After Minitur Wonderland I headed to the Rathaus. You can only see this with a tour. Sadly all the English tours were booked out. After a bit of indecision I decided to see how much I could follow on the German tour; it turned out about maybe 1/2 to 3/4, which was pleasantly surprising. I *think* the Rathaus survived a WW II bomb because, although hit, the bomb didn’t go off. The detonator is in a case in one of the rooms. The first Rathaus was burned down in 1847, and the new one took 11 years to build.
The interiors were quite something; very grand and lots of gold.
After that I headed to the St Nikoli monument; this is a church that was destroyed in WW II. Only the tower remains, which you ascend via a lift. There was also a very sobering museum about the blitz’s effect on Hamburg and the use of forced concentration camp labour to clear the remains.
Having been on the (unexpectedly extensive) tour of Coventry Cathedral with Rob a few years ago, it was rather poignient to see the Cathederal Crosses again.
After that I rounded off the day with a boat trip along the harbour, which was very pleasant.
I really liked Hamburg, and wish I’d had longer there. It didn’t feel as cool and hip as Berlin, but felt like a nice place.
Writing these last three posts from the train to Prague, where I’ve got day or so before heading to Slovakia.
