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Hamburg has more bridges than Venice. Crazy! It's sort of an industrial city so I planned for one night there. As soon as I got to Hamburg I headed for their city hall/ parliament called Rathaus. There are several city states in Germany and Hamburg is one of them, meaning they have a senate etc. The tour was good. First of all they let you take pictures with flash for free!! (not usual) The original building burned down in the great fire of 1842, which destroyed 1/3 of the city centre. A valuable silver piece that was heavily damaged and basically unrecognizable is displayed in a room. The new building mostly survived the war, but not without the odd bullet-hole through a chandelier (!) Also displayed is part of a bomb that landed in front of the building. It didn't go off, and so the building stands today.
At the end of the tour is a huge gallery that would be used for balls if the floor wasn't so unstable lol. It had 3 impressive chandeliers and several beautiful paintings.
Hamburg's big thing is being a port. I walked over a few of their bridges but didn't find much to do. They have a "Hamburg Dungeon" show but it was all in German. Apparently that slabs block had a violent history, so that's something.
Hamburg's cathedral, St Nicholas' church, was built after the great fire but was only around 70 years as everything but the tower and outer walls were destroyed in WWII. Now the ruins are a monument to war. The tower is still quite incredible and reminds me of the Koln Dom.
I took the metro to St Pauli, where there was a museum, which I skipped (still sick of em), and a cute park. Nearby there was a huuge statue of a guy (king maybe?) holding a sword. I don't know the significance but it was impressive.
That night I checked out the Sternschanze and Schanzenstrabe area. Tons of restaurants and pubs. It had a great vibe- it was what I was looking for from Hamburg! I ended up picking up some Thai noodles and springs rolls. Then I walked to Reeperbahn street, and I totally thought I was lost until I hit Hamburger berg, a street I recognized. (I so should have had a hamburger in Hamburg!) So reepeebahn is famous for it's bars and strip clubs. It was still daylight so I wanted to check it out. It was totally seedy lol. Basically what you'd expect.
So that was it for Hamburg. Not too touristy.
Ranelle
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