[TBD]: 40th Birthday Trip - Day 7 (Hamburg Germany) and travel to Paris France

For the first day, AA and Lola got to wake up and have breakfast together! AA took her to the breakfast buffet in the hotel. He was excited to try and omelete, and Lola was excited for the salad (like in Japan). The juice was very good, and the hard boiled eggs.

After breakfast they packed up their luggage, and put it in the car to go out on the town before heading to the airport.

First stop, Isabellas for Lolas last treat from the gluten free shop that was so good. Cinnamon roll for the road please! Packed that into the backpack and away they went. AA stopped for a few photos, and then they headed to the subway. This time they had to transfer to get to Elbphilharmonie. A very neat building that can been seen from the harbour, and has a curved escalator and a free viewing deck.

Lola was confused on why there was a ticket booth and turnstyle, but you go get a free ticket and then away you go. It is a symphony hall, AA said there are more than one "theatre", Lola only knew about the curved escalator.

They rode up, it was cool, but not really necessary. The viewing deck on the other hand was very neat. Open air, and another view of the harbour and the UNESCO site. They walked around, took photos, visited the washroom, and gift shop then went on their way.

Next they were walking the UNESCO Site, Speicherstadt, meaning warehouse City. It is the worlds largest complex of warehouses, spanning an area of 260,000 square metres. It was built into the Elbe River between 1883 and the late 1920's on thousands of oak poles as a free economic zone for Hamburgs port. The style is Neo-gothic brick, and very neat. Lola checked out the map, making sure they were going in the right direction towards the one bridge that AA really wanted to see. The tide was very low, and you could see the timbers.

After their stroll and photo taking, they headed back on the subway to check out the Elbetunnel (as the lunch place they wanted to go to didn't open till 1:30pm, so they had about 1.5 hours to kill), and hard rock cafe. Lola showed AA the way, and they had a drink on the roof top patio as it was super nice outside.

Once they were refreshed, a shot glass was purchased, and they made their way through the tunnel (for Lola's second time). This time it was very busy, elevator packed, and tunnel full. bikes and people, all enjoying the beautiful 25+ weather and sunny in Hamburg today.

They walked through, took some photos and walked back before heading back to the subway to make their lunch reservation at 2:00pm at a gluten free, lactose free Pizza Restaurant.

Lola has been waiting to go there, and was very excited, as the website is all about their perfected menu and you can order anything either gluten free or not, the restaurant was called Rudolphs. They walked past the bridge/buildings, and the water was much higher now in the canels, there were boat tours and you couldn't see the mud like before, crazy what 1.5 hours can do.

Drinks and Pizza were ordered... This time Lola had to try the Rhubarb Spritz, and wow it was good. Maybe next summer Lola will try and make it with her mother inlaws rhubarb. Sitting on the patio, watching small boats go by in the channel and enjoying their last meal in Hamburg was so nice.

The pizza was so good! AA with the Aloha Hawaiian, and Lola with the Spicy Salmoni.... wow it was spicy but so good. She wishes she could perfect a pizza dough like that, and maybe get a pizza oven....

After a huge pizza's, they headed back to the hotel parkade to get their car and head to the airport. Stoping for gas, and then dropping off the rental car.

When they arrived, Lola noticed the ciricular parking garage that was in the airport of the Minature World.... how many others places could she put together?

model vs real life

They spend some time at the observation deck after checking their bags, and then headed to the gate. They weren't super hungry, but AA got a pretzel for the flight as he hadn't had one in Germany yet, and then they shared a fritz-kola, as this was all over Hamburg and they hadn't tried one yet. It was good, and a little caffeine was what they both needed.

The flight back to Paris was pretty uneventful, AA read his book, and ate his Ham Sandwich (they missed the drink/food service last flight because they were sleeping). Lola blogged and ate her cinnamon bun. Oh they both had tomato juice, AA added some Celery Salt for some extra salt...Lola knew it didn't need more salt.

A journey with a packed tram, and a little walk, they checked into the airport hotel to wait for their friends to arrive. The hotel has a pretty sweet view of the airport too bad it was raining.