 |
| In front of the very impressive Hamburg City Hall |
Our last port of call on this eleven day cruise was Hamburg, Germany. Hamburg has a population of just under 2 million, making it the second largest city in Germany and the eighth largest in the EU. It’s connected to the North Sea by the Elbe River. To reach Hamburg by cruise ship means spending 4 to 5 hours cruising up the scenic river.
 |
| The Hamburg Philharmonic Hall on the bank of the Elbe River. It opened in 2017 and seats 2,100 patrons. |
Hamburg is a city that we had a little familiarity with from visiting here a very long time ago. Beth’s sister (Cindy) and her family lived here for about three years back in the late 90’s. Our family flew over and enjoyed spending about a week with them for Thanksgiving one year. Beth’s other sister (Debbie) and her daughter Kimberly also joined us.
A lot of memories from that visit have faded away, but a few remain. Obviously the Germans don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, so instead of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner we had a more traditional German meal which featured bratwurst and other delicious sausages, etc. The Christmas markets in all the towns we visited were starting to open and were really fun to see. Then there was the weather. We were here for about a week. During that week the temperature didn’t seem to vary by more than one or two degrees. Day, night, sunny or cloudy it hovered right at 32 degrees with little or no variation. That was a phenomenon that this Florida boy wasn’t familiar with!
My favorite memory from that visit was when we went to a local festival. The five kids (Scott, Kyle, Kimberly, Ben and Sarah) went into a “House of Mirrors” . After about 20 minutes it became obvious that the kids couldn’t find their way out. A couple of us responsible adults went in to rescue them. A little while later a couple of more responsible adults went in to rescue both the kids and the first search party. Thankfully we all got out and created a nice memory along the way.
Getting back to the present trip…we arrived in Hamburg around 5:00PM and the ship actually overnighted here, docked at the Altona Cruise Terminal near the famous Hamburg Fish Market. The weather when we arrived was pretty reminiscent of that from our visit many years ago. It was cold (around 52), windy and rainy. Sometimes the rain was light. At other times it was heavy and blowing sideways. We knew the forecast for the next day looked promising so we just relaxed on board.
We did wake up to cool, but sunny skies……perfect for exploring the city, and explore we did!
We took a water taxi from the cruise terminal area (2 euros each) to the Landungs-Brucken area near the city center. The city center was lively, but quiet, as the new work week began for locals, and tourists fanned out to take in the sights.
 |
| The street names are impressive! |
We enjoyed visiting St. Michaelis Church which had three huge pipe organs, the largest of which has over 7,000 pipes! I imagine any sleeping parishioners are quickly awakened when the first note is struck!
 |
| The steeple of St. Michaelis…… |
 |
| The largest of the three pipe organs |
The nearby remains of St. Nikolai church were very impressive. The church was destroyed in a huge fire in 1842. It took over twenty years to rebuild it and it became Hamburgs largest church. It was destroyed in World War II by allied bombings in 1943, although the tower and some of the outer walls remain. After the war it was decided that the church would not be rebuilt. It remains as a memorial, not to the 35,000 victims of the bombings but to the atrocities committed by Hitler and his armies.
 |
| A couple of photos of St. Nikolai Memorial |
Hamburg city center is known for its many green spaces, lakes, canals, tree lined streets, and warehouse district. The warehouse district has been recognized by UNESCO for its efforts to retain its original architectural look.
 |
| Binnenalster is the smaller of two connected lakes in the city center. |
 |
| Our lunch stop in the warehouse area. |
 |
| When in Germany do as the Germans do! |
 |
| The warehouse district (Speicherstadt) |
After seven hours, and eight miles of walking, we made our way back to the Norwegian Star. Although there were a lot of days between our first visit and this one, we have nothing but great impressions of this vibrant city. I am hoping it won’t take so long before we visit it again!
