A Pav, A Sea, And Some Hockey

The day after Christmas we decided that we had had enough sitting around and gaining weight from the Christmas chocolate, and visited the Ostsee (east sea). It was a roughly 40 minute drive, the length meaning we actually had to take off our jackets and put them in the boot before driving away, unlike all the other trips. It was a nice drive, just gazing out the window at the country side that passed us and daydreaming. When we arrived we had to find a park, then pay for parking - you have to pay for parking everywhere in Germany, according to my host dad. There wasn't really much to see at first, the river with a couple of ships on it. We followed it for a bit though, and the river opened up to the sea. It was a bit grey, and the sand was a bit dull, but still beautiful in its own way. We walked out onto one of the piers. The pier had a nice lighthouse, a bit on the smaller side, but still really pretty. We walked back down the pier and started walking along the beach, Anja and I taking the lead and Ute and Lorenz behind. It was a pleasant walk, if a little bit chilly. There were many pretty houses on the walk, and sometimes we stopped to admire them. With our young legs, Anja and I ended up far in front of her parents, so we stopped to wait at another pier. When they finally caught up, we turned around and walked the way we came, then back up the river until we got to town. Along the way we detoured into a small Weihnachtsmarkt by the sea, but there wasn't really much apart from fish, so we continued on. Once in town we decided it was time for afternoon tea, so we  

stopped at the Lübeck Marzipan café for a drink. I ordered an apple strudel and a pot of tea, and we had enjoyable conversation until we had all finished our cakes and random marzipan flavoured hot chocolate. We continued further into town, stopping by a restaurant in the old police building, until we reached an old street with some cool old houses. It was dark by the time we started walking back to the car, and the cold air from the sea was starting to penetrate the layers I had on.

The Lighthouse

The next day, I made a pav. We'd gone shopping a few days before for the ingredients, and I had to make do with the lack of fruits - no strawberries! It was a pretty easy recipe, and the clean-up was quick (I definitely did not lick the bowl, nu-uh). I put it in the oven and relaxed while I waited for it to cook, and my family kept mentioning how odd it looked. I actually got worried and went to check up on it, but it was fine, just a peculiar thing I guess. After dinner I rushed into the kitchen to whip the cream and prepare the fruit, decorating the pav as best I could. I brought it out and it out and everyone ooh-ed and aah-ed, and it quickly was demolished. We saved two pieces for the neighbours though as a thankyou for early Christmas presents they had given us earlier, and Anja and I dropped them off after dessert. 

My beautiful pavolova 

The next day we went to the ice hockey with some family friends. Before the hockey though, we went into town for dinner. After catching the train in, then winding around some of the backstreets in Hamburg we arrived at the restaurant Vapiano - a really cool Italian chain. We walked in and each got handed a card, and instead of sitting down and ordering, there are several stations set up with small kitchens for various foods - pasta, pizza, dessert, and the bar. You line up at one of the stations and order from a menu, good thing there were ones in English because I spent long enough deciding was it was! Upon choosing spaghetti bolognese, can't go wrong with a good spag bol, I waited until it was my turn. When I got to the front it turned out they didn't have any spag bol (the nerve!) so I got the cabonara instead. As soon as I had ordered the man started making my pasta, right in front of me! Each serving station had a stove for two pan, various fresh ingredients, and two pasta cooker things. Watching him was amazing, never still for a moment, always reaching for an ingredient or swirling the wok, or cracking an egg. It was the fasted pasta I've ever received, 7 minutes from ordering my meal I had a bowl of bacon and egg cabonara sitting in front of me. I swiped my card (you pay at the end as you leave) and went to sit with my family. The tables at this place were also cool - our bench was around an olive tree! Quickly all of the meals were consumed and we left to meet the friends for dessert. We met outside of Kartstadt, a big department store, and preceded to to go up many escalators until we reached the top floor, an open buffet. Even though I was bursting from the pasta, I still accepted a slice of cheesecake, and we ate and chatted until it was time to catch the train to the arena. The trip was quick, and it was a quick walk through a cool graffiti tunnel to the bus stop where a shuttle bus was waiting. The bus left just as we arrived though, but it was worth the wait for the next one because we actually got seats. After a ten or so minute drive to the arena, we all piled out and got in line to enter the building. Before we could actually get in though we had to have a quick pat down, to make sure we wouldn't blow up the stadium. None of our party members had anything on them though, so we quickly made our way to our seats, only stopping for some snacks. We had arrived early, so I got to experience the hype-up in full action. There were many light shows, loud music, and team patriotism? Even though it was my first game, I still got right into it, singing along with the team song and banging my paper clapper that came with the seat. When it actually began, and the members of the team started running out, an audience member was picked to call out the names, with the rest of the audience calling out the last names as a call and response thing. There was even a name and picture for the mascot - apparently it is a knight! As it was a home game, the Hamburg Freezers got all of the focus, and there was nothing for the Köln Haie (Cologne Sharks). When the Freezers got the first goal (Woooo!) there was a break in the game for celebrations, but when the Haie got a goal, I didn't even notice at first. It was so fun, and ice hockey is so cool! The amount of effort the players put in, and how tiring it must be skating around must be massive. There is an unlimited amount of player swaps allowed, and they certainly made use of that, players jumping over the barricade as other skated in, giving the game fresh blood. The breaks were also fun, and with three parts in all there were two breaks. There would be little games as entertainment, the first pause had ice soccer with no skates, resulting in a lot more slipping and falling over than goals scored! In the second break there was a mini kart race around the ice, also very funny. As well as the games they had the kiss-cam - something I've only ever seen in American movies at baseball games. They did the usual thing with pointing the camera at the audience, letting the rest of us laugh when they didn't even notice because they were on their phone, or bickering with their siblings (more than once actually!). The people next to me managed to attract the camera, and last moment I stuck my head in - finally on the big screen! The Hamburg Freezers ended up winning, although even if we didn't win I'm sure I would've had a brilliant time! After the game we followed the crowds back to the bus stop and waited in the cold until we could get on. This time we were near the end so we stood up the entire time, our bad luck following us to the trains. When we finally got home it was almost midnight, and I went straight to sleep.         

Bacon and Egg cabonara, with random mineral water (Spring water? In Germany?)