Hamburg

Today, we are on our way to Hamburg.  We take the ICE train from Berlin and arrive in Hamburg 2 hours later.  The train went 228km/h.  When we arrived in hamburg, it was drizzling.  We had such good weather in Dresden, I was hoping for it to continue.  We took a taxi to our hotel, the Sofitel, in downtown Hamburg.  It is a modern hotel, decorated  with modern "IKEA" type furniture.  It was not my favorite, but was nice.  Our room was small and crowded.  The service at the hotel was amazing.  People were always trying to help you.  We checked in and went out to view the sites.

 We went to the "Rathaus" (government building), to go on a tour only to discover no tours this week because Parliament was in session. It was inaugurated in 1897. It is a lovely old building with museum type art and furniture.  We were disappointed not to get to see it.  We took a couple of pictures in the lobby and then headed outside. Above the main port is written in Latin "The descendants shall aim to maintain the freedom which was achieved by the ancestors with dignity". 

Next we wondered around downtown Hamburg, a bustling city with many stores and restaurants.  It was a lot more crowded here in Hamburg then Dresden.  We went into a couple of churches that we found.  They are beautiful inside.  Many  of the churches are still for weekly services and have nightly meetings or entertainment.  One church we went in was St. Michaelis.  It was built in 1762.  Much of the church was destroyed by bombs in WWII and had to be rebuilt.  We were able to go down into the crypt and also up the 435 steps to the top lookout.  the tower is 132 meters high.  From the top we were able to see all of the surrounding areas of Hamburg. Every day at 100:00am and 9:00pm, "Turmblaster" takes place, a trompeter playing a piece of classical music which can be heard for miles around.  Hamburg is mostly flat and a lot like Berlin with it's big buildings and traffic.  We finished the day with dinner at a lovely fish restaurant called "Fischereihafe Restaurant".  We had to take a taxi there.  It was located in the Harbor area, our table overlooking the water. Back to our room, watched a movie on the TV.  We don't have TV in Berlin so it was a treat and then to bed.  It was a good day.