Hamburg Day 12 (27 July)
Day 2 of our walking tour. Still started in the Old City. This time caught the U bahn to near the RatHaus. Very easy to do and went for a walk on Jungfersteig. Very nice area. Full of upmarket shops and lovely lake nearby - Binnenalster. Then to Neustadt which is the New Town. Again very elegant streets and houses. All helped by it being a glorious sunny day and not so hot. Onto St Michaelis Church - largest church in Hamburg - Protestant Lutheran with huge statute of Martin Luther on one side and the archangel Gabriel killing the devil over the front door. Bit scary. Inside is ornate for a Lutheran church. Still very white and lots of marble. Believe it has been reconstructed a few times - a few fires, a lightening strike and of course WWII have blown it away at various times.
Got down to the Elbe River to the Landungsbrucken (Landing Bridges) and jumped on Ferry 62 which the internet informed us was a local ferry that would take us up and down scenic parts of the Elbe River. Much better than a little cruise ship. Every tourist in Hamburg has read of this on the internet so this local ferry service is perpetually full. But we did get a good spot upstairs in the sun and was probably one of my favourite activities for Hamburg. Saw parts of St Pauli, the hipster part of Hamburg where unusually for us we are not accidentally staying in. Saw the fish market which probably won't get to as it is open from 5am-9.30am on Sundays and we will have barely finished breakfast by closing time. Saw some old restored wooden boats and sailing ships. Some very interesting architecture along the waterfront - offices but mainly new apartments. Lots of glass everywhere to catch the sun. Saw their local beaches where some people were bravely dipping their toes in and very large houses further back up some little hills in Altona. Lots of cranes and some smaller container ships and even a U boat. Definitely a worthwhile trip even if everyone has discovered Ferry 62.
Stopped for lunch at Landungs-brucken. A prawn roll for me and for Stephen....a herring roll. While area full of tourists, mainly seem to be Germans or Scandinavians. Our run of not hearing one Australian accent continues.
Got held up by a noisy cavalcade fronted by a police motorbike. Stopped to see if was anyone exciting like Angela Merkel but no - was some 10 minutes of old VW's driving by blasting their horns. Very disappointed they find this worthwhile to do on a sunny Saturday.
Finished official tour with a walk along the Alter Elbtunnel. This was the first river tunnel on the Continent - opened in 1911. Opened to move people and vehicles under the River Elbe. Well we descended via a lift and walked along one side of the tiled tunnel. Crossed to the other side and walked back the other side. Caught lift back up and exited. Probably be more excited if I was an engineer.
Decided time to leave and catch U or S bahn back to near hotel. After an animated conversation with an official looking person in the nearest railway station, we amicably agreed to part ways as there was no common language. Instead we decided to hop down to a platform and work it out ourselves. Which we did. Strangely while we had bought a day ticket for train and ferry, there are no ticket barriers or ticket collectors. Hamburgers must be very honest people.
Haven't yet worked out a plan for tomorrow as it appears that most of Hamburg is closed on Sundays. For some reason the shops at the Main Train Station are allowed to open so worst case we will potter around the station for a bit, which is huge. Both agree we like Hamburg. Some very nice parts and people are very friendly.
Good fun dinner at restaurant close by in the Chili House. I had yet another Wienna Schnitzel (going to look like one soon) and Stephen some regional dish comprised of a spiced meat and potato with a fried egg on top with beetroot and pickles on the side. Looked interesting. Lots of locals it seemed in the restaurant and ended up with a sort of conversation with a near by table (limited English and of course our German is not great) who could not believe we were all the way from Australia.
Got down to the Elbe River to the Landungsbrucken (Landing Bridges) and jumped on Ferry 62 which the internet informed us was a local ferry that would take us up and down scenic parts of the Elbe River. Much better than a little cruise ship. Every tourist in Hamburg has read of this on the internet so this local ferry service is perpetually full. But we did get a good spot upstairs in the sun and was probably one of my favourite activities for Hamburg. Saw parts of St Pauli, the hipster part of Hamburg where unusually for us we are not accidentally staying in. Saw the fish market which probably won't get to as it is open from 5am-9.30am on Sundays and we will have barely finished breakfast by closing time. Saw some old restored wooden boats and sailing ships. Some very interesting architecture along the waterfront - offices but mainly new apartments. Lots of glass everywhere to catch the sun. Saw their local beaches where some people were bravely dipping their toes in and very large houses further back up some little hills in Altona. Lots of cranes and some smaller container ships and even a U boat. Definitely a worthwhile trip even if everyone has discovered Ferry 62.
Stopped for lunch at Landungs-brucken. A prawn roll for me and for Stephen....a herring roll. While area full of tourists, mainly seem to be Germans or Scandinavians. Our run of not hearing one Australian accent continues.
Got held up by a noisy cavalcade fronted by a police motorbike. Stopped to see if was anyone exciting like Angela Merkel but no - was some 10 minutes of old VW's driving by blasting their horns. Very disappointed they find this worthwhile to do on a sunny Saturday.
Finished official tour with a walk along the Alter Elbtunnel. This was the first river tunnel on the Continent - opened in 1911. Opened to move people and vehicles under the River Elbe. Well we descended via a lift and walked along one side of the tiled tunnel. Crossed to the other side and walked back the other side. Caught lift back up and exited. Probably be more excited if I was an engineer.
Decided time to leave and catch U or S bahn back to near hotel. After an animated conversation with an official looking person in the nearest railway station, we amicably agreed to part ways as there was no common language. Instead we decided to hop down to a platform and work it out ourselves. Which we did. Strangely while we had bought a day ticket for train and ferry, there are no ticket barriers or ticket collectors. Hamburgers must be very honest people.
Haven't yet worked out a plan for tomorrow as it appears that most of Hamburg is closed on Sundays. For some reason the shops at the Main Train Station are allowed to open so worst case we will potter around the station for a bit, which is huge. Both agree we like Hamburg. Some very nice parts and people are very friendly.
Good fun dinner at restaurant close by in the Chili House. I had yet another Wienna Schnitzel (going to look like one soon) and Stephen some regional dish comprised of a spiced meat and potato with a fried egg on top with beetroot and pickles on the side. Looked interesting. Lots of locals it seemed in the restaurant and ended up with a sort of conversation with a near by table (limited English and of course our German is not great) who could not believe we were all the way from Australia.
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