Like I said in the first part, the huge freighters and container ships are just that; very, very large. Sitting in the little sightseeing boat while literally passing underneath those ships’ bows is an experience in itself.

I particularly like this beauty’s name: Northern Delight. I can just see her crashing her way through a storm in the cold waters of the Northern seas. She just got a make-over, too. Looks good, the new paint job.

Or this one. She, in fact, needs a new coat of that fiery red but she looks impressive whatsoever.

She’s impossibly huge. Look at the little boat next to her, its just tagging along and she doesn’t even seem to notice! She’s gigantic and, according to the guide, she can hold like, 8,000 cars.

For perspective, can you make out the little pins before the huge black opening on the light blue ramp leading to the blue freighter on the right? Um, those are people. Grown man. They’re probably smaller than the white lettering. Courage, it reads. I, for one, would not have the nerve to travel weeks on a ship like these.

Here’s another freighter. She carries some sort of gas or other explosive chemicals. Er, hence the GasChem tag. Apparently, her belly is empty right now because all that hiddeous, rusty, moldy paint? That part is usually underwater. Right now, she’s not as heavy and thus floats farther up.

Aren’t you glad I’m explaining this to you? It’s not like they teach it in school.

After doing the sightseeing tour my parents, my brother and I are a.) hungry and b.) sun-burned. The weather has done a complete turn; the sky is blue and temperatures rise to the mid-thirties (low hundreds). We are, of course, not dressed accordingly and sweat like crazy.

We decide to check out the Atlantic Hotel, the one that looks similar to the Burj Al Arab, only much less glamorous in direct comparison. They have a back entrance for tourists just like us that want to take the elevator to the 20th floor to check out the view.

Since we don’t have to take the stairs and only have to stand and take in the view, we agree that it’s okay to pay 3 euros ($5) for each of us to get in. And what we see, sure is worth the money.

Twenty stories – 77 meters (252 ft.) – is definitely pretty high, by the way. They have two different platforms on top of the hotel and I can’t bring myself to climb the higher one.

After this we are almost starving and we finally end up going back to the restaurant at the German Emigration Center for dinner. The food is only okay but the drinks are cold, and sitting down and doing nothing, right there at the harbor wih the seagulls flying above our heads, feels nice.

Later on, my brother and I go back to the hotel and he can finally flap onto the couch and occupy the television. Meanwhile, my parents check out the restaurant that belongs to the hotel and end up having drinks there. As I’m lounging in the awesome leather chair in our suite, I let my feet glide across the pretty wooden floor and suddenly, I spot an Asian guy sitting down right underneath one of our windows at a table of the hotel’s restaurant. In his lap, a ferret happily winds and twists and, lastly, curls up into a ball, its head resting on the guy’s knee.

Er, I’m sorry if that last sentence sounded kinda dirty. But maybe that’s just me.

Turns out, this shouldn’t be the last same we’d see Ferret Guy but for now, my brother and I enjoy staying in the luxury suite. I love how the yachts in the harbor look all expensive and shiny as the sun sets and I love how my brother respects that I, please, do not want the TV volume up that high and that the curtains are so heavy and dark and cozy.

We have all the small lamps turned on which creates a mild, nighttime-y mood. Like in the movies, like I wish my home will look like someday. The white bedding looks clean and hip and comfortable and I love how I wash my sun-burned face and walk to my bed – bare-fotted across this floor that I want to take home with me so much, how the kitches lies in the dark to my right, just as though it had a busy day behind it as well.

As I fall into bed that night, I’m very, very happy.

To be continued…