Emigration and the Amazing Race

Tuesday, July 5
We had the morning free to explore, lunch, (outdoors with Pam(CO) and Laura(CO)
shop or sleep. We did need to pack again...we are getting pretty good at this.
As an American history teacher, we analyze immigration to the US. Today was very interesting...we saw emigration from the "other side."
Hamburg is the "Port of Immigrant Dreams." Many emigrants spent their last moments in Germany in Hamburg between 1900 and 1934. Nearly five million people emigrated from the Hamburg port. Five thousand people could stay at the port everyday. The cost was 2 marks per day for third class passage. To give you an idea of the cost, 180 marks was the average yearly wage. The top picture is of third class steerage on the ship and the bottom picture is first class. This "immigration city" was very modern for many of the emigrants. There were dorms, toilets and running water. Dining halls were split between Christian and Jews (the Jews had Kosher dining halls.) 70% of the emigrants were Russians. This was an excellent interactive museum. My students would really enjoy it.
We didn't have a dinner plan, so we were each given 20 Euro and we were on our own for dinner...or just a snack for the train and a souvenir. :) I decided I wanted a book from this museum.
We said our good-byes to Monika. She was such an excellent guide. Patient...and as we got to know her, she opened up more and more. I really admired her and what she did for us.We boarded the train to Dusseldorf at about 7 pm and arrived at the train station about 10:30 pm. We didn't have much time to get on the train or off the train. We found out the "rush" when we got on and had to figure out where to put the luggage. I must say our luggage heroes were the young men! Plus, they had it figured out how to get it all off the train via a pass along. It was stressful, but the guys really took charge and we got everything off. There wasn't much napping on the train...lots of laughter and, of course, Ben GQ (AZ) had to show off his charm by helping older ladies on and off the train.
We met our newest guides Nadejda and Nicolas at the train station. We headed to our one night hotel...the Radisson Blue Scandinavia Hotel Dusseldorf. The hotel was really nice and the bed...very inviting. So tired. Couldn't even use the free wi-fi or the pool. Too tired. I'm still perplexed about the no clock thing. Breakfast was very nice...very pretty display of food and great service. Breakfast was a lot of wonderful breads, meats, vegetables and fruits. Germany's breakfasts are different than an IHOP-type breakfast. This picture is NOT a German breakfast...it is IHOP! I guess a big difference is that a lot of the German breakfast foods are cold...cold cuts, cheeses, etc. Best bread ever!