Hamburg, Germany

Hamburg, with 1.7 million inhabitants, is Germany's second largest city. It's 7AM and snapped a photo of Hamburg's city hall (built 1897) before the large square gets busy.

 This beautiful fountain graces the courtyard of city hall.

Hamburg has more bridges (over 2,500) crossing its streams, rivers and canals than London, Venice and Amsterdam COMBINED.

Several hundred years ago those sentenced to death were led across this bridge in Hamburg's old town to be executed---hence the religious figurine on the bridge.


The port of Hamburg lies on the Elbe river, 60 miles from the mouth of the North Sea. After Rotterdam, it's the second busiest seaport in Europe. What you see in this photo is the Speicherstadt, the largest warehouse district in the world. Built between 1883 and 1927 it sits on wood pilings. The structures run for about a half mile and encompass 6.8 million square feet. In 2015 it was awarded  the status of Unesco World Heritage Site. As you can see some of the structures have been converted to apartments

Hamburg is a port of call for cruise lines. Shipbuilding is big here including the construction of cruise ships like this one.

Built in 1960, this general cargo ship is now retired and a floating museum. I took the photo because of the ship's name; Cap San Diego.

 This beaut of a brick building (Chilehaus) was built in 1922. Yep, it's supposed to be shaped like an ocean liner.

Side view. The office building was recently designated a Unesco World Heritage structure.

Hamburg's central train station is a very busy place. How busy? Over 480,000 people pass through a day--making it the second busiest in Europe (after the Gare du Nord in Paris).

 I always like to cycle around the best parts of a city as well as the worst. Cycling about four miles from Hamburg's city center (near Eppendorf) I stop and go into a real estate office to learn where the wealthy live.  The man say's "you're in it". Canals are all around and he says the best way to see the area is via a kayak. So, besides Hamburg having more bridges than London, Venice and Amsterdam combined, did you know Hamburg has more canals than Venice and Amsterdam combined?

St. Pauli is a tourist area near the riverfront.  Why? It's where theaters, bars and clubs are everywhere. But, more importantly it's home to Hamburg's world famous red light district. Think of New Orleans with the smell of urine, booze and vomit in the air.  So, it was funny to see McDonald's, that purveyor of fast-food family fare, sharing a building with a sex club.