Hamburg & Lübeck

The day II in Hamburg & Lübeck. Today's target: Hamburg!


We took an U-bahn (Metro train) from Ahrensburg to Hamburg because it was the most convenient way of travelling to downtown Hamburg. It took about 40 minutes to get to downtown Hamburg. The city of Hamburg lies at the junction of the River Elbe with the Rivers Alster and Bille. The city center lies around two lakes, the Binnenalster ("Inner Alster") and the Aussenalster ("Outer Alster").


We started out by visiting....Lego store! Surprise! It was a nice big store with all sorts of Lego toys and things. Daniela-the-Lego-fan bought a blue Lego man T-shirt. We others just shopped with our eyes. Our official first visiting place was Hamburg Rathaus. What a building! We heard later that it holds one room more than the Buckingham Palace...and not by accident!


From Rathaus we headed towards St. Pauli and Reeperbahn, the most famous street in Hamburg. At this point I couldn't help myself from singing "...St. Pauli ja Reeperbahn, Sinne veri vetää uudestaan, Sumuun kolibriin ja humuun vie, Tie suureen maailmaan..." (song by Irwin Goodman's) We walked along the Reeperbahn, from one end to the other and looked at the shops, theaters and hotels and the places the Reeperbahn is famous of...


We walked towards the waterfront. In few minutes a huge harbor area was in front of our eyes. Big commercial ships, tall sailing ships, tug-boats and guided tour ferries! Boats and ships everywhere. Some docked, some anchored, some sailing. And so many people! I bet mostly tourists like us because August is a holiday month in Europe.


We walked along the waterfront to HafenCity Hamburg. It is a newly constructed (or to be exact, still big parts are under construction) harbor area in the hearth of the city. The area is 155 hectare big and it has (and will have in the future) museums, concert halls, restaurants, residences, theaters, parks, shops, plazas... All in the middle of a metropolis and right by the water. You can learn more about the "Project HafenCity" at HafenCity InfoCenter in Kesselhaus. They have there a HafenCity miniature with explanations which part will be constructed and when. A pretty interesting place to visit.


We took a train back to Ahrensburg to have an early barbeque at Christina's father. The sun was shining and it was warm. And we enjoyed it fully at the terasse! We barbequed all sorts of meat and bratwursts and vegetables and enjoyed nice bubbling bowl of fruit punch. It was a perfect ending for a perfect stay in Hamburg!

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