Hallo from Hamburg!

Well, we made it! We've been in HH for about 2 days and things are going really well. The flights were better than expected in some ways in worse in others. Better because we got rows on both planes to ourselves and they passed quickly and worse because the cat was less happy than when we fly from CA to MA. This was our fault though and one we won't repeat: if the cat is trying to dig her way out for hours, check to make sure she hasn't gone to the bathroom 2x in her carrier. Her nose was raw from rubbing it against the mesh. :( On an up note though, she is settling in much better than in Natick. She's not really hid much and seems to like exploring. She's still startled by noises and the water heater in the bathroom is one of the worst.

Benoit has been busy fixing the apartment we're living in for the month of November. We've done some grocery shopping and cooking and are both amazed and excited that food is much less expensive than SF and the US in general. We've only made 2 mistakes so far in not reading labels - I bought margarine and Benoit bought stabilized heavy cream that's really bad. We were running around ALDI grabbing things yesterday. Schade!

Fleischwurst and Leberwurst

Today we walked around downtown running errands and visiting the Yelp office to pick up boxes we shipped there. We'll do a bus/boat tour tomorrow and then maybe a Halloween party on Saturday!

Halloween exists here! 

Some things I've noticed about Hamburg/Germany:

• There's almost nothing but American music on pop radio here - they're playing the new Adele that was released a week ago in the US.
• Most people really do speak English
• I know almost no useful German :/
• The weather has been better than expected but I know it'll get cold and rainy.
• Lots and lots of cyclists and I'm sure I'll get yelled at soon for walking in the bike lanes/not looking for bikes when walking. Fingers crossed I don't get hit! And that I can manage when our bikes do arrive.
• 
  Some random photos from the day on Thursday:
  

  
  

  One of the canals - very still morning with sun!

  
  

  

  Lower Alster lake with fountain.

  

  Lower Alster lake.

  
  

  

  City hall.

  
  

  

  American store with Stonewall Kitchen - photo for the mom's!

  
  

  

  Weinerschnitzel and duck - lunch on Thursday!

  

  Beer with lunch!