Work definitely keeps me busy, I'd say I'm in the office 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, but I do manage to get away now and again. Last week I went to Hamburg to visit Michelle. She's doing an internship there for the next six months for one of the country's largest breweries (Holsten) and arrived a couple of weeks ago. Hamburg is a really beautiful city, and is the second largest in Germany. It is home to one of the largest harbours in Europe and the city has clearly evolved around it. The port itself has 45 km of quays (I took a bit of a tour) and there is an island in the middle of the town which is nothing but warehouses. The island is a free-trade zone, and has separate customs controls from the rest of the city, goods landed there are all tax free. Then there is the infamous Reeperbahn. They call it the most sinful mile in Hamburg because of the large service industry presence geared towards off-duty sailors. However, in reality today it is a street full of bars and dance clubs in the downtown area that happens to have more strip bars than your average landlocked town centre. We didn't have time to stay out late though because Michelle had only just moved to Hamburg and hadn't had time to check out all the public transport. We found out that the subways stop at 12:15, and didn't want to chance trying out the bus system in the middle of the night. Instead we rested up for a walking tour around town the next day.
Hamburg really is beautiful. It has two lakes within it, appropriately called the inner and outer lakes. Both are surrounded by shops, restaurants and parks. Then there is the Hamburg skyline, free of tall buildings, five old churches rise above the busy city and watch over its inhabitants. Since they're the tallest things around, they also serve as good landmarks, and we conducted our self-run tour by walking from church to church. The most famous cathedral, St. Michaelis, is over 200 years old, and the view from it's tower is the best in the city.
;)