2013 Baltic Cruise
Day 2 - 8th May 2013
Hamburg
Today was going to be a full day of exploration – Hefen City
– the old part of the city with all the old warehouses and canals – or so I
thought. There were just so many Tall Ships docked along the harbour.
There were the old warehouses but also a modern city too – a
mix of the old and new. The idea was to visit the miniature world but got there
to early so headed to the other Cruise Terminal at Hefen City. The cruise ship
“The World“ was docked.
The Maritime Museum was top of the list and then The
Miniature World
A model of the Queen Mary 2 made from Lego to Sailing Ships
from the 15th – 16th Century.
Models of Passenger & Merchant Ships and an Art Gallery
of shipping and the sea.
Treasure chamber showing carved bone ships, and ships made
from Gold, Silver & Ivory.
40 000 miniature ship models
Spent all morning wondering around and would have liked to
have spent more time but had loads of other sites to investigate.
Decided to head back into town – thought of doing the hop on
off tourist bus – normally a good thing to do as it gives you an idea of what
to see in the city.
Headed towards the cathedral St Nikolai which was mostly
destroyed during the Second World War – all that remains is a few walls and the
tower.
The people of Hamburg have turned it into a memorial for the
victims of war and tyranny from 1935 – 1945 and have built a lift within that
takes you up to an observation platform 76 meters up. The view from there was
spectacular.
With 51 bells, the carillon of St Nicholas is one of the
biggest in Germany, the bells toll at 9am, 12 noon, 3pm 7 6pm.
From St Nikolai I wondered further into the city and landed
up at the Rathuus – had a rest and enjoyed some time with a few swans. Just
across the street spotted the hop on hop off bus – now what a better way to the
rest of the city than relaxing on a bus – was getting a little tired by now.
My next target was St Michel Tower.
Decided to go up the tower 1st – just as well
because I got to the top it started to rain – did what I had to do and that is
take a few pics and head on down and into the crypt.
About 2000 people are buried under the floor of the Crypt
including the builder of the church, Georg Ernst Sonnin, the composer Johann
Mattheson and the City of Hamburg music director, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.
When I left St Michel it was raining pretty hard – once it
stopped headed back to my hotel on Reeperbahn - in the heart of the Red Light District - Interesting to say the least – that was my day – rain put a stop to any
further walking tours I wanted to do.
I had noticed earlier in the day that there were a lot of
stalls and stages being erected all along the harbour – upon enquiring at my
hotel - I was told that Hamburg has a 3 day musical festival in celebration of
the birthday of the Port of Hamburg.
Was I in for a surprise or two over the next two days
