Travel (II) - Europe 2 - Hamburg, Germany

Click here to view some pictures in Hamburg 



Before the train from Copenhagen could reach German territory, we had to cross Baltic Sea.  The train in fact boarded a gigantic ferry, which took 45 minutes to reach the other side.  We were quite excited about this unexpected chance of breathing some fresh ocean air and viewing sunset.  The whole transportation lasted 4.5 hours.  We arrived at Hamburg Central Station at around 10:15pm.

The taxi from the station to our hotel, in St. Pauli, was only a little longer than 10 minutes.  But that's enough to tell that Hamburg is remarkably different from Copenhagen.  Now after a 2-day stay in Hamburg/Lubeck, I can say so with more confidence.

While Copenhagen is still a somewhat old-style European city, Hamburg is a modern industrialized city despite there are traditional European style buildings here and there.  In fact, I personally favor the architecture in Hamburg as it demonstrates grandeur besides elegance.  Copenhagen streets give me the feeling of dusty and lack of maintenance/management, on the contrary, Hamburg seems bright, clean, and orderly.  Although I am not completely sure, I did sense that people in Copenhagen are more laid back while people in Hamburg are more disciplined.  In both cities, people are very nice.  In both cities, we have not encountered any check point or check person to impose the ticket rule - cannot imagine that would work in China or even in Manhattan.  Price on everything is noticeably lower than in Copenhagen.  Not sure if it's because of higher productivity and better efficiency in Hamburg - that is my guess at least.  In general I like Hamburg better, I'd say.  And the cute little town Lubeck, 45 minutes train ride northern to Hamburg, is so full of beautiful Gothic architecture (12-16th century) that I would recommend it to anybody.  If anything that's not quite convenient, one is that Germany seems much less English language friendly, from road signs to service industry; and second is that most public toilets charge a fee of 50-60 cents - it's not a big amount but especially when the machine only takes exact change it's quite inconvenient.

Early morning,  day one in Hamburg.  Our original plan of visiting local fish market did not work because that only opens on Sunday, 5-10am.  P and I then headed to the famous port for a boat tour.  It was a bright and sunny day, quite warm.  We spent some time figuring out the subway system, had some laughter on us not knowing the language,  and finally purchased a Hamburg card (this is recommended to anybody : it covers all public transportations and numerous discounts on tours, museum visits, restaurants, shopping etc).  

The boat tour was a wonderful idea despite our mistake of forgetting to ask if there is English guide (yes it feels quite silly that the guide only speaks German but we had fun and figured many things out regardless).  Hamburg is one of the largest ports in the world.  Its commercial boom was to a large extent fueled by new international trade relations since 17th century, which essentially relied on shipbuilding technology and port operation.  The port and shipping scene was very impressive.  We saw huge array of cranes, countless containers, gigantic shipping boats, repair docks,  floating platforms, and so on.  The energy and powerful capacity there was exciting to me.  Then the boat turned into narrow canals to the traditional warehouse district, where goods from all around the world were stored.  Right next to it locates Hafen City, the city of future.  The landmark there is the near-finished Philarmonic Hall.  When we took a leisure stroll there later of the day, the introduction info shows the structure of the inside. Not to mention all the advanced technologies, the central stage has a unique design with viewing balconies all around it at various well-coordinated levels.  Totally impressive.  It's designed by a Chinese architect.

Hamburg's skyline is typified by the steeples of its main churches.  Less than 2 km away from the port stands this Hanseatic city's landmark, St. Michaelis Church, or the "Michael" as locals call it.  It was built from 1751-62 and is the most significant Baroque church in North Germany.  The ground floor hosts a spacious hall.  In the basement there is a crypt with beautiful pillar structure, where the historical documents of the church as well as the city were discovered and are displayed.  I was surprised to find that Johan Sebastian Bach's grave is right there in the middle, together with a display of his prosperous family tree.  I remembering that he was the most productive musician in history, not only wrote thousands pieces of music, but also fathered 20 plus sons which is certainly indicated in the family tree.  I was grateful that the janitor in the crypt, an old gentleman, was extremely nice to volunteer to show me around and introduce a lot of history and information with his limited English.

Taking a lift to the top of the church, one can enjoy a panoramic view of the city of Hamburg.  What we encountered in the boat tour was once again viewed from a different perspective  With the height of the standpoint, the picture is more complete consisting of the orderly array of long arms of the cranes, giant ships, golden sunshine, blue sky decorated with random silky clouds.  It's production.  It's energy.  It's power.  I could not help recalling the positive and heroic creative and conquering power that Ayn Rand attributed to human being.  Breathing the cold air at such a height, thinking of such grandeur, what a wonderful and hopeful feeling!

From the Michael to the city center is another 1 km walk.  I was filled with exclamation and joy standing in the middle of Hamburg's main square, surrounded by the richly decorated grand Rathaus (town hall) and other amazing architecture.  Alster Arkaden street, right next to the town hall and adjacent to the canal, is one of the most picturesque places for one's retail therapy.  The historic arcades were inspired by Venetian architecture.  White in color, it's most elegant.  Wish I could sit down at a table under the arcades and sip a nice cup of aromatic tea...

We then took a bus back to warehouse district and Hafen city, getting a chance to see more of the city.  I could not hide my like of the city - what a pleasant surprise as I did not expect German cities would be a valuable tourist destination!

I wish the story in Hamburg had ended here.  However, for the completeness purpose, I have to add that the evening visit to the Reeperbahn, Hamburg's red light district and legendary entertainment center, is quite a disappointment.  It's cheesy.