Germany

So far our blog has two days from Germany, in Hamburg in August 2022. Hamburg is the first stop of our Interrail trip north, which takes us through Denmark and Sweden all the way to Norway.

On 20 August we leave Basel early in the morning with the global Interrail pass. Because we only have reservations for part of the route, we spend a long time looking for seats on the train. In Hamburg we take a taxi to the hotel, leave our luggage there and walk to the harbour. A festival with street food and music is under way, and crowds stand in front of the Elbphilharmonie. We walk on into the Speicherstadt and look at the brick warehouses along the canals.

On the spur of the moment we decide to take an evening boat tour. At the stalls by the harbour we pick up potato pancakes and Indian food, and at 20:30 the tour sets off. The captain tells us about Hamburg and the world of ships in a very funny way, and from the water we see the Elbphilharmonie lit up at dusk. Afterwards we happen to find out that there is a laser and drone show in the harbour from 22:30. We find a good spot near the landing pier and watch it with an Aperol Spritz.

The next morning we eat pastries from a bakery in the Planten un Blomen park. We like it so much that we have to force ourselves to leave. That day a big bicycle race is taking place, the whole city centre is closed off, and even on foot it is hard to get around. We look at the town hall with the fountain in its courtyard and at the Chilehaus, one of the best-known buildings of Brick Expressionism. The man who commissioned it, Henry B. Sloman, had made his fortune in Chile in the saltpetre trade. After a short detour to the Speicherstadt we ride e-scooters to the harbour one last time and have lunch there.

Then things get hectic. The taxi to the station never comes, and the app searches for a car for minutes on end, because the bicycle race probably leaves no way through for cars. We carry our heavy luggage through the city centre on foot and only just catch our train to Copenhagen.