Hamburg sightseeing in drizzle with steely gray skies
I spent four-and-a-half days in Hamburg. It rained most of the time. Plus, I was attending a conference.
The sun only appeared for about six hours. Otherwise, the sky has been a steady steel gray. Every so often, the rain would spit a bit. But, for the most part, this was not what one calls ideal sightseeing weather. It was chilly (between 55 and 65 degrees) and damp.
The other factor that set my tourism parameters was a conference I was attending for three days. That meant that I really only had one-and-a-half days to pack in as much of Hamburg as I could.
Next factor: I arrived on a Sunday morning and had Monday for sightseeing, as well. Note: Almost all museums are closed on Mondays, so that required another reorganization of what to see when.
Hamburg is one of the world’s most important ports.
The city grew on both sides of the Elbe River, 60 miles from the North Sea, but well-suited for distribution to Europe.
This city was once at the center of the Hanseatic League, one of the largest and richest trading organizations that controlled trade around the Baltic and North Seas and throughout Scandinavia and the Germanic countries. The trading consortium worked with military efficiency and cemented Hamburg's position of one of the primary harbors of Europe.
After a short nap, I headed out to discover Hamburg. Museums, indoor and warm, were number one on my list.
Hamburger Kunsthalle (www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de)
First stop was the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the main museum in the city. Unfortunately, it was under reconstruction. This had a good side and a bad side.
The bad about the reconstruction was that the entire collection was not available for viewing. On the other hand, the good seemed enormous — the major masterpieces from the museum collection had been moved to a structure where they were displayed together, not surrounded with hundreds of other period pieces of lesser stature. So, in an hour one could see masterworks by Klee, Ernst, Legers, Braque, Picasso, Manet, Renior, Cranach, Degas, and others. It is actually a bit overwhelming to be presented with so many masterpieces, one after another.
Two floors in the temporary building hosted temporary exhibitions. The first presented works by Franz Ludwig Catel, a German painter who moved to Rome and produced thousands of works featuring Italians at play and work throughout the country. Perhaps his best-known works dealt with southern Italy and focused on the area around Naples, Pozzuoli, and the Amalfi coast.
The other exhibition was about the works of Emil Nolde, another German painter who lived in the area of Hamburg and Berlin at the turn of the century. He was considered a disruptive artist during the Nazi days and his works were either destroyed or removed to storage or sold by the state museums. This show is the largest collection of his works ever presented in his home region.
Outside it was still drizzling.
Hamburger Stadtrundfahrt
Next, while passing the main train station, I noticed that tour buses were departing regularly for jaunts around the city. I took the 90-minute Hamburger Stadtrundfahrt that promised all the highlights and kept me dry.
On a rainy day, these tour buses seemed like a godsend. I paid my tour cost and boarded the double-decker bus.
We circled the Alster, a spur of the Elbe that forms what amounts to a lake in the center of the city. This water feature, filled with sailboats in the summer but a misty gray during this stay, is surrounded by some of the most expensive real estate in the city. The stately villas encircling the Alster hark back to the days of Hamburg’s richest history.
Other random facts relayed by the tour guides:
• Hamburg has more bridges than Venice, London and Amsterdam combined
• It is Germany’s second-largest city
• The Rathaus (City Hall) has 647 rooms, more than Buckingham Palace
• The city has the largest Japanese garden in Europe
• It is the site of the world’s largest model train system
After the bus tour, I dashed into the closest museum through a steady and cold rain.
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (Museum of Arts and Crafts)
This is a museum of fine, applied and decorative arts. This was a true surprise. The museum is not only an art museum, but also encompasses collections of Art Nouveau, porcelains, Japanese art, furniture, musical instruments, oriental tapestries and rugs, together with a wonderful amount of modern Germany art. Eclectic would be the word and for a museum goer, a surprising joy.
Upon leaving the Arts and Crafts Museum, I proceeded to get totally lost. The rain didn’t help and streets that rarely continued more than a couple of blocks added to the confusion, plus, the darkness was settling over Hamburg. I only mention this because the maps provided by the city for tourists are not particularly helpful when trying to navigate through the labyrinthine streets and canals. I’d suggest that visitors search for a more detailed map of the central city or purchase one at a local bookstore.
Finally, close to my hotel, I found the Hamburger Fischerstuben (Colonnaden 49, tel. 35716380) that turned out to be wonderful for dinner. The restaurant is divided into several small rooms, and in the room where I was dining there were about a dozen locals and no tourists. Eventually, after I ordered in poor German, the man at the next table asked me, “Where are you from?”
I answered, “Washington, DC, I am an American.”
He complimented me on my German. I explained that I had lived in Heidelberg and Stuttgart for several years and now worked with Congress. I added that it has been years since I had an opportunity to practice my German.
And at that, the conversations began with questions about what I thought of Donald Trump, Obama, Bush, the Middle-Eastern refugee crisis, Putin, Merkel, university education and more. I fired back with my questions. Eventually everyone in the small dining room was involved exchanging opinions. All were not particularly happy with the state of the world, and few spent time defending any particular world leader.
What I found amazing was the openness of the people whom I had expected to be far more circumspect. Europeans, even Germans, are open to insightful conversations and the spirited exchange of ideas. And, they automatically seem to treat ideas presented by visitors who speak their language as more legitimate.
At night, outside of the nightlife district, Hamburg is quiet, very quiet. I enjoyed my short walk from the restaurant to the Scandic Hamburg Emporio Hotel, next to the Laeiszhalle concert hall and only steps from the Gänsemarkt U-Bahn station.
I would be remiss if I didn’t rave about this hotel. It is one of the best hotels in which I have had an opportunity to stay. Service is excellent, rooms spotless and clean, the restaurant at lunch and dinner is very affordable, breakfast provides almost everything anyone can desire, and the location is less than a 15-minute walk from the center of town and the conference center. Plus, when the weather cooperates, visitors can sign out free bicycles to explore the city.
The next morning was again steel gray, but the rain had subsided and only a mist hung in the Hamburg air.
I didn’t manage to get out of my room until around 9:30 a.m. and headed down to the hotel breakfast. Jetlag had something to do with it. As I said, it was magnificent. Then, of course, there was time spent catching up on email. At 11 a.m. I headed out for business meetings and a lunch.
Lunch was right on the waters of the Alster at Restaurant Portonovo (Alsterufer 2, tel. 41 35 66 16). The location of this restaurant is fabulous, almost floating on the Alster. Boats were floating by and rowers glided across the water. Plus, the Italian meal was excellent and very affordable. Come for lunch when every entrée was priced less than Euros 20.
Hamburg harbor cruise
After lunch, it was time to take the Hamburg harbor cruise. My cruise was with the Maritime Circle Line. The entire cruise lasts 90 minutes and takes landlubbers into the nooks and crannies of this massive harbor. I can’t say that I recommend it highly; however, it does present a picture of this city that is so dependent on the sea in terms of economy and history. I decided to hop off the boat when it passed the Maritime Museum. By then the sun had finally appeared and I didn’t feel the great need to see more container ships and pass by the same shoreline again.
The Maritime Museum (http://www.imm-hamburg.de, Koreastr. 1, tel. 40 300 92 30-0)
This is heaven for anyone who loves ships. There are ship models, thousands of them. There are engines. Visitors will find costumes and weapons, maps and paintings, posters and uniforms. All are laid out in nine floors.
The slow half-hour walk back to the hotel provided an opportunity to browse through stores, drink a coffee and enjoy a quick plate of pasta. The pasta place was discovered in a food court across from the Rathaus -- pasta bolognaise cost Euros 4.50 and a glass of wine set me back Euros 3.50. I left satisfied and full.
The rest of my stay in Hamburg was relegated to the conference center. I walked through the Japanese gardens every morning on my way to the meetings and in the evenings there were receptions on the museum ship Cap San Diego and at Miniatur Wunderland.
Hamburg Tourism
For more information, go to Hamburg Tourism. A quick look at the city website provides the assurance that there is far more to this city than what I experienced in a couple of days. Plus, I would recommend getting the Hamburg Card. It makes discounts easy and provides unlimited U-Bahn and S-Bahn travel.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has worked in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
Hamburg is a must-do. If I ever do Germany again, I'll be there.