Hamburg

Day 2 & 3 of our Hamburger adventure! (... in which we actually go to Hamburg!)

First stop: part two of my Christmas present, a boat tour through Hamburg! On the... Louisiana Star?! Hilarious.

bringin' the Mississippi to Hamburg

If you didn't know it, I could be in New Orleans! Except for the scarf and mittens...

tugboats :)

This building, whatever it is, was made to look like a boat.

Lots of wealthy Hamburgers* live on this beach.

Hamburg has a huge industrial harbor where they store and move these huge containers using magnetized cranes and giant ships, like this one from Beirut.

the Hamburg flag (and that guy)

the Elbphilharmonie, the opera house that's been being felt forever and still has a while to go (The Elbe is the river that goes through the harbor, by the way. It starts in Czech Republic and flows to the North Sea.)

Mississippi Queen... What is it with the Mississippi obsession?

Top right: "Enjoy a harbor boat tour through the historic Speicherstadt" - check!

Hamburg's Rathaus (town hall)

Can't tell what this is saying, but I can make a good guess it's something about World War I. That's how good my German is.**

These interesting-looking trees were everywhere!

First legit mall I've been to since being in Europe!

That is a Hollister store. With a line outside of it. That's right, a line JUST TO GET IN. But at least they don't make up fake American brands like the French with the US Marshall business that I have never seen in the United States.

The Alster river goes through the middle of the city and they widened it to make a little lake in the middle of the city.

It suddenly got so sunny and nice that we decided to head over to the St. Michaelis church to climb the tour while the view was so lovely!

St. Michaelis is a Protestant church, so here we have good ol' Martin Luther!

St. Michael, always fighting that dragon!***

Beautiful!

We actually witnessed some sort of rehearsal and got to hear the acoustics in action.

lions with the castle from the Hamburg coat of arms

St. Michael, behind the scenes

giant bell (so glad that the bells didn't chime while we were climbing the tower!)

Ta-da! You can see the Alster river/lake (left side) as well as the green roof/tower of the Rathaus (right side)

the Elbe river, which we had sailed a bit earlier

The tall lone tower is the Nikolai tower, which you'll see up close later on in the post.

victorious, post-climb

Middle right: "Climb the tower of the Michel and admire Hamburg from above" - check! Irene and Nici were so creative with this present, I LOVED it, and the checklist hangs up in my room in France now!

If you look closely, you can see the word "Polen" in the brick of this building. "Polen" means "Poland" in German; builders like to hide messages in their creations sometimes. (Obviously these were Polish!)

Alster river/lake

yet another Weihnachtsmarkt!

The remains of the Hammerburg? (Irene help me out?), a former fortress

(Notice the ruins are now in a café? Confusing.)

We then went on a (successful) search for the club where the Beatles had their first concert. They were the resident band here in this club, which used to be called the Kaiserkeller. The Beatles started their career here in Hamburg!

Here's the explanation... if you read German.

full view

plaque at the entrance to the street the club is on

After a full day, we headed out to dinner to meet up with a few of Irene's friends from high school (Jojo, Katrin, and Martina) whom I had actually met eight years ago! We had a great dinner and such a good time. It was really cool getting to see them again, talk to them all, and see the people they've grown up to be.

The next morning, we headed out to the HafenCity, which is a modern part of the city being built right on the harbor.

funky apartment complex

the Unilever building - Unilever brands include Axe, Dove, Hellmann's, Knorr, and Lipton, among others

inside Unilever

up close and personal with the Elbphilharmonie

what it will look like when it's finished, including a hotel and apartments!

the Speicherstadt, or the warehouse district - These are storage units where people have historically, well, stored things. Pulleys used to line the roof so that goods could be lifted out of the boats into the units.

French Aaron!

This is the St. Nikolai church, which is mostly destroyed except for the tower, which we saw from the top of the St. Michaelis church earlier.

Check out the exposed bells.

the ruins of the church

This statue is called "Angel on Earth," and the inscription says "Take my hand and let me lead you back to yourself."

We met up with Jojo, her boyfriend, and a friend to go have a coffee and cake. The restaurant is right on the Alster river/lake, and we had a table right by the window - perfect!

spicy hot chocolate and apple cake... once again, delicious! I've gotta have spicy hot chocolate again sometime...

I loved getting to experience a new city with Irene & Nici, and getting to see where Nici grew up. Of course it was really great to see Katrin, Martina, and Jojo again after so long! I actually have a framed picture of Sonja, Jojo, and me with a note from Jojo saying that she hoped we'd meet again someday. Now this year, I've seen them both again! Also, it was really interesting to see a German city other than Munich so that I could see the difference. Hamburg was very different. First of all, it's a more modern city. Much of the city was destroyed in World War II, much more than in Munich. Therefore, most of the city has been rebuilt since that time, and it is evident when you look at the cityscape. From above, it sometimes looks more American than I've ever seen a European city look; kind of similar to New York; for example, the green roofs and the wide roads give a New York-ish feel. It's a very industrial city, and the harbor is very important. Trade has always been important for Hamburg as it was also part of the Hanseatic League, just like Lübeck. Hamburg is also a "musical city," and they have many musicals there, such as The Lion King. (This is somewhat rare in Europe, most Europeans don't like musicals as much as Americans do.) Also, it's interesting to note that after World War II, when Germany was divided for control by the Allies, Hamburg was in the part controlled by England, while Munich was in the part controlled by the USA. On a less historical and more personal note, it was so nice to go and visit Nici's family. They were so welcoming, and their home was beautiful. They fed me well, and even made me a very traditional northern German meal (I should have taken a picture!) which was fantastic. (I also tried kale for (I think) the first time!) It was lovely to stay with them, and to continue my German adventures with Irene & Nici. I'm very happy to have experienced more of Germany in Hamburg!

Also, this is random and has nothing to do with Hamburg, but just fyi: Today (January 20th) marks the halfway point between my departure from Texas (September 17th) and my departure from Europe (May 23rd). How crazy, time is flying!

*The people, not the sandwiches.

**Just kidding. The dates gave it away.

***Revelation 12:7-9