Hamburg - Weekend getaway in times of the Corona Virus
As somebody living in northern Germany most of my life, it is quite strange to never visit Hamburg. This year I had the opportunity to join my sister on a quick trip to Hamburg as she was taking the medical entrance exam for the University of Hamburg. We arrived in Hamburg mid-Saturday and went back home Monday late morning.
Disclaimer: We traveled before Germany officially closed everything and advised it citizens to stay at home.
Hamburg Elbphilamonie seen from the St. Pauli Pier.
Speicherstadt
We were lucky, the weather forecast for the weekend looked sunny but cold. After we found our hotel, I misinterpreted the way a little bit and we walked once around the block. Quite embarrassing as we stayed at the IBIS directly next to the main train station.
As we both never really visited Hamburg before and we stayed close to the Speicherstadt, it was our stop on our walk around town. We started at the end of the Zollstraße at on end of the Speicherstadt and worked our way through it towards the Elbphilamonie and the St. Pauli Piers.
Old warehouses in the Speicherstadt.
Inner Alster
It´s a really nice long walk along the water. Even it times of Covid-19, it was more crowded than expected. We decided to have afternoon tea at the Café Melt. It´s a modern style small café. You can get great coffees, milkshakes, and other drinks, as well as delicious avocado toasts, home-made icecream, and different cakes. A small drawback was the high dike in between the water and the café, therefore the view is not the greatest, but it is still fun to inspect the passing people and imagen what they might be up to. We continued our walk along the waterfront before turning right into St. Pauli. Here you could see the direct effect of Covid-19. All the theaters and red light establishments were closed. Nevertheless, we had a nice afternoon walk, which ended in the middle of Hamburg close to the old city hall and the Inner Alster. This area is nice for a shopping tour through some more high-class shops. In the evening, we had a great dinner at Shiso Burger. A small Burger restaurant in the heart of Hamburg, offering fantastic Asian inspired burger.
The next morning, we had an early start as my sister had her exam in the morning. I accompanied my sister on the way to the university, before returning to the City Centre picking up my camera and do a little photo tour around the city. Before sitting down at the Alex on the shores of the Inner Alster. In the early afternoon, I picked up my sister from the university again. Sadly, the exam took a bit longer than expected, wherefore I had to wait close to 2 hours in front of the building.
Empire Hotel
To celebrate the finished exam, even she hasn´t her mark yet, we wanted to go drink something. Our mom recommended the Empire Hotel bar. The Hotel is located in St.Pauli close to the waterfront with the bar on the top (20th) floor. I think it´s the highest bar in Hamburg with a nice interior and view. It should have opened at 6 pm, when we arrived a couple of minutes later it was still closed. 15 min later somebody came out and told us that Hamburg just closed all bars and clubs as Covid-19 prevention. There was nothing we could do, we left again and walked back towards the main city center. Our decision for dinner was again something Asian instead of fish or something else typical for the northern/coastal Germany region. We went for ramen. After my trip to Japan, I really developed a love for Japanese and Asian food. Admittingly, the ramen you get in Hamburg is not nearly as good as the ones I had in Tokyo or Kyoto. We went for The Ramen Hamburg, a nice small ramen shop close to the main station. I can recommend the spicy beef ramen and a vegetarian classic ramen version. For the evening, we got ourselves some cookies and drinks and spend the evening in our hotel room, as everything was closed. One of the most stupid things I ever did was to bring brand-new shoes. Already on Saturday my feet really hurt. Therefore, spending Sunday evening in the hotel room wasn´t that bad for me. The blisters I had were larger then the toes they were on, really unpleasant. The only good thing about it, the shoes fit perfectly now.
Our last morning, we spend skyping with Australien friends before going out for a nice breakfast buffet. The boring choice was the ALEX, it’s quite a large chain of restaurants in Germany, which for me are mostly known for breakfast, coffee and small bites rather than large sinner menus (they also have them). The main reason we took the ALEX was, that it is located directly on the pier in St. Pauli. You have a great view of the Elbe with the passing boats, as well as the people walking along with it. Always great to stalk a little and wonder what they are up to.
This concluded our very very small trip to Hamburg. Sadly mostly everything was closed or closed down during our stay. Therefore, we mostly walked around the city, sad down for drinks or small bites in coffees and relaxed. Besides my sister, who had an exam…