Fall Break part 2: "Goodbye to Berlin" and a Stopover in Hamburg

Jackie graciously let me crash at her place the last two nights of my Berlin trip, but perhaps more importantly humored me enough to go on a photo shoot and listen to me decide between which one of two Berlin coffee mugs I wanted to buy (I went for the one with the Fernsehturm).

Me and part of the Berlin Wall

We then walked down Karl-Liebknecht-Straße (the one Jackie lives on) which turns into Unter den Linden when it crosses the Spree River.  Unter den Linden is famous because of the number of famous landmarks that are on it like the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate), the Reichstag (the seat of the German Parliament) and the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral).

Brandenburger Tor

Reichstag

Berliner Dom (with Fernsehturm in background on right)

Because of a complicated chain of events I'll just have to explain later (maybe), I didn't really have a place to stay in Hannover on Wednesday or Thursday night.  Not wanting to wear out my welcome in Berlin, I decided to make a two-night stopover in Hamburg on my way to Hannover.  I found a cheap hostel, booked two nights and jumped on a train Wednesday evening.  Hamburg is one of those weird cities where you always hear good things about but doesn't get nearly as much attention from tourists as other cities in German like Berlin, Munich and Cologne.

There isn't much to say about my trip to Hamburg because I didn't get to see/do nearly as much as I would have liked because it wasn't a very well planned trip, but I still managed to see most of the highlights and also go out for a short night on the Reeperbahn (considered one of the largest red light district in Europe and infamous stretch of bars/clubs).

Rathaus (City Hall) in Hamburg

Binnenalster--Lake in the City Center

Hopefully I will be making it back to Hamburg sometime soon (it's only an hour away from Hannover)...