Life is all about perspective, isn’t it?  When I first moved to Hamburg from New York City in 2008, the city  with its 1.7 million residents seemed impossibly small.  But I grew to love my first home in Germany with all my heart.  Now after spending nearly a year-and-a-half living full-time in Bremen (with about one-third the population), Hamburg almost seems impossibly large to me.

I especially noticed this on my last visit a couple of weekends ago, when I had nothing more on my agenda than to wander the city.  The buildings are taller! The avenues are wider! And the streets are teeming with people!  (Apparently it’s time to start spending more time in big cities again.)

Although that Saturday wasn’t quite what you would consider warm, true to form, the northern Germans did not let the sunny weather go unnoticed.  The entire city — still bundled up in thick down jackets and scarves — streamed outside for coffee and ice cream at the sidewalk cafes. Proving once again that perspective really is what counts. After a very gray and wet winter, I can’t say I blamed them for wanting to make the most of the sunshine.

And now just a week or so later, northern Germany is enjoying blue skies and temperatures reaching 60F/15C!  Absolutely luxurious for the beginning of March, let me tell you.  I can hardly believe that a whole year has already passed since last spring, but I’m definitely ready to get this season started.

Is spring approaching in your part of the world?  Or are you still buried under piles of snow? (Sorry NYC and Boston!)  

You might also like these posts about Hamburg:

• InstaWalk Hamburg
• Alster Ice Pleasure
• Miniature Wonderland