honeymooning in hamburg

...guys, I am so sorry for not blogging in, well, forever! It has sure been a busy last three weeks and a few days since my last post! We hung out in Hamburg, celebrated Nick's birthday, and then hosted Mackie in Hamburg / traveled Italy & Switzerland together! I'd like to dedicate this post to our time in Hamburg (mine/Nick's then when Mackie came too) and the next post will be about our travels to Italy & Switzerland. Hope that is okay with all of you guys :)

The first weekend we were here (july 31st - aug 2nd), on Friday, we went to Summer Dom. Summer Dom is a summer festival in Hamburg and it was so fun. It's a lot like a state fair haha. They actually have something that resembles funnel cake & then a beautiful firework show at the end of the night. You can see the ferris wheel from our apartment so it is extremely close! Nick did a shooting game {shocking} and won a baby elephant. It's featured in a picture below & oh so cute! On Saturday, we went to Duckstein festival and had a few brews with pals and just hung out. Then Sunday, Nick & I went to see Nadal play Fognini in the Finals of the Hamburg Open for tennis. It was so amazing to get so close to Nadal and snap some awesome pictures. Also, it was an incredible match. I've posted a lot of pictures below. Before the main event, we saw Andy Murray's brother (Jamie) play in the double finals and win as well. It was such a great day! We are so blessed to be living so close to all the action!

The baby elephant Nick won me!

hello nadal....

nadal wins!!!

The second weekend we were here (aug 7th - aug 9th), Nick and I just chilled out on Friday. Saturday during the day we looked for lederhosen for Oktoberfest - quite the adventure and we actually just made a purchase today, yay!! We then just walked around for a bit admiring the beautiful Hamburg. We saw a German tradition [if you are an unmarried male when you turn 30 years old this happens] where basically young gentlemen dress their pal up in hideous clothing and make him pick up bottle caps that have been strewn everywhere. Children will come by and kick small piles of bottle caps everywhere that the guy has piled up...hilarious... poor Germans. This is quite the hilarious event and entertained us for awhile [pics below of course!] We also stopped by the Rathaus & St Michaelis Cathedral for a sneak peek since I knew I wanted to take Mackie there during her trip. Then Saturday night, we celebrated Nick's birthday with all of our Hamburg friends. It was so incredibly fun! We went to Gröninger (a traditional German meat & beer restaurant) and celebrated in true German style.  A man with a guitar came around singing songs including "Country Roads" by John Denver. It's been in our head since unfortunately. On Monday (Nick's actual birthday), we went to Estancia Steaks and FINALLY had an amazing steak in Europe. Nick was so pleased and that made me very happy! Then we celebrated with cupcakes [from the first cupcake store in Europe - called Happy Kappy] and gifts at the apartment. Nick modeled his new Barbour jacket that I got him and overall I think he had a fantastic birthday! It's always hard being away from family and friends during these special days but everyone here made his birthday so wonderful.

German tradition of essentially making your friend look like an idiot if he's unmarried when he turns 30

guys..... no icecream or fries in the Rathaus lol

gorgeous St Michaelis cathedral

preparing for a fun night in Hamburg celebrating Nick's birthday with friends!

toasting to the birthday boy!

beautiful Hamburg by night

cute setup for Nick's birthday! cupcakes, gifts, and balloon from Hamburg friends

super happy birthday boy Nick Johnson eating his MASSIVE steak

opening chocolates from Hamburg friends

modeling his new Barbour jacket I gave him for his birthday

one last picture for the night & some amazing cupcakes to top it off!

On Tuesday (11th), Mackie arrived at 10am. I went down and got her from the airport! We hit the ground running as she claimed she wasn't tired (haha)! We went and got Italian (Germany has the BEST Italian food). Then we walked around for a bit & I showed her around Hamburg. We went by the Rathaus, down to the water, then to Strand Pauli for a cool white wine spritzer as well as seeing Beatle Platz (where the Beatles got started!). I had to take her by Backhus {a local bakery} to get a Franzbrötchen & Fritz-Limo (YUM!) Mackie passed out for a bit afterwards and then we went and ate Greek for dinner.

On Wednesday, we got an early start at the Norwegian restaurant [Karlson's] for an amazing breakfast [pics included]. Mackie LOVED it (which Nick predicted) then Mackie did the free walking tour of Hamburg while I went to Deutsch Class. Afterwards, we went to eat at a local eatery and try the tranditional Hamburg dish of Pan Fish.... I hadn't tried it {if you know me you know I hate seafood} but I gave it a whirl and honestly it was not bad. Mackie really liked it but we both decided it was once a month type of meal. We then walked around for a bit and got a famous Hamburg coffee at Elb Gold, then walked around the Planten un Blomen park ... we got ice cream in true German fashion then hit up Portuguese tapas for dinner. Afterwards, we went up to Heaven's Nest rooftop bar at a local hotel and it was such a fantastic view. All in all, a great day in Hamburg!

my muesli / yogurt / milk / fruit bowl from Karlson's

Mackie's amazing breakfast of cheeses, bread, and fruit from Karlson's

 INSANE apple pancake from Karlson's

traditional german dish of panfish & potatoes

planten un bromeen park on a gorgeous day

rooftop bar in Hamburg!

On Thursday, we hit up Paris Cafe for breakfast (yum - but no Karlson's!) and then walked up St. Michaelis Cathedral. We got a great view of the city! We then came back and packed up for our traveling adventure and then I introduced Mackie to Otto's Burgers which she loved! It is Nick & my favorite burger place in Europe thus far. We also took a quick spin on StadtRad which is where you can rent bikes for free if it's less than 30 minutes and travel around the city instead of walking. The food in Hamburg is outta this world and we clearly ate way too much, haha. Mackie loved the food in Hamburg which made me happy. I was so happy to show her the city and how much we have loved living here!!!

super windy up top of St. Michaelis

Let's skip ahead real quick...ignore basically a week [we were in Switzerland and Italy] and let's jump to Wednesday the 19th. This was Mackie's last day in Hamburg and we arrived back from Milan in one piece around 4:30pm. We went to Minitur Wunderland [you probably read about it in a previous post when our friend Max came] and Mackie was so amazed {as I was both times I went} It seriously may be one of the strangest things I've seen in my entire life. We went out for one last meal, aka our Last Supper, [authentic GERMAN at Paulaner's] and Mackie tried some spätzle & sausage. We even made her drink one sip of Nick's German beer {but captured the moment accordingly - she was a bit grossed out}. Afterwards, we all passed out and I took Mackie back to the airport on Thursday morning. It was so incredibly sad to say goodbye. Having Mackie here definitely gave me a rush of home sickness but it was also so incredibly fun to have her here!

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St Michaelis Cathedral ... in Minitur Wunderland.. so weird!

gorgeous sunset on Mackie's last night!

no words... haha jk! we made her do it!

SPOILER: Mackie said that Hamburg was so much more than she expected which is so awesome to hear that other people love this city! All in all, a great time exploring this gorgeous city!

SPOILER 2: My Italy/Switzerland blog will be coming in the next few days, I promise :) sorry again for being so far behind