Hamburgers in Hamburg, and Chasing Down Neo-Nazis around Krelingen

Another thing I got to cross of my list of things to do, "Having a hamburger in Hamburg!

Hamburg was cool... very different than the south of Germany. Some of the buildings kind of look Danish, and not surprisingly, is less than 200 kilometers away from the border. On my way to the train station, I was walking around and I felt like I stepped on big wad of gum and looked down to see my shoe had completely grown a huge fat tumor along the sole. I have no idea how this happened and quite frankly was worried that she was going to blow any minute. The last thing I needed was to go to the doctors office and try to explain how my my right foot was blown off by a Nike Air Max shoe.

From Hamburg and Greece

Thankfully there was a Nike store right next to the train station and I figured that would be a good place to either have them replace it at no charge (long shot) or buy a new pair. Julia, the Nike Store employee, as well as the rest of the staff were quite confused as to how this could happen. They weren't able to give me a new pair, but they did throw in a pair of (much needed) socks alongside my new pair of Air Force Ones. Turns out Julie is a shoe fanatic as well, and has even flown to New York for the latest Nikes! Women and shoes....go figure!

From Hamburg and Greece

I met Rebekka back in Tallinn and through a couple of emails, I made my way over to her village, Krelinger, population 700. Her dad is from Krelingen, and her mom is from the next village over. Turns out she is a member of the "antifa," an organization (sometimes violent) whose objective is to rid the country and the world of fascism and neo-nazis. I had no idea of the level of her deep involvement, because the next day we went to an event where there may have been neo-nazis. She asked me if I wanted to go, and I said, why not, I've always wanted to punch a neo-nazi in Krelingen! For better or worse, the neo-nazis didn't show up, so my karate skills were not necessary....

The following day was a holiday, to celebrate the reunification of Germany. Rebekka took me to Bergen, a concentration camp. Normally, I wouldn't really go to places like that (I skipped Auschwitz when I was in Krakow) but I thought to myself that since Rebekka works there as a tour guide, I might as well take advantage of her knowledge. It was a pretty depressing day, but all in all, a good time to reflect on WWII and the Holocaust.