Hamburg!!

I had quite a day today. Travel day, very few 'hiccups'. I got up early and caught the train in Stuttgart to head to Hamburg. It was actually pretty smooth ride, I slept the whole way. I guess I should have been seeing scenery but I couldn't keep my eyes open, something about that rocking train. It was an ICE train so it was flying through the countryside too! 5 1/2 hours.
Once I arrived in Hamburg I had to navigate the most insane train station I've ever seen (so far) it was huge and absolutely heaving with people. Trains on every track, S trains, U trains, Buses. My gosh! Luckily I'd looked up my route ahead of time (I know, preparing ahead...a magical thing) so I knew I needed the U3 train. Piece of cake, find a kiosk, tell it speak English and push some buttons. See what happens. Then it was a matter of not hurting anyone with my giant bag! haha trains are easy to navigate here and cheap to hop on too. That was a relief considering what I went through to get to the correct train :)

I did of course get lost walking to the hostel. I know the general street names but the street signs here are grafitti'd to death so it wasn't easy. Luckily for me the bus stops are equipped with maps.
The hostel is great, cute little reception area, a patio and clean rooms. I'm in an 8 mixed dorm room. No sweat. After walking around all afternoon with my bags I'll sleep like a baby with all my new roommates.
After some bed making and unpacking/resorting I got oriented by the front desk guy and wandered off down the street.
I'm in a neighborhood called St.Pauli and it sits in between all sorts of great districts...or so I hear. I haven't gotten that far yet. This place is crazy about grafitti. to the point where its a little bit much, like control yourselves (check out the building in the photo, its covered in 'superheros;). Its everywhere. Everything not moving has a hundred stickers on it. And they don't clean up after their pets and the men urinate on the street so its alot like being back in Spain. Totally different than Southern Germany. I miss Southern Germany for its cleanliness but things are way cheaper here and the stuff they sell in the shops is great fun and very entertaining. Not like my cake ring :)
Tomorrow I'll get up early ish and wander around while everyone has gone back to work...I should be so lucky. Not sure what to go see but I'll figure it out!