Day 55: Mon 11 Aug - Hamburg

11-24 deg C, another fantastic day

Walk G: 13km; total: 431km 

Walk W: 12km; total: 385km

First up today was the Royal Philharmonie Plaza Deck again for Greg, and a first for Wendy. A beautiful clear morning made for an awesome view. There is so much to see from up there, but after 20 minutes or so, we were riding the curved escalator back down to ground level. We had mornos nearby then wandered in the direction of Westfield (a great Aussie company) shopping centre that looks just like the ones back home. 

Greg then visited the International Maritime Museum and Wendy wandered back to the hotel to do some more hotel research and bookings. Wendy went out again just after lunch to visit St. Peter’s Church, described as being a gothic-style Protestant church with a sizable tower. Nearby was the Church of Scientology that she photographed but did not go too close lest she get sucked in! Back to the hotel for a rest as Greg had also just returned.

The Maritime Museum was 9 floors of everything nautical, housed in a beautiful old building built in 1878/9. Each floor/deck is dedicated to a different aspect of maritime history from around the world. On deck 9 for instance there’s more than 50,000 ships from all over the world displayed in the same scale - 1:1,250. Deck 8 has over 200 works of maritime art. And it goes on and on; fascinating.  

In the late afternoon, we visited another church near St Peter’s - St James’ Church described as an historic Protestant church with a famous organ. The inside of both churches were nothing to write home about, simple and plain. No pics of the inside of St Peter’s, but it looked much the same as St James’.

Back to the hotel via one of our favourite dinner venues and the inner lake. After dinner, Greg did his customary wander while Wendy did her usual blogging.

The reflections on the canal this morning were quite speccy

Royal Philharmonie

The curved escalator 

Going up but looking down

Views from the Plaza

We have visited four of the buildings belonging to the spires - Rathaus, St Nikolai, St Peter’s, St James, but have yet to visit St Catherine (far right)

International Maritime Museum

Crocheted/knitted coral reef

A ship simulator, only get to try it out on Sundays. 

There were dozens of these

The workshop

There’s always got to be something done in Lego

This was a type of ship Greg had not seen before 

The work involved in just one of these ships is staggering, let alone 100s of them

A large model hanging in the stairwell in front of a huge painting of the sea

Just about every navy uniform from around the world; except Australia 

(BB you’ll have to send them one of yours)

Not a bad looking cabin

These are made out of bone

This one is elephant ivory 

Each dot is a model of a ship

“””

View from a window of the museum

The International Maritime Museum building 

Lake scenery 

Our hotel

St Peter’s Church

Scientology Church Hamburg

St James’ Church

The famous organ

A scooter made from Louis Vuitton bags; there was a hefty security man guarding the front door.    

Entry was strictly by invitation. 

Thank you for reading the blog. If you would like to make a comment, please do as we love to hear your feedback. If you do it without the hassle of signing in, please include your first name at the end, so we know who is commenting. Cheers G&W.