Hamburg

Let's just say that I was blown away by my visit to Hamburg! My train ride there cost me absolutely nothing because of my student ID so that was a great way to start off the trip! I also decided to take this weekend to travel by myself and discover just how independent I can be.

I left early Friday morning from Luneburg and headed north! I talked to the woman at the information desk in the train station and got my public transportation card and learned how to get to my hotel.  Once I checked into my room I realized just how lucky I got with the location and actual hotel room.  It was an amazing room and I didn't want to leave! I headed out to find the location of the docks for the canal tour I booked and found an amazing street for shopping along the way.  It had everything from Gucci to Tiffany's and I was in heaven window shopping! Once I found my way to the harbor I realized I was there quite early so I roamed around to pass the time.  In roaming around I found the St. Petri Church which had amazing stained glass and expansive copulas.

Finally it was time for the canal tour and boy did I get my money's worth! It was two hours of pure delight of experiencing some of the most expensive homes of Hamburg that are only accessible to the public by waterway.  We also got the see the lake that is home to 12 sailing clubs.  It was all so gorgeous and I can't pick just one photo to put in this blog to sum up the entire tour so you will just have to go to my photos and check them all out!

Afterwards, I headed to the Planten und Blumen (flower park) and wandered around and also got to see the tv tower.  I then stopped for lunch at a great German restaurant and had some wonderful wiener schnitzel and ice cream that came in a Donald Duck mug that I got to keep.

I topped the day off with a performance of the Lion King and it was fantastic! I had to take a ferry ride to get there and then once I was across the harbor I got to relax and take in all the sites from across the water.  I understood about 3/4 of the Lion King (it was in German) and so I was proud of myself for understanding as much as I did.

The next day I had the luxury of sleeping in and then heading out on the town for another day of great sightseeing!  I started the day off with the St. Nikolai Memorial which was a church that was bombed in WWII and left up as a memorial of the war.  It has a tower that has great observation decks so I rode the elevator up to the top for some pretty awesome photos! Next, I made my way to the Chilehaus which is a building shaped to look like the mast of a ship and it looks awesome! It is also the sharpest point in all of Europe.  (The Chilehaus is the photo below.)

After that I found the St. Jacobi Church and was blown away by how boring the church looks from the outside but how pretty it was inside.  It had a calm feeling about it and so I sat here for a good 20 minutes just taking in the beauty of the church.

Saturday was a bit of a challenge for wandering around the city because the worlds largest triathlon was being held in Hamburg that day.  This meant that a lot of the streets were blocked off for the running and biking routes.  After some trial and error I finally managed to get around the paths and find my way to the Rathaus and was amazed at the sheer size and ornateness of the government building.  Unfortunately I would have had to have waited three hours for an English speaking tour so I decided to walk around on my own for a bit and then move on.

My last stop for the day was the St. Michaelis Church which was my favorite place of the entire weekend! I could tell from the outside that the church had no stained glass and I was kind of disappointed because I am falling in love with stained glass.  However, when I got inside I was greeted by the most magnificent view that I forgave the architect for leaving out stained glass windows.  I realized that the stained glass windows would have totally ruined the inside and been a big mistake.  When you walk in you are kind of blinded at first by the sheer brightness of all the white in the church.  It feels almost heaven-like with all the bright light coming in from the windows and the white and gold leafed walls on the upper balcony.  I felt so overcome with emotion in this church and wished we had churches this beautiful in the U.S. Now, tell me that this is not the most beautiful church you have ever seen.... and the organ is amazing!

My weekend was an awesome one in Hamburg and I am really looking forward to London on Friday.  I can't wait to tell you all about London and the adventures I will have!