Blogs from Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany, Europe - page 6

The train from Freiburg to Hamburg sped on through a predominantly flat landscape, very green and cultivated for k after k. It was a direct route for us and we rolled into Hamburg Hauptbanhof, after five hours, at 5.50pm, to a grey, drizzly evening and hordes of after-workers heading in and out of the vast station. The big city stations are works of art. Think, Gare de Lyon, Gare de Nord, Cologne, Hamburg, Victoria and so on. I find them magnificent structures and always end up with more pictures of them than I need. Anyway, to our hotel, the SIDE Hotel. A sharp-edged, modernist place with snappy design but not always with a practical eye for use, e.g. The handbasin, the "long drop" loo. But it was pretty cool and very comfortable. Another Hotwire online booking. ... read more

We arrived, unbeknown to us, on the eve of the "Schlagermove" festival or "love" festival as we were told by the lady at the Tourist Office. Always held on the last weekend of June, it is a parade of 45 party trucks, all decorated with balloons and all blaring out schlager (German pop songs of the 70's). The parade of trucks make their way through the streets of St. Pauli and around the Reeperbahn (famed red-light district and also where Beatles performed in the famous Star Club in the early 60's). Typically, about half a million schlager fans descend by train to the festival, all dressed in bright and bold patterned bell-bottomed trousers, bright afro wigs and Gary Glitter boots - I'm sure you can imagine! Well, along with that image, add singing, drinking, shouting and ... read more

Last weekend, my mum was here to visit. I had given her a helicopter flight over Hamburg and the river Elbe for Christmas, and she was here to redeem her voucher. Of course, I had bought myself a voucher, too. Otherwise she would have been scared and lonely on the flight . The airstrip was not far from Pinneberg, northwest of the city centre. Getting there was kind of adventurous because we had picked exactly the day of the big Hamburg Marathon. So we had to do a big detour and got stuck in a traffic jam anyway. I thought we might not make it, but eventually, we got there and took off for a great 30 minutes flight up the river Elbe, past the district of Blankenese, the Airbus airfield and the harbour to the ... read more

Every time we’ve hit a new city, its gotten colder., to the point where we look back now and the first stops dont seem cold at all. Paris was cold, Amsterdam was cold, Cologne and was cold but Hamburg is in a cold league all of its own. Unlike the other cities, where it was freezing when the wind picked up, Hamburg is just freezing. No wind, but literally freezing. It was 0 degrees at 2pm and by the time the sun starting going down at 4pm, it was way below freezing ( but then it snowed and all was right in the world!) Arriving in Hamburg we have been in awe twice, once by the size of the train station and secondly by our hotel. The Hotel SIDE where we are staying is a boutique ... read more

Why are we in Hamburg? For the Davis Cup of course, no we are not big tennis fans but when Pat Rafter is paying you can hardly say no. Our original plans were to travel more of Eastern Europe an area of the world we both love but when this deal came up that all changed and we found ourselves back in Germany! Four nights in Hamburg and three days of tennis FREE and the only pay off is that you must dress up in the Fanatics Aussie gear - well I can do that! The deal was offered by Fanatics a group we traveled to Galipoli with for ANZAC Day. We arrived in Hamburg expecting a run down hostel instead we stayed at one of the best run hostels we have stayed at. Our first ... read more