Hamburger Dom

Howdy howdy. First of all, apologies on the lack of posts lately. I started working in a lab at the beginning of December, and then the holidays hit, so there's hasn't been a lot of time for updating the site. I will try to cover what's been going on for the past several months over the next few posts. But first! Some eye candy, or Augenweide! Literally!

One of the things that Hamburg is known for is the "Hamburger Dom", which is a giant festival that happens three times a year. The winter Dom happened this year from November 5th until December 5th...basically straight up until Christmas craziness. Comes complete with smurfs!



Seriously, though, I've seen more after moving here than since I was a little kid. Anyway, the Dom is basically a giant fair. Rides, fun houses, carnival games, LOTS of sugar and LOTS of gluhwein. Here are some shots from the top of the ferris wheel of the Dom around us.










And back on the ground...





We wandered around the Dom three times, mostly just soaking up the sights. But we couldn't leave without partaking in the German tradition of gluhwein (Hot spiced wine...they give it to you in a mug, which you pay a deposit for. You can either return the mug at the end and get your deposit back, or keep it as a souvenir)

There are only four letters in the phrase "Cat Attack"

Coda has always enjoyed sitting on window sills and watching what's going on outside. At my old place, she ripped down the curtains that I had put up, but she seems to have found a better game with the ones that we've installed in our apartment here. Namely, spying on and attacking anything that moves too close to the curtain opening.








I mostly just like scrolling back and forth between these two pictures...

Apartment Pictures and what not

Finally getting a chance to post about our new apartment! We were rather lucky in the place that we found. It's a three room place, plus bathroom and kitchen, 84m2, and in a very nice part of town. And there's no Kaution, which in German terms is an extra payment of 2-3 times the price of rent that goes to the rental agency for...well...basically for having the apartment. You don't get it back, and it doesn't do anything. Anyway, big plus to not have to pay it, because that's a lot of money.







We had to get some things from Ikea for the place, like ceiling lights, and bathroom curtain rod, towel racks and whatnot, and we had to repaint most of the rooms, but I think in the end it was worth it. And as I said in my last post, our stuff finally made it here from the US! We've been unpacking and setting up and cleaning and installing and drilling...we're not quite finished yet, but it's pretty close.






A few moving in stories. We were a bit worried beforehand because the stairwell up to our apartment is fairly narrow, so we weren't exactly sure how the movers were going to get our two couches up into the apartment. After a few hours of bustling up and down the stairs, there was a long lull where I didn't hear anything from the movers, so I went into the hallway to see what was going on. One of the movers and Hasan were airborne with the couch halfway in the window - and yes, I do mean airborne, as both pairs of feet were off the ground. A few seconds later, the other mover came sprinting up the stairs, and they managed to pull the couch all the way in. Amazing.








Our other favorite bit was the box that was labeled "pots and pans and martini glasses". Now, to our knowledge, neither Hasan nor I had packed any martini glasses to be shipped here, and by the size of the box, it was going to be a lot of martini glasses. Turned out, it was our wine glass set, but we enjoyed the renaming, and the 007 style it gave us.






It seems like a really big deal to finally have all of our things. Even though we've been in Germany for more than two months now, it's refreshing to have familiar stuff surrounding us. Now, if only we can get the internet to work at our apartment...







Anyway, enjoy the pictures of the place, and ignore the small messes...they'll be cleaned up soon. We're glad to be moved in!

Just moved!

More updates soon. We moved into our new apartment, and our things have arrived from the US (only a few casualties). Unpacking is ensuing, and hopefully we'll have internet at home on Friday! I'll update soon with pictures of the new place and a few moving stories.

Wahoo!