Hamburg: Harbour Party!

Friday May 9, 2008

Toby's co-worker Peter invited us to come to Hamburg for the annual Hamburg Harbour Birthday Party (819 years old!) and to take a special ride on an antique ice-breaker ship.  Peter is a member of the club that preserves and restores the ship and has been anticipating and planning the trip for months now.  We felt honoured to be invited to have this unique experience. 

We met up with the crew: Peter, his wife Brigitte, their nine-month old daughter Charlotte, Mario and Mandy on the ICE train to Hamburg!

It's amazing how fast long train rides can go when you have friends to chat and joke with.  Toby brought a lot of treats and drinks to share - I mean, when on a road trip, you need junk food! Am I right? - and the Germans teased him for it.  They couldn't believe how many sweets and snacks he brought.  They're to SHARE guys!  They're for EVERYBODY.  Oh, crazy Germans.

The view as we pulled into the Hamburg station.  Lots of hot air balloons.

We met up with another GE man Bill and his gal Yvonne at the hotel and headed out to dinner.

Awwwww... what a cute family.

I was a party pooper and went straight back to the hotel to go to bed.  Toby, Mario and Mandy headed down to the Reeperbahn, sort of a 'red light district' & party zone that Hamburg is famous for.  They had a good time, but said it wasn't that different from party streets in other cities (aka the "Red Mile" in Calgary).  If that's the case, I'm not disappointed to have missed it.  

Saturday May 10, 2008

It was off to an early start so we could catch the orientation bus tour of Hamburg.  Peter made sure we caught the 10:00 bus.

The Rathaus (city hall).

It was very hot and sunny (hence the dorky hat beige hat).

Our tour guide.

St. Michaelis Church tower as we drove by!

Mario and his amazing SLR digital camera.  I'm very envious.

After the bus tour we went down to the harbour.  Woah!  So THIS is where the one million visitors to Hamburg for the Harbour Party are!   While elbowing the crowds we saw some this little air show and many interesting ships.

The rest of the crew waited at the dock to take a harbour cruise, but I couldn't take the heat and sun so we headed off on our own for a break and some sight seeing.  Here we are back at the Rathaus.

This was taken near one of the small lakes right in the middle of Hamburg, which by the way, seems like a very green and livable big city... when the weather is nice at least.  I've heard it rains a lot.

We all met up again in the evening and had dinner at the posh Hotel Hafen restaurant overlooking the harbour.  It was a lovely dinner and allowed us to secure a reservation in the "20 Up" bar down the street to watch the fireworks.  That Peter.  What a tour guide.

We made it to the 20 Up bar just before sunset.  The name 20 up comes from the fact that the bar is on the 20th floor of a building on a hill overlooking the harbour.  The walls were made of glass.  Yah.  I know.  Wow.

The view.

The 20 up bar seemed very "schiki-miki" (full of pretentious, hip, rich people).  I don't think Toby and I would have gotten in without Peter's reservations!! 

Drinking these 15 dollar Caipirinhas at this posh bar in Hamburg is probably the coolest I'll ever be.

The best part of watching the fireworks from the ultra-cool glass walled schiki-miki bar is that you don't hear the dreaded loud firework sounds.

Sunday May 11, 2008

Bright and early and ready for our trip on the ice-breaking ship the Stettin.  Everyone looks bright eyed and bushy tailed...

... except maybe for Toby who missed breakfast in order to squeeze every last bit of sleep in and perhaps nursing a hangover?

Stettin is pronounced: Stuh-teen.  And it's best to shout the last "ee" sound like a drunken fratboy.  The Stuh-teeeeeeeen!!!  Wuhooooo!

Our harbour tour was lovely.  We were protected from the hot, blazing sun and the water was calm.

For most of the tour we mostly saw the industrial side of the harbour, but it was still interesting.

Bill is texting.  Bill, working on holiday is NOT allowed.

This cruise ship is being repaired in the dry-dock.  Apparently it costs one gazillion dollars so they work around the clock.

The "party" side of the harbour.

Toby and I went up top to see the view.  While we were up there the captain blew the (very, VERY loud) horn.  Here is Toby before the horn:

Here is Toby DURING the horn blast:

And here he is after.  He's recovered sufficiently.  I on the other hand nearly had a heart attack from the surprise.  (I'm covering it well in the picture).

Then we got to go for a tour of the boat.  They burn coal to create the steam to power the engine.

The "heaters" take a three hour shift shoveling coal into the ovens.

Peter in his element!

I never understood why women like to say that they want to "gobble a baby up" or "nibble their fat thighs" or whatever, until I met this baby.  Quite possibly the cutest baby in the world.  Gobble.

After our ride on the Stuh-teeeeeeeeen!!! we went for a seafood lunch before catching our train back.

Toby and I had a great time playing cards with Mario and Mandy all the way back to Karlsruhe.  We learned some new games, spoke both English and German and generally laughed and had a great time.  

They are distracted in this picture because Toby was doing something goofy... of course.

Whew.  It was a whirlwind trip but what an experience!  Thank you Peter and Brigitte for making it happen!