Saturday, 16 June 2018: Hamburg, Germany

After breakfast today, we sat  out on our hotel room balcony overlooking the Elbe and watched container ships go out to sea. Pilot boats guide them, then quickly wheel around and go back to port.

Dan enjoys the breeze out on our balcony overlooking the Elbe River

Then we walked down the terraces to the river and into town.  We came to the Alte Schwede, a huge rock discovered in the Elbe in 1999.

Walking along the Hans-Leip-Ufer path along the Elbe River in Hamburg

Der Alte Schwede

Somehow this huge rock managed to get all the way to Hamburg from Sweden, but nobody knows how. I envied the people swimming in the Elbe, but our friends had told us that the currents (and the ships) can be very dangerous.

Walking along the beach, we came to the Strandperle Biergarten and stopped for lunch. Matjes-Herring (white herring) is served everywhere now.  It came with potato salad, a green salad, and we ordered the local pilsner beer, Astra. Sitting there was like sitting in a Belle Epoch seaside painting. People were playing badminton on the beach and sunning themselves. Dogs and children were chasing one another, and everyone in the beer garden, including the bridal group next to me, was having a great time.

The Strandperle Biergarten on the Elbe River

Astra Beer, a local Hamburg pilsner beer

In the late afternoon, we visited the Elbphilharmonie and the Binnenalster and Außenalster (a beautiful lakeside city park) with our friends. We stopped for freshly squeezed orange juice and Zitrone Omelette (a light lemon cheesecake) at the Alster Arcade, overlooking the magnificent Hamburg Rathaus (City Hall). On the corner was a peaceful demonstration related to the #MeToo movement. Protesters were demanding that women be treated with respect in the workplace.

The Elbphilharmonie

At the Alsterarkaden Cafe. Cora's Ströbi is clearly enjoying himself too.

Hamburg Rathaus

The evening came quickly. We made a quick trip to the Landingsbrücke, but then Dan and I needed to get back to our hotel to pack, since we had to fly home in the morning. We stopped for drinks and small plates at Bistro Scherrer, and ate out on their lovely patio, with the cool breeze, soft lighting, and quiet conversation around us.  But it was so hard to part from our friends. We packed and then sat out on the balcony, watching the river for a while. I will miss the Elbe and its fresh, cool breezes too.