Hamburg

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Hans-Juergen came to pick us up at the train station once we arrived in Hamburg. We took a walk down by the Alster, which is where the drink Alster Wasser (beer mixed with lemonade) gets its name. We went down into the Rathaus Passage, which is an underground passage that has been converted into a bookstore and café. Apparently this area used to be teaming with homeless drug addicts and a friend of Hans-Juergen’s had the idea to turn the passage into a business area. We continued on our walk for another hour or so going down the main shopping street and stopping for sausages and sight-seeing. Well, we didn’t do a lot of sight-seeing but Hans-Juergen showed us the Church of San Jakobi. We learned that San Jakobi is the patron saint of pilgrimage so outside the church is a sign post with signs pointing in the direction of famous pilgrimages, like the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Our walk ended with a stop at the largest electronics retailer in the world, Saturn. Dan couldn’t help himself; he had to go in (plus we needed a sleeve for our laptop but Dan would’ve gone in anyway). The day ended with a BBQ back at Hans-Juergen and Cornelia’s house with some of their old friends who were in town visiting. Again, it was a BBQ with 3 or 4 different kinds of meat. Just when you think you’re done your dinner another meat comes off the grill. But it was so delicious.

On the 14th we spent the day on the water. We rowed our way around Hamburg for 3 hours. We biked to the boathouse and saw a swimming pool which is in the middle of the park and is fed by the lake. We were in luck when we rented the canoe; there was only one 4-person canoe left and we claimed it! Who knew Hamburg had all these canals. We didn’t until we paddled through them, that’s for sure. Dan got to steer (alright Mom, learning the J-stroke did come in handy). We went to the Alster which we’d seen the day before, only today we were at the big Alster, it was a breezy weekend day and the lake was covered with sail boats. They seemed so out of place, on a lake in the middle of town; except that there were so many. We weaved our way across the lake, dodging sail boats and ferries to get to the next canal. We also got to see a lot of the expensive houses of the city, since most of them are on the canals. We even came across a canal that was blocked by a fallen tree branch. Fortunately, our boat was small enough to squeeze through but if we had been any bigger we would’ve had to turn back and find a different route out. As it was we all had to duck into the canoe and use the tree to propel the boat forward because there wasn’t even room to use our paddles. The day ended with kuchen at a café. Ashley tried rhubarb juice which was interestingly refreshing. Then we rode our bikes to Globetrotter which is a massive outdoorsy store, along the lines of MEC. Except Globetrotter has 4 floors and a "cold room" where the temperatures ranges anywhere from 0° down to -22° (that we saw) so you can test out the cold weather gear. We went into the room at -6 and it felt freezing. Although that probably has something to do with the fact that by that point we’d been sweltering in 30° plus since we arrived in Europe.

On the 15th we met Hans-Juergen’s brother Joachim. He came over for a late breakfast and join us for sight-seeing. We began with the memorial of St Nikolai, which is the steeple of the Church of St Nikolai which still stands after the church was bombed in WWII; it was actually the marker used by bomber pilots to locate Hamburg; oh the resourcefulness of the pre-GPS era. The steeple is the only part of the church that is left and so it remains as a memorial to the lives lost in the war. We took the elevator up to see the view of Hamburg from the top. It wasn’t so different from other towers we’ve been up on this trip but the view was spectacular; the church steeples (thanks to local laws) will always be the tallest structures in Hamburg. We also went to the Documentation Centre at the St. Nikolai Memorial which holds pictures from the war and quotes from survivors. It was very sombre but Ashley felt as though she could imagine what it would’ve been like to live back then. It amazes us that people actually lived through that terror. After St Nikolai we walked to the new Haffen City (Harbour City) which the city is slowly developing. Most of the new buildings were built to resemble ships and the waves of the water which we thought was a very interesting architectural idea. We also took a ferry along the Elbe River to see more of the harbour. The harbour is apparently one of the most mechanized harbours in the world (Dan saw it on Discovery). It’s amazing what technology can do these days. That was the last of our time in Hamburg; although, we could spend a lot more time there. We didn’t even see most of the sights since we were visiting so much but we really enjoyed what we did see.

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Photos

Public Swimming Pool
Here is the pool that's attached to the canals. On the right is the barrier between the small lake and the pool. It's the same water on either side.

Physical Excersion
Apparently it can be fun; look at those smiling faces.

See all the boats!!!
This was on the big part of the Alster. A few boats got much closer than this, but they were no match for our speedy canoe.

Fallen Tree
We kept an eye out for pirates, luckily there were none and we eecked through mostly unscathed.

Still Water
This was a nice view down a very not busy canal.

Bridge of a boat??
One of the many cool buildings in the revitalized Harbour City. Note the (maybe) waves that are part of the balconies.

The Opera House
This ones still under construction, but you can still see the weird windows that look like recycled, warped windscreens.

Ack, I've got Harbour in my eye!!!
Not the fully automated part of the Harbour, but for a land-lubber like me it all still looks pretty amazing. How do they stack those containers so high??

Ferry Riding
We took the ferry that's part of the public transport as a water tour to the end of the Harbour. Hans-Jurgen and Dan stood most of the way enjoying the wind in their hair.