Hamburg, What a surprise

Hamburg is not on the coast but inland with a an inlet large enough for
ships. At the harbor they are building it up, redoing it. It'll be
nice.
Because of the tales of our adventures in the other stops, two guys we
befriended on the cruise want to come with us. Cool, lets go. We
disembark Queen Victoria and set out for our latest adventure. Hamburg
was heavily bombed in WWII. There is a church that had been bombed with
the tower still standing. This has been made into a memorial. You can take an elevator up to the top and look out over the city, they also have displays that show the
way the city looked before the war and after the bombing. WOW! not
pretty. Back on the ground there is a museum with more about the war.
It has an interesting perspective. Sure they were the bad side but they're
still people. They talk about the devastation they had to endure but
also the devastation they en flicked on the rest of Europe. Mainly the
Dutch and Rotterdam, which was also leveled in the war, by them. They
live with this truth. Will we have to live with this kind of bad kharma after the EVIL BUSH/CHANEY CRIME REGIME made all the money they desire and are brought down? Will the
west of the world come to our (the people's) rescue, as the world did
for the German people and the Japanese? Please hurry We need your help,
they have us in a strangle hold, our country and way of life is being
destroyed. Heavy, and very thought provoking. I need a drink so off we
set for the gay neighborhood that Rusty has, as usual, mapped out. Our friends
are not aware of Rusty's ability to get around an unknown city, but sure
enough he does. There are two gay areas, just like in San Francisco
with the Castro and the South of Market. The Castro-like neighborhood
is the one we set out for, and Rusty knows the way. So we walk and it
is not a bad city, some nice architecture, old and new. We get to the
bar, have a drink and are approached by a local who starts talking us
up. He offers to show us around so we go. He brings us to another bar
for another drink and hits-up one of our friends for money in the
bathroom. Now we're done with him and we head off to another place
where we are a big hit there. The owner of the bar turns out to have
worked on a cruise ship in his youth and is fascinated that we are on the Queen Victoria. He buys us shots of yeagermisters, not one but several. It would be rude to refuse them. We have a great time and tell him that we have to get back to the ship and he offers to drive us. Again we can't refuse. All five of us get in his car and he
asks if we went to the other neighborhood? We haven't, so he drives us over there just to have a look, then back to the ship in time to set sail. Our friends are pleased that they had joined us and we are too. We all had a great time and now they know Rusty's skill at researching and exploring a new city, He lives to travel. I just go along for the ride. On board we are to be at sea for a day as we head to Brugge Belgium, which we both had been to some years back. Days at sea are always the most formal evenings, which I think are so fun. I do dress-up well and with all our tuxedo excessories, our friends jokingly ask us if we packed a steamer trunk for the Cruise....... Well yes.