Monday 24th April - Hamburg, Germany

As we neared the outskirts of Hamburg, we were soon aware that we were approaching a large metropolis.  The autobahn gradually increased to multi lanes and everywhere you looked  there was evidence of ongoing construction.  This also extended to the road system which was in the throws of a massive road improvement scheme, resulting in some very confusing diversions and lane changes and extremely long traffic queues.  We also saw the aftermath of several traffic accidents en-route which only served to exacerbate the problems.

We had some difficulty finding the campsite as, so it transpired, you had to drive through the IKEA car park to find it.  However, once settled it turned out to be a site with very good facilities, including a regular bus route to and from IKEA to connect with the U-Bahn to the city centre.

Once at the centre, we headed straight for the docks area. It's a vibrant and colourful place, even on a damp, grey and drizzly day like today, so we took our time walking about and taking photos.  We had wanted to take a boat trip around the harbour but it was too expensive and the weather wasn't conducive to being able to see a great deal.

         
                                                                                                Views of Dock Area
                 
                                                               

         
         View along the Klein Alster                               View along the Klein Alster                                           The Town Hall

We took the lift up to the top of the tower of St. Nicholas' church, some 148 metres high above Hamburg.  The tower is under renovation and as we stepped out of the lift at the top we felt the wind whistle through the open brickwork.  Angela didn't feel safe enough to linger at the top and, with scaffolding all around, there wasn't much of a photo opportunity.

Once safely back on the ground, we went underground to the church crypt which houses a powerful and moving exhibition recording the bombing of Hamburg in WWII and the resulting "firestorm". We were surprised by the candour of the exhibition curator who wrote that although the bombing of civilians was illegal, it was only brought about by the tactics used first by the German armed forces.

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