Walking Tour Of Hamburg

July 19, 2008

If Sergio were to ask me, “So how was Hamburg,” I might reply, “Very wet.”

Within five minutes of starting my walk I was telling myself that it would have been so easy to bring an umbrella with me to Hamburg. As I was packing, I had it within inches from my grip. I had plenty of luggage space. It was only a combination of eternal optimism and the attitude of whatever happens that stopped me.

After another five minutes Westward I was in the middle of Strenschanzenpark under another tree saying to myself, “This is not a light rain. It’s a downpour.” All the weather forecasts I had saw back in England talked about less than 50% chance of light rain. I was soaked and I was unsure what I wanted to do and I didn’t see any shelter. A couple emerged without an umbrella – the boyfriend using his light jacket to cover his girlfriend. They asked me a question in German – presumably asking whether I was lost. I replied I didn’t speak German. Few seconds later I proceeded forward and found a U-Bahn station (Sternschanze) a mere 10 meters from where I had taken cover. There was a croissant shop but I was completely out of money having spent what I took out yesterday on the ticket, meals and large number of drinks. I waited for about 10 minutes until the rain became a trickle.

Soon I found myself in Schanzeviertel, which has an ambiance similar to busy London neighborhood but with clear Teutonic majority. After searching for an ATM, I retraced my steps back to a couple of cheap eateries in the Schanze recommended by Lonely Planet. I settled on Shikara Quick – an Indian fare.

When I came out after brunch, the sun was shining and I was dry. I made my way down South with the idea of swinging around to the South side of the Hamburg downtown. At a split on the road Neuer Pferdemarkt, I decided to take a slight detour to go further South rather than starting to turn Southeast. This would lead me to Reeperbahn, supposedly the largest red light district in Europe.

I thought the visit to Reeperbahn might be amusing when I spotted a large group of teenage schoolgirls a block from where I started off sucking on a pink candy attached to a ring. As I passed them I realized that the candies were miniature replica of penis, which led to give myself a chuckle after passing them. However, when I did get to the red light district, I was quite unimpressed by the neighborhood. It seemed like no more than a very large area with usual sex shops no different than places one would find in any major city in the western world. I suppose the open window displays and large advertisements isn’t universal. I was going to give it a quick pass and head over next to downtown as originally planned.

Then it started to rain again. I was near one of the shops as it started, and this one looked a bit different. The exterior was similar to certain upscale fashion stores rather than grimy sex shop. Inside I found just as more perfumes and clothes than more obvious sex-related paraphernalia. My first thought was, “It’s a Gap-fied sex shop.” Actually its look might have been a little more upscale than Gap – aside from the concrete floor. Maybe it had a touch of Sharper Image and presumably Victoria’s Secret. I don’t know if this was typical, but there were more women than men in this store. The rain switched from light to downpour from one minute to next so I found cover in several different shops. None of the other stores were remarkable although one did make me think, “This one’s a Woolworth’s.”

Past St. Pauli U-Bahn station, I continued on Budapester Strasse still getting hounded periodically by heavier turn of rain. From one cover, I had a good look at St. Michaeliskirche from Baroque era. With fits and spurts of movement, I proceeded until seeing a sign pointing to Rathausmarkt and Hafencity. What the heck, I have plenty of time. I headed South towards Hafencity.

Looking back I don't think I quite made it to Hafencity but some aspect of the neighboring area was surprisingly interesting. Speicherstadt made me think of Venice but with all multi-story modern red brick buildings housing large companies and attractions including an amusement park called Hamburg Dungeon. I had gotten on a wooden bridge to cross the water and found that the network of elevated wooden walkways continued onward covering several parallel avenues running up and down North to South as well as East to West. They didn’t seem particularly functional, but I thought it was very neat nevertheless. I watched the ships traversing the Elbe River and a public transit boat docking to a station.

Rest of the walk was more hurried. I was in search of a place to buy some large bottled water so that I would be better hydrated at the start of the social. This led me back to Rathausmakrt and then up to Hauptbahnhof and back in rain. It’s a big downtown shopping district, crowded and pleasant but nothing special. No doubt all visitors to Hamburg end up here so no reason to dwell on it. The walk back to Dammtor and the hotel was very wet too.

The account of the Saturday night after a short break.