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The confirmed words of a smalltown chick while walking her first steps in the metropolis Hamburg:

"What the f***?"

Yeah, Hamburg's big, busy and chaotic, and I started my first hour in the city by getting lost in it while looking for my hotel. Yay! It's huge...no matter if millions of Hamburger will tell you the opposite. I kept hearing "it isn't that big" from each corner. Ironically, the same people that laughed at me clutching my maps were the same that stared at me with a blank expression on their face when I asked them for directions. Pah.

I hate being lost somewhere, not knowing my way. It never happened in the town where I spent the last seven years. That's probably coz there isn't much chance you could get lost, no matter how hard you try. Here's a picture of Jena, taken from my favorite spot in the small hills that surround the city from all sides.

The higher buildings in the center belong to the city's university area where I finished my studies a while ago. As one can see the city is well-arranged and most important tiny. Here I enjoyed a close circle of friends and lovers and hell yeah the narrowness sucked more often than not, but I got my little secret spot in the hills to flee from it when necessary.

Now I found a new job in Hamburg and soon I trade my comfy comfort zone for the busy life of a metropolitan. Which also means I'm going to trade hills for tons of water, coz Hamburg's practically built on it. That's a change for sure. The Alster river flows freely through huge parts of the city, meets with the bigger Elbe river at its outer parts, which again connects the city with the North Sea.

That's one reason why the Germans call this city "gateway to the world". Huge cargo ships are docking daily at its port and cruise ships start their world tours from here. Here's one harbour shot.

Hamburg has exactly 2485 bridges, more than Venice, London and Amsterdam combined have...whoah...and every single one just invites you to cross over, what you shouldn't do when you're new in town, under a tight time schedule and a geographical slouch like me.

I'm not really used to be surrounded by so much water so close to home (get the Carver reference?), but I admit it has a certain flair. The old warehouse district is built upon wooden pegs (oak) for the lack of better materials a few hundred years ago. They still stand straight and the buildings are solid and still in use, which in my eyes is really incredible. The following picture shows a glimpse of this district close to the ports.

What I always have connected with Hamburg the most were the wild stories about its infamous red-light district St. Pauli. No way I even risked getting lost among those streets on my first days here, but I had a quick look over there from the safety of a boat. Didn't exactly look as dirty and wicked as I imagined it to be.

Alright, I think those few pictures already prove the dimensional difference between the cosy still-home Jena and my soon-to-be home Hamburg.

Time to cut my smalltown roots for good and take a brave dive into big city life. I guess it will take me some time to settle in but I'm already excited about this personal reboot.

Hope the pictures aren't that bad :D Kathleen