As an aside many German schoolchildren return to school in mid-August which minimizes the number of families travelling at this time of the year.
Brücke means bridge and in this case they are not bridges but spans that take you from the shore onto the piers. Their vessel leaves Brücke 4 at 12 noon and I know they will start loading at 11:30 am. I find a bench near pier 4 and relax in the sun by the river. I am the third person aboard so can search for a perfect seat. I go as far up as possible to the upper deck and get a chair/table right at the front. Table for five and a German family joins me and doesn't speak much english. The tour is bilingual - German and English. Very large boat with capacity for hundreds of people. The upper deck is packed. This is a tidal harbour where the tide changes back every 12 hours. There is a 3.6 metre differential in tides. This part of the harbour is a gigantic container terminal where the containers are moved very quickly. In fact, they can load and unload a container in about 90 seconds. These container ships are giants that can have container piled 12 high in the hold and another seven high on the deck.
Just one container ship being loaded. These container ships on the open seas can get up to 50 km/hour in speed. It takes 12 km to stop one of them though.
Container ship crane.
Container ship terminal. By the way, the Germans use those very terms. With relatively new words, the Germans tend to just adopt the english word into their language. You might be aware that English is a derivative of Deutsch.
Just when you thought there were no beaches. A number of beaches exist just west of the shipping harbour and are frequented by the locals.
Another point of trivia is 11,000 vessels sailed up the Elbe river in 2012. Gives you an idea of just how busy this port is and the wealth generated. The tour was excellent and sometimes funny. I took lots of pics. Lets check out some of the architecture on the waterfront. In addition, just walking around the Alstadt (old city) and the newer portions I was amazed at their ability to ensure every building was interesting. I think architects would love it here.
Designed to look like a ship.
Opera Haus due for completion 2017.
Another Hafen City area project.
OK, the penthouse was sold for 9 million Euros.
Found a German restaurant on a hill overlooking the harbour. Störtebeker Restaurant for what was advertised as a Hamburg type dish. Hamburger (yes that is what Hamburg residents call themselves) Pannfisch with bratkartoffeln (potatoes), hausgemachle SenfsoBe. It was very yummy. The fish fillets were excellent in the sauce.
My next destination was Ballinstadt Museum on Veddel Island. This is the link: http://www.hamburg-travel.com/sightseeing/art-culture/museen-hamburg/ballinstadt/
The most fun way to get there is using the Maritime Circle Line boat. They berth at Brücke 10 and they are leaving at 2 pm. Cost is 12 Euro for the boat and it is another tour of course. I grab a seat outside in the back of the boat and enjoy the sun and wind. There are about 15 people on the boat. We are very close to the waterline and you can really feel the waves against the boat. Into the harbour and then some canals and a lock. The commentary is in German of course. We arrive at 2:35 pm and the museum is very close to the dock.
Our boat.
The museum costs 12 Euro. Basically, this was where up to five million Germans emigrated to the United States in the 1800s and 1900s. Given our Schisler family history is we know we emigrated from Deutschland, but it was in the 1700s it won't necessarily apply to our circumstances, but still important. During our time, German emigrants went through Rotterdam, Antwerp or Bremen, Germany. The museum is very new and has some excellent features. Overall, not worth the 12 Euros. Found a number of interesting items:
- my ancestors left Deutschland due to religious intolerance
- many newspaper articles are on display
- video remakes
- old luggage trunks
- one CPR pamphlet
- emigration agents were illegal
- all emigrants went through a medical exam when they left Deutschland and another one when they arrived
- every ship going to America had at least one doctor on board
- my ancestors would have been on a cargo ship as back in those days passenger ships were not used for emigrants
- one toilet for all emigrants on the boats
- you had to bring your mattresses, dishes etc.
- many Germans settled in Manhattan Tompkins Square area in the East Village near 8th Street
- lots of Jewish history and examples
There are three houses for the museum. There is a room with PCs where you can research your own family, but this is in Deutsch. They have a lunch room serving food that would have been eaten by emigrants. Beautiful surrounding grounds/lawn etc. I spent about 90 minutes. The boat comes by at 4:35 pm and I need to be on it as it is the last boat.
Website photo.
Haus 1
Passenger lists from 1850 - 1934 on display.
The boat returns and then we are on a one hour trip around the canals and harbour. More people on the return trip. We got to see some parts of the harbour and canals I had not seen before. Of course, I barely understood any of the Deutsch commentary.
Back on the U3 Bahn to my home station. Still beautiful here with blue sky and warm sun. Decided to walk down an interesting street that runs parallel to my street. Trying to find a decent German restaurant. There were many restaurants, but no German restaurants. Many ethnic restaurants though. After a number of blocks and walking came across the last place and it looked decent and served Italian. Salvatore Momenti Italiani Restaurant served me buffalo mozzarella caprese salad, bruschetta and a fantastic white Italian wine: Sacchetto L'Alfiere Bianco di Custaza. Sat outside in this local establishment to enjoy the weather and eating outside. Only in Europe though would the waiter walk outside the front door light up a cigarette in the area where we are eating. Wow, what a great night to eat outside and people watch. I return to the apartment around 7 pm.
Caprese salad with the usual ingredients. It was quite good, but no pepper?
Bruschetta was excellent as well, but pronounce it properly otherwise you get corrected.
I get a chance to catch Renée and Georgia for FaceTime so that was another highlight of the day. Also, reached Lana for FaceTime at her work - she was on her lunch break. A good ending to another great day in Hamburg. Tomorrow is my last full day in this city.
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