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november 2023 |
Wednesday 29 November 2023
The taxi picks us up at 7:35am and takes us to the Central Station. 
We
take an earlier train from Rotterdam to Amersfoort, so that we have some
more leeway to change trains. The train runs on time and we have almost
three-quarters of an hour in Amersfoort. We drink coffee at Delifrance
and at 9:45 our international IC train departs for Berlin. At least,
that's what it seemed, but everyone has to get off and switch to an ICE
in Bad Bentheim. The DB Navigator app indicated this, but NS
International did not. It's an inconvenient transfer because the 1st
class of the ICE is at the other end of the train. We arrive in
Osnabrück without losing too much time. There we have a lot of time,
because the ICE to Hamburg is delayed by 25 minutes. We eat a sandwich
and wait. The ICE then takes us to Hamburg Dammtor, where we arrive at
2:42 p.m. We walk to the Baseler Hof hotel on the Esplanade.
After a break, 
we walk along the Binnenalster
to the center. We briefly stop by the luxury department store Alsterhaus and
then head to the Christmas market in front of the Rathaus (City Hall).
There are many stalls and a lot of people around. A large sleigh with
Santa Claus flies from the square to the top of the Christmas tree. Then
Santa Claus addresses the audience. We have an organic Glühwein and a
Currywurst. They charge a deposit for the mug. We take one with us as a
souvenir. Then we go back to the hotel. After another short break, we
take a taxi to the Deichgraf
restaurant. Great food. I have a typical Hamburg dish, Pannfisch, and
Erik has risotto. We take the metro back.
Weer: in Hamburg cold and snow. -5ºC (23ºF)
Thursday 30 November 2023
We have breakfast at the hotel and then go for coffee at Condi, in
the 
Vierjahreszeiten Hotel. They
don't have any cake yet, so we have a few pralines instead. Still 34
euros!!
We take the bus and metro to Landungsbrücke on the Elbe river bank. Here
we take ferry number 62 to Finkenwerder. With this ferry we sail along
the Elbe past the beach and villas of Blankenese, the shipyards of Blohm
& Voss, and the container terminals. It's very cold today. In
Blankenese there are opulent villas with a view of the Elbe and there is
a beach. We stay on board at the end point and sail back to the
Landungsbruecke. We have coffee with a small pastry in the ferry
building and then walk through the old Elbe tunnel. This tunnel from
1911 has no entrance ramp, but a lift for cars (which are not allowed
now), cyclists, and pedestrians. The tunnel is almost 500 meters long
and is beautifully designed. Interesting to see.
We return to the hotel. Here we have lunch. After lunch we rest for a
while and then walk to the Hamburger Kunsthalle. An impressive museum with a
broad and high-quality collection. It was founded in 1869 with a
collection set up by the Chamber of Commerce. The collection ranges from
the Middle Ages to contemporary art, with an emphasis on German art, but
other European countries are also well represented. After the museum
visit we return to the hotel.
In the evening we take th
e bus to
Winterhude to eat at restaurant Zeik
(1 star). We get an 8-course menu with delicious flavors. Lots of fish
and seafood and deer as the main course. With a wine pairing. The
service was excellent.
Then back to the hotel by bus.
Weather: cloudy and cold, -5 to -2ºC (23-28ºF)
Friday1 December 2023
After breakfast,
we take the bus and metro to
Landungsbrücke. From there, we take the ferry to the Elbphilharmonie. This concert hall is built
on top of a former warehouse on the banks of the Elbe. The building was
opened in 2017 after much delay and cost overruns. In addition to two
concert halls, the building houses restaurants, apartments, a hotel, and
a parking garage. At 37 meters, there is an observation deck, the plaza.
Tickets for a concert are sold out more than a year in advance, so
that's not an option today. The access control equipment for the plaza
is defective and we are manually allowed through. Once we reach the top,
we have coffee at the hotel. Then we go up to the observation deck. The
sun is shining over Hamburg and the view of the city and the harbor is
beautiful. It's very cold, though. After a walk round on the platform,
we go back down and walk into Speicherstadt, a district with former
warehouses from the 19th century. This entrepot
harbor or
freeport was built after 1870 when Hamburg joined the German Empire and
its customs union. The area is now on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
In Speicherstadt, there is also the Miniatur Wunderland. On two floors, there is a
huge model railway with landscapes and recreated cities. It's initially
filled to capacity, but after a fifteen-minute wait, we are allowed in.
It's impressive. Lighting alternates between night and day. Trains,
trams, and even airplanes are constantly moving. The level of detail in
which the miniature cities and landscapes are built is unparalleled. In
addition to the trains, cars and trucks also drive through the
mini-world. Traffic lights work and cars in
dicate
direction when they turn. Concerts, fairs, and street parties take place
in the mini-world. The designers have a preference for traffic
accidents, as ambulances and rescue workers are in action in many
places. There is also a miniature Elbphilharmonie that can be opened up
by the press of a button, allowing you to look into the concert hall and
apartments. After more than an hour, we are done. We eat a sandwich
nearby and return to the hotel.
In the late afternoon, we go to a hotel bar near by called "Botanist"
for cocktails. Later, we have pizza at the Opera restaurant.
The weather is sunny and cold, ranging from -5°C to freezing point.
Saturday 2 December 2023
We first take the 
wrong route to the Michaelis Church, which I accidentally
mistook for the St Michel Church. After this misunderstanding we find
the right route and the right address. We go up the tower of the
Michaelis Church with the elevator and have a nice view again, although
it is misty and we cannot see that far. The tower is 132 meters high and
was used as a beacon for shipping on the Elbe. It snowed last night and
the city's roofs are almost all white. The church itself is also
beautiful and spacious, but very busy with tourist groups. The Lutheran
church is a 20th century version of the old church and can welcome 2,500
people. Two previous versions burned down. Unfortunately, the crypt with
the grave of Carl Emanuel Bach cannot be visited.
From the church we walk to the Krameramthof, a courtyard that
once belonged to the merchants' guild. The widows of the guild members
lived here for 200 years. Now there are some shops and restaurants. Busy
here too, but manageable between groups. From there we walk to the
Neugrossmarkt, a square in the Neustadt district with a neighborhood
market, in the “shadow” of the Michaelis Church. The butcher's sales
truck is particularly popular because there is a long queue in front of
it. We have lunch in a restaurant at the market. From there back to the
hotel.
In the afternoon we take the metro to Meßberg, to see the Kontorviertel
and the Chile House. This office building from the 1920s
is enormous and reminiscent of an ocean liner. The office district is on
the UNESCO list together with the Speicherstadt. From there we walk to
the St
Nicolai church memorial, a medieval church that was damaged by
Allied bombing in 1943. The tower, the highest in Hamburg, is standing,
while the rest is
a ruin and a memorial against war violence. You
can climb the church tower with an elevator, but we don't do that. There
is a museum under the church.
We walk into the center, drink coffee at Starbucks and then walk
through various courtyards and passages with just as many Christmas
markets towards the hotel.
We hit the road again at 5:15 PM. Take the metro to the Hauptbahnhof and
from there on foot to the Lange Reihe in Sankt Georg. We first go to M&V, a gay bar.
It is already pleasantly
busy here at
5.30 pm. We sit down next to two Spanish men and order two Margueritas.
After the cocktails, walk up the Lange Reihe to the Cox restaurant. We get a nice table on the side in
this large shop. We order salad, risotto and nut parfait for Erik and a
swordfish tartare, leg of lamb and mascarpone parfait for me. Also nice
wine. Afterwards we order an Uber taxi, which is in front of us within 1
minute. Back at the hotel we have a nightcap in the hotel wine cellar.
Weather: first some light snow, later dry. -5 to 0 degrees
Sunday 3 December 2023
After breakfast we hang out in the hotel room. The train does not leave
Dammtor station until 11.38. We leave the house at 11 o'clock and walk
to the station. What happens? The ICE train has been cancelled, Fällt
aus! What now? The Travel Center or Reisezentrum in the station is
closed. Then we take the S-bahn (regional train) to the Hauptbahnhof
(Central Station) to see what we can do. It is extremely busy there and
at the Reisezentrum they can only say that we can travel two hours
later, but a seat reservation is not possible for traveling on the day
itself. In the DB Navigator app, I see that we can also travel within an
hour with an ICE towards Basel to Osnabrück, then change to a regional
train to Hengelo and then an intercity to Gouda. Finally, we will ride
to Rotterdam Alexander with a sprinter train, as Rotterdam Central
Station is out due to works. Not really good marketing for traveling by
train.
Because it is extremely busy at the Hauptbahnhof, we travel back by
S-bahn to Dammtor and wait for our ICE there. There is plenty of room on
the train, but almost all places are reserved. We can sit, but I still
have to stand for an hour from Bremen to Osnabrück. Erik has better
luck. In Osnabrück we change to a regional train by Eurobahn to Hengelo.
It is a slow train, which takes more than an hour. We could have waited
for the International train, but who knows what delays that one might
run into. The journey continues according to timetable. We buy a
sandwich in Hengelo. The intercity to Gouda is quite short and many
people have to stand. Fortunately we don't. It has now started snowing
and it is very cold in Gouda. Fortunately, we only have to wait a very
short time. At Alexander we change to the metro and around half past
seven we are finally home.
Weather: winter weather, snow. -3 degrees.
Weer: winters weer, sneeuw. -3 graden.