Hamburg

Today we explored Hamburg. And it was actually warm enough to wear shorts! Yesterday we noticed how warm it was when we got here, so we made sure to dress appropriately so as to not overheat (we still overheated).

I tried a candy bar I hadn't seen anywhere else yet. Caramel and peanut butter in chocolate. It kinda tasted like a tiger's milk energy bar. I really liked it though. This and the Lion candy bar are my favorites here


As I said before, we get free use of their transportation system so we made use of that by going across town. As we walked to the Rathaus, we passed one of Hamburg's two artificial lakes.




They had this interesting statue in it. It made us laugh. It's really big though!


We started at the Rathaus, which is the seat of government for Hamburg. It, of course, had great architecture features (most buildings of worth do in Europe, and even some that don't have much worth have amazing architecture)




We walked to a building that is just a business building, but has the likeness of a ship's prow. It's called the Chilehaus. It was more impressive in real life since the depth is lost in the picture.


Most of the bridges look like this:


Then we made our way to Miniatur Wunderland. My Nana and Papa had sent us a link about this place months ago, and we'd been planning on going ever since. I could sit here and tell you all that it consists of, but I think this guy will do a better job:



It really was amazing. It was fun to look at all of the carefully placed details. Every 15 minutes or so it would become night time for a couple of minutes and the street lights, headlights and building lights would turn on. It was fun to watch the transition. I took a video of Las Vegas, but blogspot isn't letting it upload.

These pictures really don't do this place justice, because it's only a 2D picture, and all the details are missed.

The control room




They just opened the airport part. Next on their list is France.


An airplane taking off! They were constantly taking off and landing










See the tiny little climbers? And this is zoomed waaaay in. You could barely see them on the mountain!




Naked skiing! Haha you can see this on one of the mountains in a later picture, but barely


Skiers in costumes...




The grand canyon


Rocket that went into the air


A drive in that was playing Pixar's "For the Birds"


Day time


Night time


Concert with 20,000 people attending...wow!


There was real water under the bridge and it had working locks




We ate at their cafe and got Bockwurst and fries. It tasted really similar to a hot dog. But was good nonetheless.

They have canals too! (Just not as pretty as Amsterdam's). They are the 4th biggest port in Europe though.


After that we walked to St. Nikolas Church. It was bombed in 1943 by Britain, and only the steeple remains standing. They left it that way as a memorial to those that died during the war. A lot of Hamburg was destroyed by bombing, even though it wasn't a military target, just a civilian city.




Door into nothing


Doug's standing where the sanctuary would have been


We also walked to St. Michaelis Church. We didn't feel like paying to go inside and up to the top. We've done that a couple times now...




We wandered into one of the many parks here. It was so pretty. I really wish Ventura had these. Our parks consist mainly of just grass and some trees. These are so much more.




We sat on this bench for a bit and rested.


A fair is in town for a month so we walked through it. They actually had some pretty impressive rides!

Hmm, can't really see this one. It's a raft ride like at Magic Mountain. They also had a log jammer ride

Double loop rollercoaster!


These swings were soo high!


Waterfall in front of this one. Kind of like Indiana Jones-ish looking ride


And lots and lots of food. Doug got some fruit licorice ropes and I got a bag of Schmalzkuchen. Pretty much German donut holes. I even found the name by googling "german donut holes" because there was no way I could remember what they were called. They were good though.


Oh, and apparently Americans like to snack on corn. This was the only representation that we had for food...weird.


We walked to another park where they had a water play area for kids and slides that would definitely be illegal in the U.S., but which looked so much fun. I didn't take a picture though, but there was one that was probably about 12 feet high in the shape of a volcano with no railings of anything. Just steep crevices to slide down into the sand.

We made our way through the park and sat by a pond with water lillies in it.






Then we decided we were done so we came back to our hotel. It was a good, full day, and I'm more than ready for a shower and bed! And maybe a back rub from a certain husband ;)