Snowy Hamburg

I arrived late to Hamburg Monday night after a whirlwind of buying tickets and almost missing my bus.....again. I dropped off my stuff at the hostel and went for dinner. On my way back, big white juicy snowflakes were falling from the sky. It was beautiful. In the morning there was no snow and I headed out for the free walking tour after a quick load of laundry. Thankfully I had grabbd the info on the walking tour and didn't just rely on the info the hostel gave me as she sent me to the wrong place! I eventually found Stephen, my Australian walking tour guide (who I later found out used to be a math teacher who hated his job teaching in the UK so moved to Germany to be a tour guide!). He took us around the old part of the city and we learned about the fire of 1842, where most of the city centre was destroyed.....and where did it all start, the cigar factory!  But more about that later!

Turns out there were other Canadians on my tour, I met them at lunch. One even grew up in Calgary but they both are from Vancouver now but moved to the UK for the next 2 years. But on to the tour! We started at Rathausmarkt right beside the Rathaus, or townhall. Also home to a....buh buh buh....Christmas Market! Oh how I love Germany! On the water is a memorial to those who died in WWI with a sculpture of a mother and daughter embracing. During Hitler's rein the figures were removed and replaced by an eagle showing the strength of Germany. It was later put back. Next we moved on and saw churches and shipping houses before moving on to warehouses. Because shipping containers are now used, the shipping is done closer to the docks where more room is needed. The warehouses contain museums and companies now. There are more canals in Hamburg then in Venice and Amsterdam put together. The city is built on a swamp and so buildings have been built on pillars of wood or cement and then layers of rock and cement. Many buildings are starting to tilt just a little.....not like Amsterdam. However the buildings are newer because of the fire which destroyed all the old ones and then a bombing raid gone wrong during WWII destroyed much of the city's residential housing. There was a man out walking when he caught sight of flames coming from the roof of the cigar factory, he then saw a shadowy figure running out the front door. Because he ran for help they never discovered who started the fire. Most of the buildings in Hamburg were made of wood and it didn't take long for the fire to spread. At one building they filled it with explosives and when the fire reached it, it exploded. Their hopes were to create a fire break but it didn't work and the fire continued to burn. Soon most of the centre of the city was in ruins.  The cigar factory where it all started only lost the top half, so the original bottom of the building remains. It is now a pub named Zum Brandanfang, which loosely translates to where the fire started. There is one beautiful church, St. Nikolai, which remains in ruin from the bombings during the war as a memorial to those who perished. Because of the port, Hamburg was the target of many raids. Sadly, the people began to get used to hearing the sirens at night. One night, a plane went out to throw a flare, indicating the target, which was a warehouse. The wind was strong and picked up the flare and blew it to a housing development. The enemy jets droooed the bombs where the flare indicated. Before long the city was on fire. Many people had been storing up coal for the winter and basements were full of them. The fires caught the coal and pulling cold air in underneath created a mushroom effect that lifted into the air. The fire was so hot that it burned from July to October before being completely burned out. It was so hot it melted the tar on the roads. People running from their homes were caught on burning roads. There was nowhere to escape. Many people died. Just another reminder that the German people suffered as much as any one else in the war.

After our tour, Whitney, Lisa and I, the Canadian trio headed back to get something warm to drink from the Christmas Market. We chatted and wandered the stalls before being frozen out. It was pouring rain and we were frozen. We parted ways and I stopped at the grocery store for some dinner.  After sitting in the warm kitchen with dinner in my belly and a hot dryer going I began to thaw. I made plans with the girls to meet up the next day at the Hauptbahnhof train station. I also met some folks from Greece and we enjoyed each others company during the evening. Small world: one of my new Greek friends has a family resort with the name Florida Beach.....I stayed at the same hotel when I went to Greece in high school! It was a dive back then but her family had been renting it out and have spent the last few years renovating it! So cool!

I met up with Whitney and Lisa the next morning and our first stop was the Warehouse district to check out Miniature Wonderland. An entire museum of model trains and villages. Inside there is Switzerland, an airport, Hamburg, Middle Germany, America, Austria, and Scandinavia. It was amazing! I'd heard it was really cool but I had my doubts.  I mean it's just a giant toy museum! But no! The cities are working cities with lights and cars, trains and planes. People are living their lives in these cities (at a stand still of course). It even has day time and night time. Planes took off and landed at the airport and Santa's were littered in a Where's Waldo fashion. In Switzerland, a miniature chocolate factory produced miniature Lindt chocolate bars that you could eat! Throughout there were funny little things to find. Some for adults only! Haha.....it was the coolest museum I've been to yet, and it took hours to walk through and see everything! Afterwards we started out towards Reeperbahn, the red light district.....the name fits doesn't it?!? It was nothing special, just a bunch of creepy bars with girls on their signs. We found some neat grafitti and an adults only Christmas Market open at night. We also found Beetleplatz, a square dedicated to the Beetles! Before they were famous, or even the same band (there were 5 and Ringo wasn't a member yet) they would play in the area of Hamburg for many hours every night!

We walked back along the water, discovering Neuer Wall and their beautiful Christmas lights! We said goodbye and I went in search of information for my visit to Celle the next day. After some long distance phone calls at an internet shop and some free hot chocolate (the guy wouldn't let me leave!), I headed back to the hostel. I met my Greek friends again and we chatted some more. I had a glass of red wine that I actually liked! Yep I know, I'm moving up in the world! I had to get up very early so I went to bed after that!