Photo Pest: Hamburg

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Hamburg/Lubeck

Allergies prevented Florian from sleeping very well. But it didn't matter, because Uwe told us we would enjoy the Fischmarkt more if we got there before 6 a.m.

It wasn't bicycle riding weather.

Just as Uwe predicted, the place was jumping with locals and tourists who either shopped, ate, danced or just drank more beer.

Vendors also auctioned flowers and sold live poultry.

We bought a discounted fruit basket for 9 euros. It lasted most of our road trip.

Hamburg hopes a new opera house, which overlooks the Elbe, will put it on Germany's cultural map instead of Broadway productions like The Lion King, Rocky and The Phantom of the Opera. They currently draw tourists from all over Germany. Along with the Reeperbahn, of course.

Hamburg's Rathaus (or City Hall), built in the late 1800s but not destroyed in World War II, is bigger than most because it's home to the state's parliament, too.

So many beautiful architectural details, inside and out.

Have you ever seen a statue licking batter from a spoon?

Florian got acquainted with this satyr before we hit the road to Lubeck, another significant port city, about an hour's drive away.

Brick Gothic architecture, much of it destroyed by Royal Air Force bombing during World War II, put Lubeck on the tourist map.

You can enter the mostly restored city near the Holsten Gate.

Another impressive Rathaus overlooks the town square.

The city's other charms include two marzipan shops

. . . toy shopping

. . . a children's museum

. . . and a home where the family of Thomas Mann once lived. It's the white building.

I don't recommend the tour. Not much to see unless you enjoy reading lengthy literary captions.

We bought some brotchen for a picnic lunch using the oily but delicious butter fish that Florian purchased in Hamburg.

By the time we got to Schwerin, the capital of Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, I was almost too exhausted to take a picture of the magnificent schloss (castle) that now serves as the seat of the state's government.

More Germany With Florian

The Jewish Cemetery Weissensee

Berlin’s Oldest Jewish Cemetery

Morning Walk, Central Berlin

DDR Museum

East Side Gallery

Marlene Dietrich’s Final Resting Place

Last Night on the Town

No Photos of Nefertiti Allowed

Auf Wiedersehen

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Hamburg

An invitation from Florian to visit and the strength of the dollar lured me to Germany this spring.

Florian picked me up at Tegel airport where we rented a VW Polo. Over the next 10 days, we put more than 3,000 kilometers on it.

Florian is a superb driver but he argues a lot with the GPS lady. When he let me take the wheel on the autobahn, I had the thrill of driving without a speed limit for the first time.

It took less than three hours to get to Hamburg. It's an independent state in Germany. I used to collect the German state flags when I lived in Heidelberg as a child.

We headed straight for the harbor and walked under the Elbe to the other side. The Elbe tunnel was the first to cross a river.

Tourists love to leave behind their locks.

Hamburg isn't the prettiest city, but it's one of the richest in Germany.

If you own a Mercedes or a BMW, chances are it shipped from this port. The city fathers have made their money taxing exports and imports for centuries.

We saw the sights from a commuter ferry.

Few of the buildings in Hamburg are taller than St. Michael's Church. Unlike most of the Lutheran churches in the city, it was built as a Protestant house of worship after the Reformation.

A monument nearby memorializes Bismarck. Germany's graffiti generation isn't particularly respectful of the country's complicated past.

Uwe, Florian's first boyfriend and our host in Hamburg, took us to 20 Up, a crowded bar at the top of a hotel. It had a strict dress code (no athletic shoes), spectacular views and overpriced drinks.

No visit to Hamburg is complete without a stroll through the Reeperbahn but you're not allowed to photograph what makes it so famous.

The prostitutes who worked this corner screamed at me from across the street to put away my camera. Uwe said their pimps would do more than that if they caught me.