10 & 11 July 2014 Brno – Hamburg

26C Warm

Thursday 10th July is a travel day and we left Brno on the 9.30am train arriving in Hamburg at 7.45pm.

The journey was comfortable but very long. We arrived in Hamburg and took the S Bahn to our apartment and found we were in a lovely area with lots of restaurants - mainly Spanish and Portugese.

For dinner, we settled on a Spanish restaurant with tapas for dinner and fortunately, one of the waiters spoke English and suggested some interesting dishes. Very enjoyable, but the (garlic) taste remained for 24 hours....

We have a beautiful apartment in a modern building and it's very comfortable. I managed to break the security safe in the room within an hour! Not to worry though, I think the place is safe enough.

This morning (Friday - 11th July) we slept in until 8 a.m., then set off for a walk. The wharves are close by and first, we visited one of the city the information centres which was not that much help. Most tours are in German, so we grabbed a map and headed along the river to the Fischmarkt and our first cup of coffee in Hamburg. Verdict? Pretty much the same as anywhere else in Germany or central Europe....

Next we headed into St Pauli and the Reeperbahn which is the Kings Cross of Hamburg (not very exciting) then for the gardens (outstanding) that follow the course of the old city walls. These are extensive and very pretty, and we spent some hours wandering through them, passing by the Communications Tower which is near the City exhibition halls. These are huge seem to extend for ever. Eventually at the end of the halls, we reached the tower hoping to go to the top for the view only to find it is closed to public access.

We continued to walk through the gardens that form a semi-circle around the city to the Binnenalster which is a small lake that connects many canals and the Alster River to the Elbe River. Suprisingly, we 'found' ourselves in the centre of the city's major shopping and arcade area.

Hamburg has some very modern buildings and large shopping centres, it is a modern city with canals intersecting the centre.

After a short break back at the apartment for lunch, we visited St Michael's church about 200m from the apartment. It is large and has baroque features. We wandered back into town and discovered that Hamburg is hosting an international triathlon over the next 2 days. It’s a huge event with lots of tents and displays ready for the crowds.

Quiet night tonight - dinner in and early to bed.