Hamburg and Buchholtz

We met Folke and his family - Meike, Fridtjof and Frederik - at the harbour at Baumwall, and headed out to check out some of the sights of Hamburg. We walked through the area around the harbour, got to see the participants in the Hamburg triathlon, and made our way to Elb Philharmonic, which has recently been completed. It has two concert halls and is a magnificent building. Meike told me that the acoustics are excellent - they were fortunate enough to attend a concert following its opening. We then wandered around the area, and again were able to watch the triathlon participants, first swimming and then some in the final running leg. We then found a lovely spot for lunch where we ate traditional food from the Rhine region, and it was excellent. We also saw many brightly dressed people who are participating on the Schlager Move event. This is a parade followed by many parties where they listen to 60s and 70s music, and lot’s of drinking and, I mean lots and lots of drinking - Aussies would fit right in!

We then headed to St. Michael’s Church, which is one of five main Lutheran churches in Hamburg. It is considered to be one of the finest examples of Hanseatic Protestant Baroque churches. It is dedicated to the archangel Michael, and it has an 132 metre high Baroque spire which is completely covered in copper, and which is clearly visible on the Hamburg skyline. It has been rebuilt several times - it was destroyed by a lightening strike in 1750, it caught fire in 1906, and again following bombing attacks in 1944 & 1945. It required extensive reconstruction work. We climbed to the viewing platform in the spire that gave us great views of Hamburg.

We then made our way to the trains and headed to Buchholz for afternoon tea with Fritz and Inka (Folke’s parents), and Folke and his family. Buchholz is as lovely as I remembered, and they have the garden looking beautiful. We had a delicious afternoon tea - the blueberry cake Inka made was amazing. We were there for many hours and we had a wonderful cold supper of traditional German fare which I loved, especially the meat salad. The time went very quickly and it was comfortable and easygoing, before we knew it it was time for us to catch the train back to Hamburg.Read more