14 June
After a lateish start (had to do some
laundry and the drier wouldn't play nice) i headed into town to see
some of Hamburg's sights. Spent the morning down by the docks
(landegsbruck) checking out all the boats in the harbour (Hamburg is
a port city on the river Elbe – it's a big river) and figuring out
which of the harbour cruises i would do later.
There are some very cute water-front
properties and also some very funky “beach” areas around St Pauli
(which is like the punkish district of Hamburg and includes the
Reeperbahn red light district).
I was intrigued by a shop mentioned in
Lonely Planet called the Condomerie – in the red light district of
course. So i ventured all pure and innocent into the Reeperbahn.
Was pretty disappointing really – sure there was all the
'peaches'n'cream-esque' shops and there were a couple of theaters
tauting 'live sex shows' but on a Saturday afternoon it just didn't
look seedy at all. There were all these families strolling on by.
Weird.
The Condomerie shop was pretty cool
(didn't have the nerve to go in but had a good look at the
'thought-provoking' window display). It had some novelty
'adult-themed' souvenirs (the sort you get in the adult only section
of gift-shops) and some very wicked novelty condoms – including a
glow in the dark black ghost condom and one with little rabbits all
over it (complete with little knobs for tails and ears). Something
different to do anyway before heading over to do the tourist thing –
going on a harbour cruise.
Harbour cruise was interesting. Went
past some absolutely massive cargo ships – the containers looked
like little lego blocks stacked many high on all the ships. Pretty
hard to comprehend the shear volume of cargo around Hamburg. Makes
you think about where all our stuff comes from. Parts of the
harbourside are gorgeous with all the old warehouse houses and the
swanky mansions where all the well to do people live.
15 June
Managed to get up early (despite a crap
night's sleep due to roommates coming back at 4am from their night
out) so i could check out and head to the famed Hamburger (hee hee)
Fischmarkt (fishmarket). Was very cool – though absolutely huge.
Hawkers selling their wares loudly and people still drunk from their
night out on the Reeperbahn (apparently the thing to do in Hamburg).
A lot of the hawkers had these plastic bags they'd give people and
then fill them with a bunch of random stuff (there were sweet, vege,
butcher and fish themed stalls) for 10 Euros. But they would do it
so dramatically (with whole crowds watching them) and periodically
threw samples out at the crowd. The tourists were loving it.
Bought some cheese and some fruitsalad
and then at 9:30am it was all over – there were all these
loudspeaker announcements telling people to get moving (i think).
Amazing how things suddenly got cheaper!
After the fishmarket i went to stroll
around Hamburgs 2 lakes – Inner and Outer Alster.
Very picturesque, complete with
sailboats (there is even a sailing school for teens on the outer
Alster) and swans, oh and a fountain. Awww. Had possibly the most
expensive “latte” ever (crappy foam and weak coffee too) at the
lake-front cafe at the sailing school just so i could use the
establishment's loo. Spose you pay a surcharge for the view or
something.
After that i was off on the train to
Copehagen
