Day 8--Hamburg and Lubeck

After our tour yesterday, we had some time before lugging the suitcases to the main train station and finding our cabin in a sleeper car.  We were pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness and comfort of the tiny compartment.  There was a lot of giggling as we searched for light switches hidden around the walls. We were riding first class with our own full bathroom with shower, though it was the size of a broom cl

oset.  Our porter brought us some first class treats, and we were very happy. The 10 hour train ride was probably as pleasant as possible, and I slept very well, considering we were on a train.



City Hall



We arrived in Hamburg and would have gone straight into town, except I accidently got stuck on the train as it pulled out of the station. As I banged on the door, hoping it would open, I was a little worried that I was on my way to Berlin, but Cheryl calmly made her way to the tourist information center to wait for my return. The conductors took pity on me and let me off 1 minute later, and I stole a ride on a returning train, so all was well. 

We walked into downtown Hamburg, which boasts several spires on its horizon. This is Germany´s second biggest city, and we certainly noted a more businesslike attitude, plus much less beer on the streets.  Many of the sites we saw had been damaged in the war, especially in the firestorm that swept through the city after an allied bombing attack in 1943. It is very hard to recognize what is original and what has been restored, and of course we´d like to appreciate the original parts.





a very elaborate pulpit in Hamburg´s St. Michael´s



We saw the neo-gothic Rathaus, the City Hall that is also the home of the local state parliament. We walked through the very impressive St. Michael´s Lutheran Church, with white walls decorated with golden roccocco shapes. It is the city´s landmark church, rebuilt after a fire in 1906 then again after the bombing. 



St. Nicholas Memorial



St Nicholas´s church was not rebuilt after the bombing, but left as a memorial to that event and the persecution of the people in the region bz the Nazs.  The WWII memorials here walk an interesting rhetorical line between commemorating German loses and Nazi involvement.  Sometimes they just ignore it. For example, yesterday I asked our guide at Neuschwanstein to tell me about the Nazi occupation of the castle during WWII.  She dismissed it altogether, although things I have read explain that the Nazi´s used this secluded location to store their horde of stolen art. 

Also, there were few if any other American tourists here. It turns out it is not a very easy city to navigate for English-speakers, unlike Munich where half the population in the historic section were either American or Chinese.



We walked to the harbor and waited for an English language boat tour, hoping to hear more history of the city. Instead the tour showed us a metal mangrove forrest of container cranes that run the modern harbor, one of the largest in Europe.  I think I saw thousands of those 20 foot containers.  We hope tomorrow´s boat tour here in Lubeck is more medieval in focus.

Arriving at Lubeck after a 1 hour train ride was a big shift from the busy, cosmopolitan Hamburg.  Here people live in houses dating from the 1200s.  We rested up in our cozy, brightly painted room before venturing out into the narrow streets. Some of the houses are even built into fourteenth century city wall towers.  It is very lovely, except I see a good bit of graffitti marring the streets. 



We walked into the peaceful Lutheran Cathedral, which is whitewashed inside with a few ornate chapels and tombs. It too was damaged in WWII, but really I think most big structures around here were.

I find Lubeck to be much more my speed, and I am looking forward to exploring it tomorrow, once my feet have had a rest from today! We had a lovely alfresco dinner full of herbs--this is potatoes with goat cheese and honey and a salad with a strawberry syrup-basalmic vinegrette (I want to recreate that at home). 

I said Tchuß yesterday, but I learned that it is really a northern Germany expression, so Tschuß!



(Sorry girls, no animals today in the city! You would have liked sleeping in the train, though.)