Hamburg. February 2018.

We visited Hamburg and Berlin over the twin’s Winter break. The kids and I took the train from Copenhagen to Hamburg Hbf (Andy was already there for work.) Interestingly, the train actually boards a ferry to cross the Baltic Sea. The train goes, via tracks, onto the ferry’s bottom deck. Passengers must exit and go up to the main deck for the forty-five minute trek across the water.

Andrew and Katherine and the Baltic Sea.

Dinner aboard the ferry. Yes, that is a whole glob of mayo. That is how they roll here.

Andy met us at the Hamburg Station.

Our German breakfasts. Andrew was in heaven. He loves his bread.

They have lots of lovely churches in Hamburg. We visited Katherine’s namesake, St. Catherine’s Church.

We also visited St. James Church and St. Peter’s Church, where the kids lit candles.

 

St. Nicholas was my favorite place in Hamburg. When it was built in 1874, it’s steeple was the highest in the world at 173 m. Most of it was destroyed during the air raids of World War II, when the Allies bombed Hamburg. The Church was turned into a Memorial to commemorate the victims of the war.

The steeple has a glass elevator that takes you up 76 feet to a outlook platform, with a panoramic view of Hamburg.

The current St. Nicholas Memorial and the original St. Nicholas Church.

Statues of Peter and Paul from the original high alter.

In the crypt is a museum. The museum has information about life and the destruction of Hamburg during the air raids of WWII. It details the physical damage the bombs had on Hamburg and discusses the life (before, during, and after the bombing) of its inhabitants, both German and Jewish. It is very interesting to see the German take on the WWII bombings by the Allies.

Lunch- the Germans love pizza and pasta. Good thing, because our kids do too.

Hamburg is a mix of old and modern.

The beautiful Hamburg City Hill (Rathaus) right by Jungfernstieg, the pretty promenade on the lake.

We shopped around in Alsterhaus, super fancy. They had an amazing gourmet food hall, filled with mouth watering food, none of which our kids would touch. They did have a large alcohol section, with an area devoted to whiskey. Good old American Jim Beam among the fancy stuff.

K modeling the cool German fashion.

And a mirror elevator selfie.

We woke up to snow one morning in Hamburg.

Exploring Speicherstad. We went to Miniature Wonderland and the Hamburg Dungeons (Andrew’s fav), which actually made us sign waivers for K and A. Hamburg Dungeons is ninety minutes of interactive scary stories of Hamburg’s past. A little scary, but the kids loved it.

Miniature Wonderland is exactly that, various scenes- Las Vegas, the Alps, Italy, Hamburg, and more, in miniature.

German Chocolate Cake, Apple Crumble Cake, hot chocolate, and really expensive water from Kaffeemuseum Burg. It is technically a coffee museum, but we don’t like it, so…

We walked by the new Elbphilarmonie in the port area.

We shopped a little while waiting for Andy to finish work and meet us at the train station. For a little snack we got- quarkbällchen (doughnuts,) franzbrötchen (streusel,) and Brezel (pretzel.)

We came across these refreshments in the train station version of a quickie mart, looking for snacks for the train ride. We passed, but were very intrigued.

KRK and AK waiting to board our train to Berlin.

I found Hamburg to be a nice city to visit. A mostly modern city, due to the damage it suffered during the war. It is not as picturesque as some of the other European cities. I did not realize Hamburg was such a large port city, with lots of canals and waterways. There is defiantly a mix of people here. I have been spoiled in Copenhagen and some other European cities, everything here is in German, even the visitor pamphlets at the hotel. Not everyone spoke English, but I did not find communication to be a problem. Having the kids with us, we are not able to do everything we may want. They can only handle so much history and can only stay out so late. It was an enjoyable trip though.

Found!! A little bit of ATL in Hamburg.

xoxo-sk