Hamburg, Germany

So I just got back from my summer vacation yesterday and I was a lot more tired than I thought I was! Thank goodness I didn’t have to work today because I needed a vacation from my vacation. It’s been raining on and off all day so I only left my house to go to the supermarket. I’ve also spent the last few hours trying to upload all my photos because my laptop is out of space! I’ve been uploading all my old, old photos from my external to dropbox so that I can format my external to use with my macbook. Only about 20 more hours (or so) until everything is uploaded (yay me…).

First stop on my trip was Hamburg, Germany. My friend Mai was meeting me the next day but in Berlin. It was a lot cheaper for me to fly into Hamburg so I figured I could use the savings for my hotel and train and add another city to the list! I was only in Hamburg for a day and a half so I spent most of my time walking around and enjoying the city. I get a discount with IHG branded hotels so I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Hamburg City Hauptbahnhof, which is a bit of a walk to the center but I didn’t mind it so much.

my cute little room – quite spacious for one person!

First stop on my walking tour of the city was the Rathaus, or townhall. There was quite a bit of construction going on in the main square in front but the inside (featured photo above) and the courtyard in the back were so beautiful! You can also tour the Rathaus with a guided tour. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time for that but it didn’t seem too expensive and the photos looked beautiful.

the front of the Rathaus
another picture of the beautiful inside of the Rathaus
fountain in the courtyard of the Rathaus
view of the building from the courtyard

From the Rathaus I decided to walk towards the Norderelbe in search of food that my friend Laura had recommended. On my way there I inadvertently discovered that there is a tunnel that takes you…somewhere. I had no idea where but decided to try it. Apparently the St. Pauli Elbtunnel takes you under and to the other side of the river. I walked the 426m long tunnel twice (there and back) and enjoyed some beautiful views of the city from the other side of the river.

just a bunch of people walking through the tunnel.

By now I had worked up quite an appetite and was ready to eat! The restaurant my friend recommended is called Brücke 10 and they sell Fischbrötchen (fish rolls). They had a lot of different types and I think the locals (or brave tourists) eat the ones with giant pieces of fish in it. I am not that brave so I had the Frischfikadelle which is the fish cake (which I love). The roll and my drink was only about €5 I think so a great deal! Make sure you walk down the dock towards the river because there are restaurants on top as well that are a lot more expensive. I paired my roll with a Fritz-Limo which I first tried in Tallinn and apparently is from Hamburg!

yummy!

Last stop in Hamburg was Planten un Blomen, a gorgeous park that is now my new favorite. The park has a large play area for kids and so many different areas with all kinds of flowers and plants. I’m sure it’s incredible in the spring when everything is in full bloom. There is a beautiful lake in the middle that does a water show. In the summer there is also one with lights but I was too tired to stay for a few more hours to wait for it then walk back to the hotel.

so peaceful
the water show from the back of the lake
they even had an area for chess, including this giant chess set!

Coming up as soon as I can get all my pictures loaded – Berlin! You can see my adventures from my summer vacation on my Instagram also. There’s even some rare photos of me this time since I traveled with a friend!

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