Hamburg

Ok, I'm totally falling behind on this, but still trying.  There's still plenty to write about right now.  So, here we go.  Last weekend, I went to Hamburg, which is the second biggest city in Germany after Berlin.  It's in Northern Germany on the Elbe River.  I just have to say that Hamburg is an awesome place!  I loved it.  And the weather was awesome for October, which made it even better.


What's really cool is that Hamburg is the water.  It's a huge port city so it's got a great harbor area, a lot of canals running through the city and a huge lake right in the city center that they run tours on because there is so much to see around the waterways.


Fun Facts: Hamburg has 1.8 million people living there but it definitely doesn't feel like it.  It got its current name from a castle nearby that Charlemagne had built.  The city has been destroyed by fire or invaded a lot of times in it's history.


What's the first thing I see when I get to Hamburg? A protest! For or against Scientology? I'm not sure...here's where speaking German would really help. But I didn't see Tom Cruise anywhere so I'm going with anti-Scientology.

That protest definitely didn't stop me.  Hamburg is a really beautiful city and I definitely could have stayed there another day or three.  I definitely recommend it as a must visit for anyone passing through Germany. 


I didn't really make any sort of plan for Hamburg, so I just decided to wonder around and discover the city Monica-style.  Monica-style travelling, for those of you wondering, is where you are someplace new and aren't sure where to go first, so you find a cool looking building and start walking in that direction, discover new and awesome sights along the way.  I have to admit, this is a great way to travel.


I saw a couple of beautiful churches, took a tour on the Alster lakes wondered through the city center, saw city hall and the harbor area. 


Side note: There are tons of very old, very gorgeous churches in the city, and their steeples are the most prominent things in the skyline, at least in my opinion.

Another side note:  The city hall in Hamburg is awesome.  So cool looking and definitely worth a visit inside.  They are very proud to tell you that it has six more rooms than Buckingham Palace.

 

City Hall...no matter what I did or where I stood, I couldn't get the whole building in frame.

 

Seriously, I tried really hard.

 

Inside city hall

 

Cool fountain in the courtyard

 

Hillbilly Handfishing anyone? That is the name of that show, right?

Even the train station is pretty.

Really cool looking random building.

The inside of St. Nikolai's Church.  It was completely destroyed in WW2.  They decided not to rebuild it, so now it stands as a memorial to those who died.

My attempt at an artistic photo.

A statue within the memorial.

 

How did I end my day?  Running into another protest!

 

 

And no, to those who would ask, I did not eat a Hamburger in Hamburg.