I don’t have much else exciting to share about Hamburg. Two days ago I basically walked the entire city. My general impression: pretty sleepy except for the designated drinking (Reeperbahn, the old red-light district) and touristy (docks, fish market, cathedral) areas. There are lots of nice parks and of course canals and waterways.


No really old architecture basically because it’s been bombed so many times over the years. I did walk through one nice neighborhood with a lot of little shops and cafes but that was pretty early and nothing was open. To be fair, it was raining off and on the whole time, but supposedly it rains a lot there. And they do have one of the most impressive Town Halls I’ve ever seen.

No exciting food to share about since all I could understand on the menus were sausage (so many kinds of ‘wurst’!) and fish. One of the scariest things I’ve done in awhile was walk through a 0.3 mile long tunnel under the canal that was built is 1910. I kind of just got in the elevator without thinking about it and then had to contain my panic once I was down there.

I spent the afternoon reading at a cafe with orange ginger tea and a slice of apple walnut knudel.

Yesterday I was on a bus and then a ferry up to Denmark, switched buses in Copenhagen, then over to Sweden and up the coast to Gothenburg. The ride was beautiful.

I got to Gothenburg last night and had enough light to take a quick walk around the park. Had a good rest last night and woke up around 6:00 because the sun comes up so early! Gothenburg is the second biggest city in Sweden and I really liked it. Again, I feel like I saw most of the city in one day’s walk-about, but I really liked the vibe. Lots of cute little boutique shops, traditional bakeries, mixed with pizza and kebab joints. Lots of young people but I often saw bars/cafes with all generations and types mixed together. Really clean cobblestone streets, cute old tram cars, many green spaces.

I had the same feeling that I described in Hamburg. Walking along a quiet cobblestone sidewalk along a canal, I thought, “Wow. I’m in Sweden. I’ve been wanting to come here for a year and now I got myself here.” Pretty Incredible.

I did go on a bit of a food mission. After not knowing anything on the menu in Germany I did some preemptive googling about common Swedish foods. So I was bent on getting a fresh Kanebullar (cinnamon bun) and a Räksmörgås (open-face shrimp sandwich with boiled eggs). I succeeded on both accounts, and with the extra 100 Swedish Kronor burning in my pocket I splurged on some fancy chocolates too, which I enjoyed in a quiet corner of the wharf.

Here are a few more pictures. It’s Equality month here and I loved seeing the rainbow flags mixed with the old statues.

Ah Media Overload! So much to see.

I’m now on a bus up to Oslo, Norway. I have two friends that I met on Camino who are meeting me at the bus station and then tomorrow Chelsea arrives! I’m excited to see some familiar faces.