Wed 15.Jun.2011
Hamburg, Germany
I think I have figured out why I have posted so little from Germany in past
years. If I get a fact wrong in Croatia or Slovakia, mis-interpret something, or
just get lazy and over-simplify, very few people who read these missives are likely
to notice. If I screw up on Germany, I am almost certain to hear about it. And I spend
enough time here that better will (rightly) be expected of me.
That said, here we go.
My excellent Hamburg hosts, near the beach a few days ago.
A vast number of tour boats ply the harbor. Some are huge, sealed airtight,
with non-stop recorded commentary as you cruise. But they cannot get under the
low bridges, to reach the most interesting parts of this maze of waterways.
We hiked to the very end of the cruise pier, past the huge new cruise boats,
and took a small, low boat; open deck at the back, sliding open roof over the
main part. And no recorded yakking - live info from live humans, and only where
called for. You have a question? Ask it.
At one point, a bridge was so low that the crew asked passengers in the back to move
forward, to lower the high point of the boat a few centimeters. That isn't always
necessary - the water was rather high this day.
Many parts of the port are devoted to container shipping.
"Port of Dreams" was Ballinstadt, the 19th century port of departure
for more than five million immigrants to the Americas. I'm told that many did
not survive.
Hafen City. A huge construction project, a city-within-the-city.
There was "no money" for schools, but there was no lack of it for this.
That said, the result could have looked a lot uglier.
Some of these ships are now museums.
The Old Elbe Tunnel
On the shore, near the cruise ship landing,
the old tunnel under the Elbe is still in use, though the autobahn uses a
modern tunnel.
The old tunnel uses elevators to reach the tunnel level, and to ascend at
the other end. Pedestrians, with and without bicycles, have their own elevators.
On weekdays, elevators for autos also operate.
This page barely scatches the surface of one of the most interesting afternoons I
have had in these wanderings. Sadly, I'll have little if any chance to add to it.
I'm leaving Hamburg at an ungodly hour Friday morning. Destination: Kutna Hora,
Czech Republic. Yes, it is that time of year again, time to break out the slavic
dictionaries, re-discover how to make all those odd twiggles over the letters
of the alphabet. We are about to head for more exotic territory than any we seen
yet since arriving in Lisbon.
That said, I hope to get one more post of Hamburg
photos up first.
Contents Copyright 2012 Jeff Bulf