This morning we went on a harbor boat tour with members of the society associated with the University of Hamburg who have supported our trip. Our boat was none other than the Louisiana Star, featured in the images below.

The tour guide explained some information about the harbor, and we were able to go out among the cranes and huge ships to really see the vastness of the harbor.

The Hamburg flag is in the foreground, and one of the container ships is in the background.

The German flag flying with a view of the harbor and a bridge

Helena and I on the boat!

Looking at the harbor, the sheer size of everything was the most impressive. Helena pointed out that each of those colorful boxes on the ships and storage docks is the size of an 18-wheeler. It is incredible to think about the amount of goods that pass through the harbor on a yearly or even daily basis.

Helena explained that these giant cargo boats are guided by what they call Schlepper boats, which I think are like tugboats. We decided that these were a great metaphor for teachers, as each container is a student we must guide (or schlep, depending on what kind of day it is) on their educational path. It is a pretty weighty task!

After the boat tour, Libby, our host moms, and I went into Hamburg. We stopped by the Elbtunnel (pictured below), which runs under the Elbe river. People used to use this to commute over to the harbor from the city. It is currently being renovated and used on a limited basis.

For lunch, we went to a seafood restaurant in the Portuguese quarter of Hamburg.

I tried a Kiba, which is really a nice blend of strawberry and banana flavors. It was kind of like smoothie-flavored juice.

I was a brave soul (relative to myself) and removed the heads from shrimp (Libby and I both struggled through this), and I ate some octopus and other mysterious seafood things. It was tasty and helped me grow as a person (probably).

Next we made our way over to Miniature Wunderland! Shoutout to Hamburg for this view on the walk over.