After the sumptuous breakfast buffet in the youth hostel, I walked along the St Pauli Harbour heading towards Fischmarkt, a market that existed since 1703. It is a very exciting market selling all kind of food, fresh seafood, trinkets, clothes and even has rock band singing on the stage! Had my stomach not bloated from the full breakfast, I would have spent big euros eating to my heart content. The calamari rings and fish nuggets were screaming for my attention...but I was just too full.
I had jolly good fun but had to leave after an hour to visit the most anticipated place of the day...
It may sound childish but the main reason I visited Hamburg is for its Miniatur Wunderland...not Reeperbahn of course :p. The child in me could not resist not seeing the world biggest model railway exhibition. I bought the earliest admission ticket online and got 10% discount ! It is advisable to go early because by 9am, throng of visitors came pouring in. By noon the crowd was so immense that I had to squeeze my way through just to have a peep at the exhibits. But since all are miniatures it is impossible to appreciate without having a closer look. Another problem is there were simply too many children and some parents parked their children at the railing for good 15 minutes without budging...so at the end the whole experience was tainted with stress. Despite all these, it is definitely a MUST visit in Hamburg. The exhibits are lovingly built with intricate details and cover countries like Austria, Switzerland, USA and Scandinavia. At Knuffingen section, there is a fun display of occasional fire outbreak by arsonist and the fire engine with its loud siren moving around looking for the source. At Harz section, there is open air theatre with Romea and Juliet play. And if one looks closely, frequently there are many miniatures that are based on every day life and funny scenes like alien invasion.
After the Wunderland, I explored Hafencity on foot. The Elbphilharmonie is still under construction but its impressive figure alreading dominating the waterfront. I walked for few kilometres under the hot sun searching for the U-boot submarine museum before a passerby told me that it has been relocated to near Fish Market! Bummer! I retraced my steps and headed for the city centre towards the Rathaus instead. With time to spare, I visited the beautiful Planten Blomen (botanical garden). It is really worth going in spring..the plum blossoms made me feel like I was in Japan..what an eye treat! Finally, I strolled along the harbour again and walked towards the Fischmarkt where the submarine is before going back to the hostel to get my bag and go to the airport.
I had jolly good fun but had to leave after an hour to visit the most anticipated place of the day...
It may sound childish but the main reason I visited Hamburg is for its Miniatur Wunderland...not Reeperbahn of course :p. The child in me could not resist not seeing the world biggest model railway exhibition. I bought the earliest admission ticket online and got 10% discount ! It is advisable to go early because by 9am, throng of visitors came pouring in. By noon the crowd was so immense that I had to squeeze my way through just to have a peep at the exhibits. But since all are miniatures it is impossible to appreciate without having a closer look. Another problem is there were simply too many children and some parents parked their children at the railing for good 15 minutes without budging...so at the end the whole experience was tainted with stress. Despite all these, it is definitely a MUST visit in Hamburg. The exhibits are lovingly built with intricate details and cover countries like Austria, Switzerland, USA and Scandinavia. At Knuffingen section, there is a fun display of occasional fire outbreak by arsonist and the fire engine with its loud siren moving around looking for the source. At Harz section, there is open air theatre with Romea and Juliet play. And if one looks closely, frequently there are many miniatures that are based on every day life and funny scenes like alien invasion.
After the Wunderland, I explored Hafencity on foot. The Elbphilharmonie is still under construction but its impressive figure alreading dominating the waterfront. I walked for few kilometres under the hot sun searching for the U-boot submarine museum before a passerby told me that it has been relocated to near Fish Market! Bummer! I retraced my steps and headed for the city centre towards the Rathaus instead. With time to spare, I visited the beautiful Planten Blomen (botanical garden). It is really worth going in spring..the plum blossoms made me feel like I was in Japan..what an eye treat! Finally, I strolled along the harbour again and walked towards the Fischmarkt where the submarine is before going back to the hostel to get my bag and go to the airport.
Planten Blomen in spring
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