The weather keeps improving AND the days are still lengthening, which meant that I was up and looking at a blue sky with pink streaks BEFORE 5 am (sunrise was at 4:50 am, and although it is not midsummer yet, tonight will be our “longest day” because we are traveling far enough South that it will shave off almost an hour of sunlight when we get to Vienna. The Hamburg sunset tonight would have been 9:52 PM, but in Vienna the sun is going down at 8:57!
Mark and I managed to stay in bed for another couple of hours after that much-t00-early sunrise, had some breakfast, and then set out at around 8:30 for a little urban hiking adventure: we took a bus and an S-Bahn to Ohlsdorf (about 30 minutes total) and then found our way to the nearby access point to get to the “Alsterwanderweg,” an urban hiking trail which runs through most of Hamburg from the ponds that are formed by the springs of the river Alster to where it flows into the Elbe. It is about 37 km (23 miles) long in all, and we’ve walked part of it before. But we picked a new stretch, starting in Ohlsdorf and heading northeast, all along the river on bikable, walkable trails with mature trees, little ponds, swamp / wetland areas, and nearby residences for which the backyards (in various states of upkeep) are the banks of the Alster. We walked the 8 km / 5.5 miles that took us to my aunt’s house in Poppenbüttel, stopping frequently for birds and meeting many casual walkers (mostly with dogs) and bikers. Again, being able to walk through green space without crossing a single street with automobile traffic for 2 hours at the very heart of a city of 1.8 million people is nothing short of amazing to me.
By 11 pm we had made it to my aunt Frauke’s apartment, and we sat and chatted for a couple of hours (and were also treated to coffee, tea, and lovely ice cream). We had a wonderful time and even saw a couple of additional birds on her patio (not to mention the VERY green garden gnome that a friend had just sent her as a gag gift for her upcoming birthday).
Around 1 pm, we left and headed back to Peter and Andrea’s (not on foot, but by bus, which took about 40 minutes). We stopped for sandwiches at the bakery inside the grocery store on the way from the bus stop to their house, and then packed up our stuff and tried to clear out the fridge because we’ll be gone for 10 days!
A little after 5, we headed out to get to Hamburg’s main station, for some food court dinner and to catch our 7:19 pm night train to Vienna. The adventure begins! None of us have ever been to Vienna, so we are all very excited and curious.