Hamburg

Hamburg is a huge and bustling modern city on the northern coast of Germany. It is Germany's largest sea port and has been a center of ocean commerce as well as naval activity for centuries. A great many old buildings in Hamburg were built with brick because bricks were a common material used for ballast in ships, so they were always handy.

A number of the major landmark buildings in Hamburg had lovely green roofs, which were actually clad in copper which turns green when it oxidizes. You'll see several such building below. I thought it made a quite lovely effect.

Hamburg is a quite cosmopolitan town, so to speak. In addition to the many landmarks seen below, it also has a museum deveoted to erotic art, and a very famous "red light district", St. Pauli. This is so well known that tour buses even drive along it at night, including ours. The girls working the street aren't too keen on this though because they naturally aren't too keen on being photographed, especially since (as our guide explained) many of them only do this for a few years to earn money before going on to other jobs, and they don't want evidence of their former life haunting them down the road. But, in any case, the next time you think about getting a "St. Pauli Girl" beer, you'll know what the name means! Regrettably we didn't have much time to get out and shop, as it were.

One quite nice event we attended here but which I don't have any photos of was an evening concert in the central park, called "Planten und Blomen" which is Platt Deutsch (low German) for "Plants and Flowers" (in Hoch Deutsch, or High German -- the formal language you learn in school -- this would be written "Pflanzen und Blumen") There are huge colorfully lit fountains in the center of the park which are made to sway and move in tune with classical music played through loudspeakers. A very nice way to spend an evening, and all free to the public.

long view over the harbor	Hamburg is a sea city	Hamburg Rathaus (City Hall)	Hamburg Rathaus
detail of corner (love those Eagles!)	WW1 Memorial	Rathaus Clock Tower	Rathaus (street side)
St. Petri church	Otto von Bismarck	Bismarck Base Statue	Bismarck Monument Plaque
Bismarck Monument Graffiti	St. Michael's Church Clock Tower	Martin Luther	St. Michael's entrance
St. Michael's pulpit	St. Michael's Altar	Ernst Georg Sonnin	Balcony
Balcony Organ	Main Organ	View from Bell Tower	Shipyard
Tower view	St. Nikolai Ruin	Stained Glass no more	Ruin Tower
old style house	cozy or cramped	Hamburg license plate	me & Mom
Max	Smart Car