A scenic route from Copenhagen
Arriving Hamburg at night, I had one of the worst culture shock upon arriving at a new city / country. Everyone was so rowdy and lots of drunken everywhere. And the fact that I had to brave through all that to get to our hotel wasn't a pleasant experience at all. We chose to stay near the station so we could just walk over when we arrive, but totally didn't expect the situation to feel so havoc at night!
We were tired, and it was getting late. We weren't sure where to go to grab some food for dinner. So we went back to the station after unloading our bags before we went out to hunt for the Speichertadt Bridge. We found a place that sells German sausage (or just sausage) which they call it wurst. It was a hilarious experience because we weren't sure which to order so we asked one of the locals there which was the best, and she pointed to the one she ordered but warned us that it's spicy. She was also kind enough to help us place our order before leaving the store.
Currywurst
It wasn't spicy at all (despite the name) for us including myself (because I can't really take spicy food)!
...and some local beer to accompany our Currywurst.
After dinner, we proceeded as plan to go for a quick walk in the cold and to locate the Speichertadt Bridge for some night photography. My family went all out on this for me knowing how excited I was when it comes to photography. Prior to our trip, I Googled on this bridge and saw soooo many nice shots taken by other photographers at night. However, when I got there, the whole place was illuminated by this purplish blue light which pretty much spoilt everything - at least for me. It looked a little better after some editing, but I was still rather disappointed.
Speichertadt Bridge
Long exposure shot taken on Sony A5000
Check out the number of people were there to photograph this spectacular view!
Day 2
Fischmarkt Hamburg
There's more than just fish here as what the name suggested - there's other local delights, stalls selling clothes and souvenirs, and believe it or not - GOOD MUSIC! There was a live band performing rock n roll and people were just dancing to the beat. It was such as amazing experience witnessing that, and pretty much a good start to our Sunday!
More Currywurst!
Food hall with a live band performing on stage!
Ellentorsbrucke Bridge
We were walking to St Michael's Church Hamburg and stumbled across this beautiful scenery.
St. Michael's Church Hamburg
HafenCity Hamburg
Elbphilharmonie
It's actually a concert hall but we went in and up for the view instead 😂 Managed to get free entrance tickets and the visitors centre.
Alster Lake
We ended our day pretty early as we were all exhausted from going around the city the whole day. But it was our last night there, and didn't really want to waste it all entirely and decided to go to the Red Light District. It wasn't as eye opening as I thought it would be haha but it was enough for an experience!
Day 3
We spent our (supposedly) last day in Hamburg doing the remaining sight seeing and a bit of window shopping before our (supposedly) midnight train to Switzerland that night - more on this later!
Alsterarkaden
Rathaus - Hamburg City Hall
Located just opposite of the city hall, you'll find this area covered with green coloured glass roof - you may find some cheap souvenirs here!
Rathaushof
Dinner nearby our hotel. Came here for pork knuckles but they were sold out by the time we were there! Super bumped that we couldn't get a taste of it while we were there - so we thought.
Part of us were relieved that we weren't there when it happened, but also frustrated that we weren't notify through e-mail or through any channels at all. The staffs then gave us information on an alternative route to get to Switzerland which includes 3 train transits and 1 bus ride that would take us about 11 hours in total! (The overnight train takes us about 12 hours but at least we will be served with bunk beds and breakfast, and no transit in between). We tried checking for flights to Switzerland but they were all too expensive by then. We didn't had much choice but to follow what has been advised. The staffs did not immediately offered us compensation, but they did eventually. We were compensated with a night stay in a 4 star hotel also just across the station, and free public transportation pass around the city for the night! By then, we were all exhausted to even go anywhere anymore but got another chance to try out pork knuckle as supper.
VLOG:
Next Up: Zurich, Switzerland
