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Published: June 26th 2017
Geo: 53.5534, 9.9922
Roisin and I always try to take a break around about our anniversary which is then followed by my birthday a few days later. In May 2015, Roisin was indulging in one of her favourite pastimes – stalking MSC ships on a website called Sea Scanner. This is a site that tracks the route of cruise ships with the added facility to hack in to a ship's deckcam! Sea scanner is also a travel agent and advertise cruises from many of the mainstream cruise companies. They are based in Germany. It was during one of her 'sessions' that she stumbled across a short 7 night cruise around the Baltic at a ridiculously low price; the ship – the MSC Sinfonia. Having always dealt with the Tour Operator direct, Roisin immediately phoned MSC and asked if they would match the price quoted on Sea Scanner. At almost 3 times the price of Sea Scanner, MSC recommended we book the trip with the German website. Not only was the on-line booking process painless, Sea Scanner recognised our loyalty status with MSC and gave us a further 20% reduction.
The Baltic holds a special place in our hearts as it was the first
cruise we went on, way back in 2009. However, on this occasion our cruise starts in a small town called Warnemunde in Germany. After a day at sea we arrive in Stockholm before heading to Estonia's capital, Tallinn. The next port is St. Petersburg in Russia. Like 2009, St Petersburg is the only port where we will be partaking in the official tours. This makes life easier than trying to do things yourself. In fact, to avoid disappointment, as we anticipate that the St Petersburg tours will be popular, we booked these prior to departure, again through Sea Scanner. Although we are only in St Petersburg for one day, we have a tour organised in the morning and another one in the afternoon. After another day at sea we arrive in our final port of call, Copenhagen before heading back to Warnemunde, on day 8. During this trip we hope to bring to you a street where women are forbidden to enter unless they are a prostitute, woodland cemeteries, open air museums and even an old friend or two!!
So that's how we got here and where we're going now for the story to really begin…
…Our route takes us to Hamburg
via Manchester airport. I don't know about you but it doesn't matter how many times you check passport, money, cards, camera you always feel you have forgotten something. Even as you leave the house, your mind is still reciting all the essential items over and over again. Five minutes in to the first leg of the journey and those same important items are still mulling around inside your head. Then your brain says: ‘
Nope! Everything seems to be OK. Let's move on to the second string of items…' As you don't actually know what the ‘second string' items are you just start reciting random objects, ‘Baseball cap? Guidebook? Handkerchieves? iPhone charger? Shoes? SHOES! I forgot my shoes. How could this have happened? I have never forgotten a single pair of shoes since 1997. That's eighteen years of always remembering to bring my shoes! I am of course referring to the time when I was a trainer/tutor and had been sent to Lytham St Annes to teach the local office about an appraisal system that had recently been introduced. I was standing outside Dolces, the shoe shop in a suit and a pair of trainers waiting for the store to open. Since then wearing trainers with a suit has become fashionable (Then? Not so much!!) So hopefully I may get away with it on the gala evenings!! I'll just act like Steven Spielberg or Kevin Smith attending the Oscars!!
The flight from Manchester to Hamburg was pretty uneventful. When I say ‘pretty' uneventful, it wasn't without its moments!!
Moment 1 – The Captain announced that the flight would take only 1 hour 18 minutes.
‘The Gulf Stream should help us along. However, that means we may experience some turbulence during the short flight. There is no need to worry, I can assure you it is quite natural. I did the same trip yesterday in similar conditions and I'm still here, aren't I??!' I'm not sue the rhetorical question was called for or even that reassuring especially to the nervous flier sitting next to me as my hand started to go a brighter shade of purple as Roisin constricted her vice like grip yet another notch due to this latest announcement from the Captain.
We were not disappointed. The plane shuddered as if the pilot couldn't find the right gear! Without warning the Airbus A-319 then dipped. You could hear a sharp intake of breathe from the passengers as the plane plummeted a few hundred metres as it battled through the thermals of the Gulf Stream. After about 10 minutes of turbulence some passengers, who looked to be members of a stag party several rows behind, started to make the most of this bumpy ride. Whether they enjoyed the adrenaline rush or more likely, as I suspect, the copious amounts of alcohol they had consumed prior to the flight, they seemed to be the only ones on this Easyjet crossing having fun. Every time the plane dropped, they actually put their two hands above their head and cheered as if they were riding the Big Dipper at Alton Towers or Six Flags!! Even those who thought a few words to the Almighty were more appropriate in this situation couldn't help raise a smile. Despite the stag party being boisterous throughout the flight, they didn't spoil the ‘experience' for other fellow passengers.
Moment 2. With the worst of the weather safely behind us we were on our approach to the runway. The sky was clear. The seat belt sign had come on and everyone was sat in their seat with their seat belt fastened. We were in
the first row sitting diagonally across from two cabin crew who has also just taken their seats for the landing. The ground was fast looming up on us. Suddenly Paz, the senior crew member picked up the handset cradled above her head and shouted down the cabin ‘
Sit Down, Sit Down'. A more authoritive voice intervened. ‘This is the Captain. Sit Down. SIT DOWN'. We were literally only about 20 seconds from hitting the tarmac and someone had unbuckled their belt and stood up. On speaking to Paz whilst we were waiting to disembark, the ‘nob' was someone who didn't understand English and wanted to use the toilet!! Now usually on touch down, you always hear a few ‘clicks as seat belts are unbuckled before the plane has come to a complete stop. On this occasion I think everyone (even the ‘stags went quiet!) were frightened in case they were shouted at as no ‘clicking' was heard until the seat belt sign was switched off!!
Once in the Airport we followed the signs to the S-bahn. The ticket machine was multi lingual so no problems in purchasing two tickets to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof. A man did approach us and try to sell me a group ticket for €6. He seemed disgusted and somewhat bemused when I would rather pay €6.20 (€3.10 each) from the machine. At least I know these were valid! It's the first time I have encountered a ticket tout in the subway touting subway tickets!!
Our Hotel, the
Stay Hotel Boarding House, was only a few minutes' walk from the main train station. In my experience, areas in the immediate vicinity of train stations do not appear the most salubrious. This was no exception. Litter scattered the street, beggars and winos sat on broken pallets. From the writing on the shop facades I would hazard a guess that this area catered for a high proportion of Turks, Somalian, Indians and even Afghans. It was a case of ‘Feeling like a foreigner' scenario… until Roisin pointed out that in this circumstance we were!!!
29.08.2015
Hamburg's official name is ‘Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg' meaning the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. It is Germany's second largest city next to Berlin. That surprised me as well! It was founded on 2 rivers; the Elbe and the Alster. There are over 43,000 millionaires in Hamburg and 18 billionaires making it a very prosperous city. There are also over 2,300 bridges in the city, more than Venice and Amsterdam combined!
This is our first (and only) full day in Hamburg. Our plan today is to join a walking tour in the morning. This will take us on a two hour historic tour of the city. In the afternoon we plan on a further walking tour that starts down by the water side and will take us through the more seedy side of Hamburg and St. Pauli.
The first of the tours started from the Rathaus (town hall) at 11am. These tours are free and one is encouraged to pay whatever you think the tour is worth.
Our tour guide had spent some years in the USA so his English was impeccable (although it's called a pavement and you ‘jump' a red light not ‘run' a red light!!)
After 10 minutes we still hadn't moved one inch. Our guide was giving us a whirlwind 800 year history of the city from Charlemagne through the Hanseatic League to the Great Fire of 1842 to the Blitz then the present day. We then moved 10 yards to the right as what sounded like a political activist had started spouting through a microphone and
we were struggling to hear the story of Napoleon and his Grand Armee due to being directly in the firing line of the mic. Another 10 minutes and we were done and followed our guide across the square away from the Town Hall in the direction of St Petri's church. As we left Town Hall Square, a gospel choir struck up in another corner of the square that seemed to be in direct ‘voice off' against the political activist!!
St Peters church is one of five Lutheran main churches in Hamburg. It is the 16th tallest church in the world. In fact three of the churches in Hamburg fall within the top twenty tallest churches in the world. Ralph, our guide then went on to say that Ulm Minster is in fact the tallest church in the world. I'm beginning to think that his ‘world' stretches from the Polish border in the East to the Netherlands and France in the West!! In the 13th century, the church burned down and the huge door knockers burned and melted in the fire. A local iron smith was instructed to reconstruct the door knockers with the original lions head design holding a knocker in
the shape of a ring in its mouth. The iron smith had no problem with the ring but, with not many lion's roaming the Hanseatic countryside in the middle ages, the poor iron smith used best judgement. Instead of the features of one of nature's most fierce predators that the town's folk were expecting, the result was nothing more than an image of a slightly annoyed pussycat!
St Peter's church tower stands at 132.2m high. The next church to be built, St Michaels, which we will be visiting shorty, in respect of St Peters, built their tower a few inches shorter standing at 132.1m high!
We walked down Bergstrasse (Mountain Street) so named because it is the highest point in Hamburg, a lofty 8 metres above sea level!! Here was where it all began. Ground zero. A small settlement called Hamerburg; burg meaning fortress and Hamer meaning hill. Suddenly the roar of two Black Ferraris had everyone, including Ralph who had stopped mid-sentence, turning to see where the source of the noise was coming from. The Ferraris powered around the corner and as suddenly as they had appeared, the street was again left in relative silence to let Ralph continue with his
history lesson. 43,000 millionaires in Hamburg. We have been in Hamburg for almost twenty-four hours and seen no evidence and then two come along together!!
There was a very poignant moment when Ralph stopped at the Nikolai war and victims of terrorism memorial. He explained the Blitz in 1943 when huge parts of Hamburg were flatted by the constant barrage of carpet bombing. The steeple at this memorial has been under reconstruction for some time and the flames soars over 500m high and reached 1000 degrees C. This is the temperature that diamonds catch fire!! The first bomb was dropped in June 1943 and the last of the fires were extinguished in November of the same year!
Ralph went on to explain how naughty the Wehrmacht and the Nazi's were although the
Wehrmacht tried to wangle out of the war crimes charges by claiming they were ‘only following orders'. He further explained that he remembers his grandmother who refused to believe the holocaust actually happened and it was Allies propaganda. Here speaks the voice of an intelligent lady so much were the atrocities that honest folk couldn't believe that human could inflict so much suffering and pain on fellow human. I could see that Ralph's bottom lip was starting to quiver. This must have been quite emotional for poor Ralph, to relate stories of devastation to the city he grew up in and obviously loves so much.
Passing The Allianz shipping insurance Company building with its very unusual but apt chimney in the shape of a sailing ship, we walked along a small alley then down a gangway onto a pontoon. We were now standing alongside the Nicolaifleet; one of the canals that serves the city and flows in to the Elbe. These canals are tidal as there are no locks. It was low tide. Ralph explained that in the 18th century, before the sewer system, residents of Hamburg used to lean out of their windows overlooking the fleet and throw their waste water and sewage in to the canal. This caused a problem as the breweries, who were now gaining in numbers and popularity, all drew their water from the canals. And the Germans have the audacity to say that British beer tastes like piss!!!
We stopped in Diechstrasse, Hamburg's equivalent to London's Pudding Lane. Now lined by cafes and bars. The Great Fire of 1842 started in this street in a
cigar factory of all places. It doesn't take a genius to work out how that one started!!
Almost at the end of our very informative excursion, Ralph pointed out a large red bricked building across the street. This is the slomanhaus, an office building home to a shipping company. Inside is one of twelve paternosters. A paternoster is a passenger elevator which consists of a chain of open compartments (each usually designed for two persons) that move slowly in a loop up and down inside a building without stopping. Passengers can step on or off at any floor they like. It was named after one of the prayers that priests repeated in conjunction with a rosary as they moved the beads along the cord counting their way through their prayers. He added that Pater Noster means Lord's Prayer (lit. Our Father) in the ultimate dead language of Latin. ULTIMATE dead language??! He obviously has never come across Aramaic!!
The tour finished at St. Michael's Church, another one of Hamburg's five Lutheran main churches and the most famous church in the city. St. Michael's is a landmark of the city and it is considered to be an example of one of the finest
Hanseatic Protestant baroque churches. The church was purposely built Protestant unlike many other Hamburg churches which were originally built by Roman Catholics and were converted to Protestantism during the Reformation. It is dedicated to the Archangel Michael. There is a large bronze statue, standing above the portal of the church showing the archangel conquering Stan (Stan? Who's Stan? Sorry. I type too fast for my own good sometimes. I meant to type ‘Satan'!!)
Ralph wrapped up the tour by pointing out restaurants to take lunch, of which there were many in the immediate vicinity. He gave a special mention to the Old Commercial Room but quickly pointed out that he received no commission for these recommendations. He then went on to describe the speciality of this particular establishment:
‘Labskaus is a traditional seaman's dish. Due to the length of time they were at sea, the meat had to be stewed and mixed with potatoes, carrots and any other vegetables on hand.' Roisin and I knew exactly where this was leading. He continued: ‘In Denmark they have another name and in Liverpool they call it Scouse. The dish is so popular in this part of the world someone from Liverpool is known as a Scousing!!!'
He was doing so well up to that point!! For added information, the Liverpool version is known as Lobscouse and the stew without any meat but just vegetables is known as ‘blind' Scouse.
The time was 13:40. We had certainly got our money's worth (even if it was advertised as a ‘free' walking tour!!) We had over run by 40 minutes. This had buggered up our plans for the second walking tour that starts at 14:00. We need to eat and then get to the Hard Rock Café, about a mile away; the meeting place for walking tour number two.
We decided to take our time and have some lunch, visit St Michaelis church then head over in the direction of St Pauli, taking in some recommended sights on the way.
The 132.1 meter high Baroque spire is totally covered with copper and a prominent feature of Hamburg's skyline. I paid the €5 to ascend to the viewing platform on the 10th floor of the spire whilst Mrs H stayed safely on terra firma watching a wedding party alight from the church and mill around waiting for the odd assortment of vehicles to take the bride, groom and guests on to the next leg of festivities. Leading the procession of odd vehicles was a Hummer limo followed but the more traditional stretch limo; both white, of course. Following on was a minivan, decked out in red ribbon then an articulated tractor unit. If that was me, I would have rather just taken a cab!!
We now headed up in to St Pauli. A twenty minute walk away from the quay up 64 steps we stopped at a street blocked by a solid fence with a sign in German AND English: ‘ENTRY for men. Under 18 and women prohibited'. This is Herbertstrasse. We had entered the red light district. Herbertstrasse is a strictly men only street where women are prohibited unless they are prostitutes or similar!! (I still haven't defined what they mean by ‘or similar'!!) Across the road were our friend's from the stag party now dressed in multi coloured attire and pointy hats. They were striding this way with only one thing on their mind. Some looked really excited at the prospect of what was waiting whilst others had the expression that betrayed them and said:
‘I'd rather be in a pub somewhere watching the footie'. For most it would be just a matter of the curiosity and nothing more than window shopping. The only window shopping I'd be doing tonight would be checking out the menus in the local restaurants!!
The Reeperbahn. It's not what I imagined. Yes, there are numerous ‘Girls, girls girls'; XXX shows; Erotic this and Erotica that but the street is much wider than I was expecting. It is a busy boulevard. The Reeperbahn is famous for the place where the Beatles cut their teeth. The world renowned
Star Club has long gone but the memory lives on in the aptly named Beatlesplatz.
It was a short visit to Hamburg and tomorrow we leave for the coastal town of Warnemunde, where the MSC Sinfonia awaits. Hamburg has a lot to offer and for the little piece we experienced, I'm sure we will be back someday to sample more of the ‘attractions' of this vibrant yet diverse city.
As John Lennon once said: I was born in Liverpool but raised in Hamburg!!
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Dallas Keuchal
non-member comment
Another holiday! Glad to read that you remembered your baseball hat ... Much more important than shoes. D.