Hamburg Weekend

Into Germany, one of the first question in our minds was about the Kiel Canal, - was it still operating ?   We soon came upon a magnificent late 19th Century steel (& rivets !) Railway Bridge, which our train approached via the required loop,

and crossed (the bridge has many similarities to the Eiffel Tower) above...

... a convoy of ships going northwards to the Baltic Sea.  It is pure history to see such a famous landmark, still functioning in this day & age - [except the big cruise ships are just too tall to use it].

Arriving in Hamburg on Saturday evening, the Binneralster (lake) in sunshine & suffering from the loud noise from the left - the Christopher Festival (the Gays) -  & the city did show us its two sides whilst we were there.

The yachts were sailing on the larger lake, the Aussenalster...

the skyscrapers & telecoms tower looked down... 

..on a couple of folks on holiday, talking to our neighbours, a couple from Frankfurt, a lawyer & a banker, whose 3 year-old daughter was hanging out with Grandparents for the weekend.

Sunday morning and the other side - the elegance of Hamburg came to the fore, with bikes,

the Rathaus (the City Council !),  - a beautiful building -

modern city blocks of advanced architectural design...

and memorabilia of an earlier era, (when we were teenagers)...

and then of an even earlier time, when a Junkers JU-52 (1932-1980), flew over...

and down in the town planners' dream of HafenCity, new residential blocks are shaping up..

amidst the many old bridges, rebuilt after the destruction of WWII,

like much of the city, nearest the docks,

but with imagination, verve, & a lot (a very great deal !) of money...

Next morning was another moving on, considering possible purchases..

And our next train...   to the Netherlands...  was awaiting us... on another platform !