. German Boyfriend Bee was going to be home for the night for dinner (he’s a pilot for Air Berlin, and he’s off and on schedule at weird times). So we had more bratwurst and mashed potatoes and saurkraut for dinner. Then it was bed, because as you’ll see in our Berling post, we had to get up at 4:30 to make our train.