Sunday, March 28, 2010

Hamburglar

Oh my -- almost 2 months without a blog post! I know I promised one on my trip to Hamburg, but I've been busy! Anyways, here's what I did in Hamburg back in February. In case you're wondering, no, the Hamburger does not come from Hamburg.

Our first stop was a soccer game for the beloved St. Pauli team. They are famous for their left-wing politics and their skull and crossbones logo. Here's a view inside the stadium:
Here is a view of Hamburg's impressive city hall:
Close by in the city center there is a promenade with a lot of shops. It's quite pretty, even in winter!

Hamburg is a very famous port city, and no trip to Hamburg is complete without a tour of the harbor. Here's a view of the shoreline from our boat:
The port is a center of import/export, and there are humongous containers and cranes all over the place.
Nearby the harbor is the Speicherstadt, or warehouse district, where many goods from afar, such as spices from the East, were stored. The Speicherstadt is characterized by a very impressive red brick style architecture, with narrow canals in between the buildings.
Hamburg is perhaps most famous for the Reeperbahn: the "sinful mile" which contains a myriad of bars, strip clubs, sex shops, and ladies of the night. It's also where the Beatles got their start as a band. It used to be known for being a rough part of town, but nowadays it's fairly tame and touristy. Lots of neon lights!
I just love the sign for this public toilet:
The Beatles' Hamburg days are memorialized by some little statues on the Reeperbahn:Hamburg is home to one of Germany's most beautiful Protestant churches -- the Michaeliskirche:On the way to and from Hamburg, we saw some pretty funny license plates. The first two or three letters of German plates denote the city. I'll let these pictures speak for themselves:

1 comment:

  1. Haha, somehow I missed that second license plate... I remember the dork one though. Nice pics!!

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