Despite
my fear of heights I climbed around 500 steps up to the top of St.
Petri's Church and it was worth it to get this gorgeous view of this
beautiful city!
How do I love thee Hamburg? Let me count the ways! ....
1. Put on your walking shoes and your cycling pants. Walking
and biking are such a huge part of the culture here that you have a sort
of daily built in exercise system. I love that Europe is set up so much
better for transit and walking and cycling in general. I mean,
sometimes I get a little annoyed by the endless number of cyclists that
almost run me down on a daily basis, but hey, they’re out there biking,
they’re doing it! I applaude you! But really….I know you’re
sophisticated and European and all, but shouldn’t you be wearing a
helmet? Just a suggestion.
Bike lovers of the world unite here in Hamburg – plus it’s ALL flat, unlike Vancouver!
2. Just add water! There is something about living next to
water that makes your quality of life that much better. Maybe it’s the
idea of freedom on the horizon? The possibility of jumping on a ship
away if you need to? I’m not sure, but all I know is that this one is a
life saver for me. Really. Whenever I am stressed out I just find one of
Hamburg’s many bodies of water and we spend some quality time together.
I’m lucky enough to live near
Hamburg’s Stadpark
and there is a lovely little lake in the middle that makes for perfect
reflecting time, pun intended.
They say that Hamburg has more canals and
bridges than Amsterdam and Venice put together. Crazy, eh? You can also
take one of the ferry lines as part of the transit system, so sometimes
I just hop on, look at the view and relax. Maybe it’s the island girl
or west coast girl in me coming out, but there is something about being
on a ferry that feels like home....
One of the many beautiful spots along a canal.
3. Get your spray cans out. Graffiti and street art here in
Hamburg provide me with little daily surprises. I had heard stories of
the great graffiti and street art in Germany before even coming here and
I’m happy to say that I haven’t been disappointed at all. I also know
that Berlin has amazing graffiti, but Hamburg does not in any way fail
to deliver in this department. I try to photograph it as much as
possible since so much of it gets painted over or cleaned up so quickly,
but so much of the great graffiti is along the train lines, making it
much harder to get shots of sadly (but much more appealing to graffiti
aritst who want to show off their work.) You can look forward to a whole
blog post about this later, with some of my favourite shots. I have
also had the chance to learn a bit more about this whole sub-culture and
it fascinates me. I can’t understand why graffiti is illegal really,
but if it were legal would it be as cool? Hard to say….
Nothin’ like a little “I heart Hamburg” graffiti.
4. Boredom is completely impossible. Expect the unexpected. I
don’t think I’ve ever heard a Hamburg resident say to me, “I’m bored. I
have no idea what do to.” Or “That was a boring night out.” On the other
hand I have heard, “There is SO much to do that I’m completely
overwhelmed. I have no idea how to decide.” From gypsy techno remix
nights, to opera, to street festivals, community runs and an always
bustling clubbing scene, Hamburg has something for everyone – seriously
(just ask my cousin about the hard core chess scene here!) And hey, if
you don’t feel like an event just walk around a corner and you’ll
discover some funky cafe that you had never noticed before, or some cool
neighbourhood, or some beautiful park. And the great thing is, that you
don’t even have to be in a European mood – try the
new New York burger joint, the bowling alley, a Hollywood movie in English (though sadly the English
movie theatre, Streits, is closing down in March!) You just never know where your night may lead, trust me.
On
a typical crazy night out in Hamburg at one point we ended up at an art
gallery in the middle of the night, walking on this glass floor in our
socked feet. You just never know what might happen in Hamburg…
5. He’s got the whole world -in his Hamburg. This has been one
of the biggest and best surprises and comforts for me since arriving
here. I had no idea what a vibrant international scene this city had and
how many wonderful friends I would make from all over the place. There
is a deeply entrenched Hamburg community of quiet and reserved Germans
who are difficult to get to know. I am sure once you get to know them,
they are wonderful, but getting to that point is no easy feat. So, being
able to make friends with people from all around the world or even just
outsiders who have moved to Hamburg from other parts of Germany is not
only fascinating and fun, but a necessity if you want to have
friends…which most of us do. I love that on a daily basis I interact
with people from places such as the UK, Australia, Spain, Germany,
Turkey, Afghanistan, Poland, the US, New Zealand, France and so many
more places. And I also love that I have a few Canadian friends here now
that I can always turn to when I want someone to completely understand
where I’m coming from and or someone who understands the word “
toque” and what a “
double-double” is.
In
the summer I participated in the Hamburg Women’s run and I think I
heard every European language throughout the race. I love being
surrounded by this international feeling all the time. Bonus points if
you can spot me in the crowd! (Photo by Catherine Lambert)
6. Take the train! So, I fortunately come from a city with a
decent transit system, but one thing I absolutately love about Hamburg
is the fact that trains run all night on the weekends. Seriously
Vancouver, what is up with all the trains finishing at 1:30am or 2:00am
on a weekend? That one boggles my mind. You can easily live in Hamburg
car-free and if you want to drive anywhere you can sign up for
Car2Go
and easily hop in a little Smart car for any car-related tasks or
needs. Also, if you buy a monthly or yearly transit pass you can take
the bus, trains and ferries and on the weekends you can even hop on the
regional trains, take along a passenger for free and travel to nearby
towns like Lüneburg and Ratzeburg. Warning – even though Hamburg has no
machines to scan your tickets, you should aways buy one. I’ve had two
friends recently get caught for not having the right transit passes –
don’t take a chance of having to pay a €40 fine because playing the dumb
“I speak no German” tourist sadly does not always work very well in
this land of “well I speak perfect English and I’m guessing you’re not
really a tourist.”
Hamburg’s Dammtor train station is my favourite – beautiful and always less crowded than the central station.
7. No safety vest needed! Sometimes I feel like I could walk
around at 3:00am by myself and never have a care in the world. Oh wait, I
do that already here. Okay, as in any big city, you need to be
cautious, particularly in certain parts of Hamburg late at night, but
honestly, there aren’t really any “bad” areas of Hamburg, at least not
in comparison to most big cities I know back home or in North America. I
never thought that living in a European city would be safer than a
Canadian one, but it sure is! People even leave their ground floor
apartment blinds wide open here, revealing fancy computers and audio
equipment for all to see. I mean, I’m even tempted to steal those bad
boys. Sure, there is some crime here like in any city, but overall it
seems the police have way too much time on their hands hence why you see
them all on the Reeperbahn “policing” on the weekends.
The police looking a little bored at the anti-Nazi protests this spring.
8. Nobody parties like my Hamburg. Yah, yah, I
know all those Berliners would say that nobody parties like Berlin, but
I have yet to experience the Berlin party scene so I can’t make a
judgement call there yet. One of the great things about partying in
Hamburg is that you could actually have a wild and crazy night out and
pay next to nothing....Hamburg is a seriously great city to
party it. ... The thing is, you never know where your
night could go, what kind of crazy party you might find and who you
could meet. It’s always an adventure, and always a crazy good time.
How it feels about mid-way through the night…
9. Get funky! Oh if I only had a million dollars (that’s right
Barenaked Ladies)
I would go to every concert here that I could. I love that not only do
so many big bands come through Hamburg, but also tons of great indie
bands. In fact, music is one of the reasons I decided to come here.
Sadly it’s hard to have the time and money for all these shows, and it
takes time to get to know a new music scene and all the venues, but
there is an endless supply and I’m happy to say, many great Canadian
indie bands come through here too. I’ll be seeing Dan Mangan in Hamburg
for the second time next month! Crazy, eh? I can’t wait to keep on
discovering this funky music scene.
You
don’t always need money to see great music in Hamburg. This summer at
the Duckstein Festival bands performed outside the Alster every night
and entry was free!
10, You are so beautiful…to me. Hamburgers (yes, people from
Hamburg are indeed called Hamburgers) call this the most beautiful city
in Germany, or sometimes, the world. I have to say that I think
Vancouver has Hamburg beat in terms of pure physical beauty (how can you
beat mountains AND ocean really?) but there is a beauty in Hamburg that
goes deeper than just the physical. It’s a magical city. Sounds cheesy,
I know, but there is something about it. No matter how tough living in
Germany can be, Hamburg always finds a way to cheer me up and make me
feel better. Sometimes all I have to do is go downtown, sit by the water
and see the reflection of the city lights on the Alster at night and I
am good to go. There is a lovely mixture of the old and the new. Hamburg
has been almost completely re-built since it was bombed in WWII, but
you can’t really tell at all. It still has that old European feeling to
it. Whether it’s the water, the buildings, the layout….I don’t know, but
it really is one of my favourite cities in the world.
Sitting on the beach in Blankenese in the summertime. True Hamburg perfection.
Hamburg, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
