Seeing Hamburg with Anais was so much fun! I am going to Hamburg again with other people and again to other places with Anais, so this trip really made me excited for upcoming weekends.
Hamburg has the 9th largest harbor in the world. Much of the city is designed around the important functionality of water and built up from its mercantile history.
First day, we started at das Ratthaus (city hall), which was one of the prettiest I've been inside.
We did a substantial amount of walking through the city. The tower in the picture above is St. Nikolai-Kirche, a church that was bombed out in WWII. The bell tower still stands and is currently part of a memorial site. Perhaps the bell tower remained intact because it functioned as a navigation point for American bombers. We were able to go up in an elevator to the top of the bell tower and look out. 
Next to the amazing panoramas of the city, there were large printed photos of the same view out of the tower shortly after the massive air raids on Hamburg. The devestation was astonishing. Afterwards, we found more information on the air raids and destruction in a neighboring museum. The statistics were so astounding - somewhere around half of the thousands of bodies were unidentifiable. I found it interesting that in explanations of the massive destruction from American bombings, the memorial made sure to state that it was only a response to Hitler's previous acts of violence and aggression. The tone of the statement was noteworthy.
Among other sight-seeing that day, we took a really cool trip around in a tour boat. We were able to go through the canals, shipyards, and right up underneath the stern of a gigantic cargo ship.
We stopped by the hotel to relax a bit and then went out for a drink.
And then dinner. A friend of Anais recommended going to the Portuguese quarter for some delicious seafood.
A view of the shipyard at night on our way to meet some friends of Anais.
The nightlife was pretty hectic in Hamburg. We just stopped by a more casual bar for a drink with two of Anais's friends, but the walk there was definitely spiced up with some energetic young people. 
Anais and I didn't make the Fischmarkt (something I will be sure to do on the next trip to Hamburg), but we got to stroll around the area. It started raining shortly after this picture was taken, so we quickly headed to the Hamburger Kunsthalle, a large art museum near the central train station.
Claudia shared a Max Lieberman book of paintings with us back in Hanau. For many years of his life, Lieberman painted views from his garden villa on lake Wannsee, right near Potsdam. I'll be sure to visit the villa soon.
It was neat; this was kind of a bridge between the classical art and contemporary art.
Sigmar Polke was featured. This piece was huge!
The overcast day was probably more typical for Hamburg, so it was nice to see in contrast to the lovely weather the day before. We ate at the restaurant in the corner building in the right center of the picture above. I forgot to mention our terrible service in Hamburg... it definitely made an impression. Our breakfast the morning before took nearly 2 hours. Only after watching table after table receive their food did we start complaining. Then at the restaurant above, the waitress forgot to place our order. Again, it took nearly an hour while we sat, starving. It is so different to America, where mistakes on the servers part would surely warrant a discount or sincere apology at least.
Our last stop: St. Michaelis. Our entry fee granted us access to the crypt, church, and view from the tower. Currently, the church is undergoing massive renovation. We were quite confused when we walked in to see only about an 8th of the church, with the rest behind a temporary wall. The part we saw has already been refurbished and, man, will it be beautiful!
All in all, an absolutely wonderful weekend! [I hope I didn't forget too much, as my posts are a bit delayed...]
0 comments:
Post a Comment