Another day, another city and another computer terminal with nowhere to plug my camera in. Sorry.

Wednesday 15/9/10
Gothenbourg - Copenhagen

Eventually picked up the train after finishing my last posting and travelled along the west coast of sweden, through malmo and over a dramatic bridge linking denmark with scandinavia. On arrival I decided to walk to the hostel as it didnt look very far on the map and the weather was good. Unfortunately I got lost on route and then the heavens opened! I eventually arrived at the hostel in a bit of a bedraggled state! This was an extremely 'rustic' hostel but it was extremely friendly and fun - I ended up having a fun night out with 4 americans and 2 danes in the city centre but I didnt get much of a chance to have a proper look around as I left around 10 in the morning to pick up the train to Hamburg.

I thought that Copenhagen was a really nice place with plenty going on and plenty to see. It has a similar feel to Amsterdamn with lots of canals and people on bikes everýwhere! In hindsight I should have had a shorter stay in Sweden and spent more time here but I had a room booked for Hamburg so on I went.

Thursday 16/9/10
Copenhagen - Hamburg

I picked up the train in Copenhagen in the morning and set out for Hamburg. At one point the whole train drove on to a ferry so that we could cross the short stretch of water between this part of Denmark and the German mainland. Once I got to Germany I decided to have a quick stop of in the city of Lubeck, which has an intersting(ish) historic centre. Unfortunately the heavens opened on me again and it is not a particularly pleasant experience to lug around a back pack in the pouring rain whilst feeling slightly worse for wear from the night before. To add injury to insult at this point my stomach decided it wasnt very happy either and I had to make a couple of emergency visits to Lubecks public facilities! By this point I was feeling pretty sorry for myself and I cut my stop off short and headed back to the train station and picked up the next train to Hamburg. This happened to be a double decker which was a new experience for me!

Once in Hamburg I headed straight for the Hostel I had booked and the comfort of my dorm. This place was in stark contrast to the Copenhagen place. It was virtually brand new and felt more like a 3 star hotel than a backpackers hostel! I took something for my ailments, got some take away food and went to bed early!

Friday 17/9/10
Hamburg

Got up early feeling refreshed and took the S bahn (overland urban train system) back into the city centre expecting good things as a few people had told me how nice the city was. I came out of the station straight onto an ugly street lined with sex shows, sex shops and threatening looking blokes. Obviously Id heard about Hamburgs seedier side but I wasnt expecting to see it in the city centre at 9.30 in the morning! After reconsidering my options I decided to head back to the train station and take one of the other exits, this turned out to be a sound plan as the main part of the city centre was indeed on the other side of the station.

Once Id picked up a map and familiarised myself with where I was and what to see I spent most of the day wandering the city centre which was really nice. I also went over to the dock area wherer an enormous new mixed use development called HalfenCity has recently sprund up with some fantastic new waterside buildings and landscaped parks.

Suitably impressed with the city I decided to head to the Reeperbahn which is in the district of St Pauli to see what the fuss was all about. Turned out that this area was pretty similar to the area around the station but slightly seedier and tackier. Having been surreally invited into a couple of sex shows by women in their sixties I decided that Id seen enough and went to check out St Pauli FC which was just aroumd the corner. Their fans have a bit of a reputation and they have just been promoted back to the bundesliga for the first time in a while. The ground was halfway through a well overdue modernisation and I wasnt very impressed!

I then trecked over to HSVs stadium which was used for the world cup and was very impressive, I managed to get inside and have a look around. I had a few drinks at the hostel in the evening then got my things ready for the trip to Berlin to meet Simon and Ric.

Saturday 18/9/10
Hamburg - Berlin

I boarded the train at Hamburg central at just gone ten and just an hour and a half later I had completed the 280km jorney to Berlin! I got to the hostel around 12 and met up with the boys straight away. We set out to have some lunch then had a walk up through the museum area unter den linden and up to the Brandenburg gate and the Jewish memorial. We came back and had a few drinks in the lively hostel bar before setting out to try and find a nightclub. Unfortunately we were refused entry at 4 clubs before we gave up and went back to the bar! Evidently they dont like groups of foreign blokes in their clubs which was a little frustrating!