As I mentioned during my early morning post from yesterday (I've been taking notes from one of those "get things done in the morning to be more successful" books), yesterday we visited Deutsche Bahn and the German history museum. Deutsche Bahn was a great visit, in a beautiful building. A nice mid-level finance type executive gave us the rundown on the company and their strategies for being more sustainable by 2020. I could not have been more proud of my students, since they did research projects on each of the companies before we left. Their research really informed all of us about what to expect with each visit. So, although some of the information was new, I think everyone gets more out of the visits when we go in knowing something about what they will be telling us.
After the business visit, we headed by bus to the German History Museum. Although it was interesting, I have been a bit tired and was ready to head back to the hotel. After some brief rest and catch-up on email, I was able to walk with our Berlin coordinator, Eve to a restaurant and enjoy a nice chat and some delicious food. She was fantastic as a guide. She was prompt and thorough, but felt it absolutely necessary that the students learn to get around the city on their own. It was just the right balance of helping them find their way and giving them the independence to get around on their own.
After our late afternoon dinner, I read a book (a rarity), since outside there was a festival. Normally, I would attend a festival right outside the hotel, but it was not really my kind of festival. First of all, it is not against the law to drink beer in the street, so all the festival-goers buy beer and carry it with them down the street. This equals quite a few intoxicated people crunching through broken glass. The grocery store nearby literally took 20 minutes to get through the line, because so many people were buying single bottles of beer to carry around. These young folks with lots of piercings and 80's clothes, were fairly loud throughout the night (again, thanks to Jeff for the noise cancelling headhphones - they are a lifesaver since I was on the 1st floor and right on the street). This morning, I even had two lovely people singing a "Hallelujah" song offkey right outside my streetfront, 1st floor window at 6:00 AM. Delightful. One of the students had it right when he suggested I should have dumped some cold water on them outside my window. But, I was already awake and just trying to get out of bed, so actually, it was quite a funny scene...two incredibly drunk people singing a song I couldn't understand (except for the hallelujah parts) outside my window.
This morning, we had a fairly early checkout and headed for the train. We took a DB passenger train straight from Berlin to Hamburg. It took just over and hour and a half. Hamburg is a really beautiful city, and we are just next to a university in a quieter part of town. But, the public transportation is nearby and very clean and navigable. We arrived and explored the town for a bite to eat. I had take out Indian food from the local mall, since food courts are a relatively young establishment in Germany. Then, I had some gelato, which was amazing as always. After lunch, we explored the city centers, and saw some beautiful buildings and areas. This evening we took a harbor tour, which is not really not my primary interest on the trip...but, it was interesting to see all the cargo ships and the pollution problems in the harbor.
Germany is playing Greece tonight in some sort of soccer finals, so it is a big deal here. I can even hear the celebration (I think that's it anyway) here in my room far, far away from the city center. These fans are seriously devoted. I watched part of the game over a nice, quiet dinner, and then came back to do my first bit of laundry. It is now hanging up on my new handy clothesline I bought for the trip. I look like a legit traveler with all those clothes hanging across my bathroom.
So far, I am really enjoying Germany. Berlin is great, because it is a cultural hodge-podge and people are very tolerant of tourists, even large groups of loud Americans. Hamburg is a beautiful harbor city, and is incredibly clean. I definitely plan to return for a visit, and hopefully bring Jeff back next time. Tomorrow we're off to Airbus to tour the plant here. Should be another day full of adventures before heading to Frankfurt on Sunday.
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