Hamburg 2016 - Part 1

Flying To Hamburg

Friday - August 12th 2015

My wife Claudia and I wanted to visit Hamburg for quite some time now, and thanks to an official holiday we had a long weekend coming up, which we used for the short trip to Germany. So Friday after work we headed to the airport and flew with easyjet to Hamburg, where we arrived in the late afternoon. From the airport it was only a short train ride into the city, and soon we checked in into our hotel. We stayed at the Motel One Hamburg am Michel, which was conviniently located in the inner city near the harbour. Our room was nice and clean, like we expected it to be, since we had used that hotel chain many times before. Once we dropped off our luggage, we ordered some welcome drinks at the hotel bar, and later we were on our way to have dinner at Loving Hut. Unfortunately they were closed, and so we ended up at a spätzle restaurant called Zum Spätzle, which offered vegan options. Claudia got vegan cheese spätzle and I had spätzle with lentils. The food was good, but a little bit on the heavy side for dinner. Afterwards we walked to the Landungsbrücken at the river Elbe, but since it started to rain, we returned to the hotel.

Motel One Hamburg am Michel

Our Room

Our Bathroom

Area near our Hotel

Area near our Hotel

Dinner

Landungsrücken

Hamburg 2016 - Part 2

Harbour Tour

Saturday - August 13th 2016

Today was our first full day in Hamburg and so we wanted to make full use of it, which meant we had to get up early. Since we didn't book the breakfast option, it was just not worth the price for us, we got coffee at a nearby bakery. Then we walked to the Landungsbrücken for a harbour tour. Most tours didn't start before ten o'clock, but we found one that left earlier. We chose Kapitän Prüsse for our tour and after we purchased our tickets, we still had some time to kill until departure. So we took a nice walk along the river and finally it was time for our tour. The harbour tour lasted for one and a half hour and took us from the Landungsbrücken to the UNESCO World Heritage Site Speicherstadt and from there to the cruise and container terminals. Not only did the tour guide provide many interesting facts, we also got to see many interesting areas, where we usually wouldn't go.

Landungsbrücken

Landungsbrücken

The Boat for our Tour

Elbphilharmonie

Boat Tour

Speicherstadt

Speicherstadt

Boat Tour

Elbphilharmonie

Boat Tour

Boat Tour

Boat Tour

After the harbour tour we had to ckeck out the so called Elbtunnel, that's a 100 year old tunnel beneath the river that connects both sides. Later we got some beers at the Hard Rock Cafe and then it was time for lunch at Peter Pane Burger Grill. There we got really good veggie burgers with fries and some delicious desserts. Afterwards we walked to the famous red light district named Reeperbahn. There wasn't anything special to do and so we got a drink at a nice outdoor bar. Unfortunately the weather started to get worse and so after visiting the Michel Church, we bought some stuff at the supermarket and headed back to the hotel, where we had some snacks while watching The Nanny on the Disney Channel.

Elbtunnel

Elbtunnel

Elbtunnel

Elbtunnel

Hard Rock Cafe Hamburg

Hard Rock Cafe Hamburg

Hard Rock Cafe Hamburg

Hard Rock Cafe Hamburg

Veggie Burger

Chocolate Cake

Apple Sauce with Dough Sticks

FC St. Pauli Stadium

Reeperbahn

Police Station at the Reeperbahn

Outdoor Bar

Bismarck Monument

Michel Church

Michel Church

Hamburg 2016 - Part 3

The Lion King Musical

Sunday - August 14th 2016

The highlight of this short trip was upon us, because today we were going to see the world famous Lion King Musical from Disney, but not before we got to visit another highlight. We got up early again and had breakfst at Starbucks. Afterwards it was time for the Miniatur Wunderland, the world's largest model railway, located in the Speicherstadt. We had tickets for the early bird entry between eight and nine o'clock. The model railway was really impressive and we loved the attention to detail. We could have spent hours there, but the crowds got larger and so after two hours we left and had a relaxing beer at the restaurant.

Michel Church

Hamburg

Hamburg

Breakfast at Starbucks

Hamburg

Speicherstadt

Miniatur Wunderland

Miniatur Wunderland

Miniatur Wunderland

Miniatur Wunderland

Miniatur Wunderland

Miniatur Wunderland

Miniatur Wunderland

Afterwards we walked to the City Hall and around noon we had lunch at Vapiano, an Italian quick service restaurant, where we ordered pasta and pizza. A delicious lunch later, we took the subway to the Landungsbrücken from where the ferry for the Lion King Theatre departed. We caught the first boat and soon we were on the other side. Since we had plenty of time until the musical started, we had some drinks at the bar. Finally the musical started and despite being in German, we loved every minute. The musical runs since 2001 in the harbour of Hamburg with eight showings per week and it's baiscally sold out every day. All I can say, it was amazing, truly fantastic. The cast was great, the music was so beautiful and it transported my wife and me back to our childhood. Lion King was the movie I have seen the most in all my life and the musical brought back all the emotions from back then. Maybe it was the best musical I've ever seen. However, we have seen some musicals, like Mary Poppins, in Vienna and there the atmosphere was better. There's just a difference, if you see a musical in a two hundred year old theatre with nicely dressed people or in a modern one. Nonetheless the musical was fantastic and we can't wait to see it again. After the theatre emptied, we stayed longer and enjoyed another drink at the bar before catching the ferry back. Back at the Landungsbrücken we spent more time at the Hard Rock Cafe before having dinner at Peter Pane again. Since we were getting tired, we walked back to the hotel and called it a day.

City Hall

Hamburg

Lunch at Vapiano

Lunch at Vapiano

Ferry to the Theatre

On the Way to the Theatre

The Lion King Theatre

The Lion King Theatre

Inside the Theatre

And back to the Landungsbrücken

Hamburg Harbour

Returning Home

Monday - August 15th 2016

After we got up, we packed our stuff and took the metro to the airport. There we had a late breakfast at Starbucks and then it was time for departure. Unfortunately our plane was late and so our take off was delayed. An hour later we were finally on our way back home. We landed in Salzburg in the early afternoon and since it was a holiday, we decided to get drinks at the Stiegl Terminal at the airport.