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Welcome back, to the letter H of this year's A-Z challenge!
Yesterday we got to know Geneva and a bit of Swiss culture. Today's letter H is for Hamburg, Germany.
And H is also for Hubby who was turning 50 in February.
Already his 40th we had spent in Hamburg. We had only just found out I was pregnant, and after visiting Miniaturwunderland - and being delighted about the experience - we vowed to take our baby there once he or she would be old enough.
What to give to a guy for his birthday who has everything (but time)?
A surprise weekend trip to Hamburg!
The one in Hamburg (that we learned of) is that you're allowed to ride any U-Bahn (subway), S-Bahn (city train), bus, harbor ferry, you name it, but not the "express bus" (same kind of vehicle, same route as the regular bus, except it skips a couple of stops) even though the website says it's included?! Two grumpy bus drivers insisted we have to pay extra. Still confused about that one.
We had arrived with a considerable delay, rode to the hotel, dropped the bag and made our way to Landungsbrücken at St. Pauli's Piers the largest landing place in the Port of Hamburg, where we spent the shortest 40 minutes' waiting time for a dinner table (25 minutes at the bar, not enough time to empty my glass of wine - but this was more due to the fact that my stomach was empty and I didn't want to push things).
Our server seemed to speak better English than German (can't blame him. Given the choice I'd rather speak English than high German myself) but he kept speaking German, so that's how we ordered.
Side items on the kids meal were fresh fruit, seasonable veggies, fries or mashed potatoes. Colin ordered fruit, "Obst" in German because that's our rule. Mac'n'Cheese, OK, but it needs to come with a side of healthy food.
The waiter was like "Obst today is young beans, if I were you I'd rather go for the fries." Colin liked the suggestion.
When our dinner plates arrived, hubby had a steak with green beans and mashed potatoes, and I was pretty sure our waiter had mixed up fruit and veggies. When he stopped to ask how everything tasted, I asked what the vegetables were.
Sure enough he said "orange wedges" ;-))) Which he immediately got for Colin once we were done laughing.
As for me I had some Oreo Cheesecake on an orange plate for dessert. Healthy enough, right?
The next morning we had to get up fairly early because online tickets for Miniaturwunderland are only available for early entry times. If you miss it, waiting times can be as long as 90 - 120 minutes which we experienced first-hand when we went there unprepared ten years ago. And I guess it wasn't even that popular back then!
Because we were on the road so early we couldn't even buy day passes because tourist day passes allow you to ride public transportation between 9am and 6am of the next day, and we never figured out how to purchase 24 hours' tickets.
So we walked.
The streets were practically empty, and even though Hamburg is a pretty big city being home to 1.8 million citizens, you may walk almost everywhere. From the hotel to the Miniaturwunderland it was a good half hour, a bit more because we had to stop and take pictures of course. Gorgeous!
What is this Miniaturwunderland she keeps talking about, you may wonder.
It is an enormous model railroad exhibition, sort of. It is a magic place. They recreate landscapes, cities and infrastructure in miniature size and in admirable detail. And even if you could care less about model trains, you'll still be absolutely amazed! Every couple of minutes the lights go out slowly, and it becomes night. If you happen to be "in Las Vegas" at that time, you're in for a treat!
Or in Miami Beach for that matter! Every exhibition offers a variety of interaction buttons you may press. Like to launch a spaceship from Cape Canaveral!
Eventually you've got to move on. To the Scandinavian Winder Wonderland, for example.
When we were there in 2008, they were working on the Airport Exhibition. They did such a wonderful job! Everything is so authentic, just little! Service vehicles, tarmacs, aircraft, control tower, docks, it's all there!
And they really land and depart!
We spent four hours in there! Four hours with no food or beverages as they aren't allowed on the floor, God forbid you dropped or spilled something on the railroad tracks!
The rooms were beginning to fill up, and even though people were behaving pretty decently, there were children crying, and there was some shoving and pushing in order to take pictures.
I was so glad to be out and to breathe some fresh - yet chilly - air. I told the hubby it was a bad idea to be born in February. (Said the girl whose birthday is March 2nd, practically still in February, haha.)
Exploring the city we kept walking by those love locks, typically on bridges. Love the tradition, the only place this is done in Switzerland is in Basel on the Mittleren Brücke.
Our destination was the new Opera House, called Elbphilharmony. We had seen the model at you-know-where, and it felt strange to stand in front the life-sized building, all 110m (360 feet) tallness of it! 26 storeys are not only used for concerts, but there are hotel rooms, parking and apartments, and God only knows who can afford to live there!
I focussed on the free fun around the boardwalk. A guy was blowing gigantic bubbles the kids were chasing. Loved it!
I had made dinner reservations at a posh steak house called Mash, and in order to get there we took the subway and the ferry, how cool a journey is that?
Disembark, cross the blue bridge, walk for five minutes and arrive in Altona, the fish market district!
The restaurant had come highly recommended, and while it was nice, I probably wouldn't go back. I thought the value for money wasn't too great. I did love the wine, though. Australian Cliff Edge Shyraz. Need I say more?
We did have a bit of an unfortunate Sunday that included a chipped tooth, snow flurries and slush, an incident at the bus stop, actually, make that two, a black light fun park that didn't accept credit cards and some rather rude German people, but I'll spare you.
We did spend a very nice weekend, and we'll preserve the wonderful memories.
Have you been to Hamburg or any other German city? Are you planning to? Let me know.
Thank you for hanging out with me; hope to see you back tomorrow. Check out some other H posts if you like.
Wanna know where we're going next? Yeah, me, too! Haha. I say it's time to take a break from Europe and enjoy some fun and sun in Southern California, so Irvine it is!
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