North Venice.
Venice of the North
Well, I got here to describe my walk on a cold autumn day through a beautiful city, the largest port in Germany, northern Venice, as I call it, HAMBURG.
Being visiting friends in Germany in November 2016, at the weekend we decided to go somewhere to unwind, to see new cities, especially since this is my first time in Germany. The choice fell on Hamburg and on the way back it was planned to stop by a couple of small towns with beautiful views, but more on that in the sequel. Waking up early on Saturday morning, having packed our bags and how could it be without it, snacks for the road - the four of us, my friend, her sister and my friend's husband, set off. It was on Saturday. But our trip turned out to be not so planned.
A small digression, while my German friends were working at their jobs and my friend’s husband couldn’t go anywhere with us, the girls and I decided to go somewhere in Europe on our own, we found plane tickets for 16 euros to Belgium. We decided to go,
but it wasn't there! A friend's husband was horrified by this... and quickly exchanged with a partner at work to take us somewhere! And voila, we're going to HAMBURG! I don’t know, maybe I live in my country according to German laws, but if I go somewhere, I usually somehow plan my trip, movement, in the end they book at least a hotel. Immediately we were told that the friend's husband would take care of everything))). If only we knew then how it would turn out for us)). But first things first. In Belgium, they will kill and maim us, there are riots (just at that time there was a terrorist attack and rallies) . . , it was decided, we are going to the northern cities.
A few hours on the autobahn and here we are in HAMBURG!
The city welcomed us with sunshine and warm weather. We drive through the city - crowds of police, everywhere their cars, near the railway station. at the station, water cannons-arrived-in a calm city))) Well, well! took pictures on the phone from the window of the car, do not blame me. 
As it turned out later, there was a football match that evening between Dortmund and Bayern, and in the evening we witnessed the victory of Bayern. The Germans happily celebrated the end of the match, beer flowed like a river, literally, along the streets from cafes).
It turned out that SOMEONE))) did not book a hotel for us and the search began around the city for a hotel. And off we go . . this German frugality... it's expensive there, there is no parking there, there... far from eating . . and it also turned out that the friend's husband decided to meet his classmate, whom he had not seen for 10 years . .
It’s a long time to describe everything, but when three women lost their nerve and we gave Alex a thrashing, of course, like a true Aryan, he couldn’t restrain himself, but in the end he listened to us and, oh luck, after driving around the city for more than 4 hours, we checked into a hotel! And it was not so easy, in connection with the match, there were practically no places anywhere! But we were lucky, not only that we settled in a good hotel, at the reception there was an employee with Ukrainian-Kazakh roots and we got breakfast at half the price, a discount for our own)). We settled in the Ibis, not chic, but clean, comfortable, excellent breakfasts and everything you need is there.
Let's drop things and go for a walk around the night city! Not far from the hotel, glowing with bright lights, noisy carousels, filled with children's laughter, smelled of German sausages and the aroma of glunwein, the local Lunapark. I don't know what it's called in Germany, but the principle is the same as ours, carousels, delicious food and drinks and everyone's fun.
We drank glunwein, ate sausages and life began to improve! We wanted to ride on carousels,
what we did it! Glunwein is served everywhere in Germany in ordinary, non-plastic glasses, which, to be honest, makes me, let's say, suspicious, somehow unhygienic. BUT if you return the cup to where you bought the glunwein, you get your 2 euros back, in some cities - 1 euro. Well, our guys (husband of a friend and classmate) then rushed with our three cups throughout the amusement park.
And this is a show of some monsters.
On the wheel, the screech is incredible! And they say all Germans love football! ))) 
This tower is in the distance - people ride it. . brrr. . scary.
But the Aryans squealed like little children!
And what delicious donuts there are in the form of pillows with various syrups... delicious!
And of course, souvenirs, soft toys - everything to make people smile!
And here they do airbrushing on clothes.
After a hard day, we had a lot of fun and enjoyed a lot, we went for a walk further in the vicinity of the hotel. And we made it almost to the red-light district. yes, yes, it is also in Hamburg! And what a! Whole block!
I really wanted to walk along it in the evening and see the square where the Beatles monument stands and there is a cafe called “Yellow Submarine”, but I didn’t manage to see them, a friend of a friend’s husband began to dissuade us from going there. It seemed to me that he himself was very afraid of this area. When I asked him, I realized that it did not seem. He says there they will slaughter for a wallet or anything of value and the police will not help. According to the guys, the police prefer to just watch, and not interfere in the life of the quarter. Well, yes, okay, so it will be necessary to come there again.
On the way to the Red Light District, we met - this is such an office center - or rather there are two of them, Two dancing towers. They are located on the street Reeperbahn-90 m high. It's beautiful, like they're dancing the tango.
P. S-. photo does not rotate) tell me how)
A concert of some local rock band. People have fun as they want.
Here such a beginning of the quarter - behind that fence there was a concert of some rock band, where we looked in the photo above.
There is a police station nearby, and opposite sex shops and a brothel. I won’t post photos of sex shops, but I’ll show you a brothel - it reminded us of a huge toy store outside - like we have in Kyiv - all in pink! )
Well, and clothing stores, it's not true that all the Germans have classics and simple, but good-quality clothes, there is such a thing.
Only some 39 euros... and a lot of fun . . although the sea?
Police station next to the red light district.
It was already cold for a walk, the breeze picked up, we shuddered and went into the cafe next to our hotel. And it costs almost three euros! The Germans everywhere and everywhere repeat that everything is expensive for them. But then even we were stunned, we bring tea in teapots and custard, and here is a bag, but as our Germans said, it’s made of fabric!
This is Germany! ) Tired and a little stunned, we went to bed, tomorrow we had half a day to walk around this beautiful and unusual city.
There was a lot more that you can’t fit into the story - grandfather, who went out in the evening in a bright orange suit with a hat and with a walker to a nearby cafe, where grandmothers, various freaks, sitting right on the ground and smoking, were already sitting and drinking beer. weed, there were homeless people with their belongings, all with sleeping bags, and one even had his own chair with an angora shawl. All this Hamburg is the largest city in Germany, the second after Berlin. So different and so cozy, despite its rather big territory. To be continued. . .
