join the johnson journey: evaluating europe

I'll make this one quick everyone...well, it's been three months since i moved to Germany and it sure has been an adventure. Nick and I have been to eight countries in three months. The last three weekends we've been hanging out in Hamburg and exploring our city and the surrounding areas. We start our next round of traveling tomorrow: Berlin, Stockholm, Salzburg and Munich are coming up in the next three weekends. Two more countries off my checklist. I think I'll surpass the number of states I've been with the number of countries I've been to once I check these off my list!

The first weekend we were in Hamburg, Mackie had just left to go back home. Nick and I just mostly hung out on Friday and Saturday then Sunday he participated in the Vattenfall Cyclassics. He killed it and got a great time. I was so happy for him :) You can check out some pictures I took of the race and then of him afterwards. I couldn't snap a picture of him racing because he was going too fast, hah! I also got a few pictures of this random guy in Hamburg trying to walk with something that resembled an "umbrella." I have seen quite a few people walking around with dilapidated umbrellas because the wind is so bad here and it destroys everything! Thought I'd throw in some random pictures I've taken around Hamburg as well!

the Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg that Nick participated in!

nick after the race!

random flower that I saw at a local restaurant :)

the way that Hamburger's use umbrellas

The second weekend we were here, we did a group dinner at Hofbrauhaus with a lot of our Hamburg friends. Check out the intense meat dish that Nick and the other dudes had. I opted for a much smaller dish haha. On Sunday, Nick & I went to a craft beer festival. It was a lot of fun and we were able to taste some European craft beers which is just becoming popular here. On a side note, I included a picture of what I'm now eating as my daily breakfast! I've decided to cut WAY back [go cold turkey basically] on the pastries. It was becoming out of control, haha. So I'm now back to yogurt, granola, strawberries, blueberries, and bananas :)

the "meat dish" from Hofbrauhaus - original German cuisine

the glasses from the local craft brew festival

my new daily breakfast

Last weekend, Nick and I did a day trip to Lüneburg to check out this historic German town. It's a quick 30 minute train ride outside of Hamburg. It was so much fun to walk around the town and check out the churches and the small shops close to the river. I've included a lot of pictures below of our day. If you get the chance to come to Germany [or most European countries] hop on a train and just GO! There are so many amazing towns outside of the major cities. It is so nice to be so close by train to all these hidden gems.