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- 3.6.2024 klo 10.23
- ☁️ 14 °C
- Korkeus: 35 m
- SaksaHamburgNeustadtSt. Michaelis ("Michel")53°32’54” N 9°58’42” E
Hamburg farewell; Lüneberg hello
3. kesäkuuta, Saksa ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C
Today we returned to Hamburg for the bus tour we missed yesterday.
We drove for an hour through Lower Saxony. The population is 5 million, but our route took us through verdant green forests, orchards, and little towns with small neat two-story brick by houses, like Monopoly houses.
All so flat!
Back in Hamburg, the Reeperbahn red light district looked seedy and forlorn on this cool grey morning.
We passed the Dancing Towers, designed to looked as though they are leaning out from each other.
On the shores of the Alster Lake we admired the string of dignified white luxury mansions
Their long frontages originally running down to the water were compulsorily acquired by the City and turned into a stunning park for the ordinary people to enjoy.
Hamburg has 11,000 millionaires! The most exclusive pay €100,000 annual subscriptions to join the Anglo-German Club.
We had to chuckle at the lines of yachts moored with military
prevision. Alles in Ordnung!
A final visit to St Michaelis. Tucked beside it is the Street of the Widows. Widows of the merchants in the guilds (closed trade corporations) could live in these tiny houses. A pair of angled mirrors meant they could peer down to see who was coming and going.
Then after an excellent lunch on the boat we returned to the bus to drive to the Hansestadt ( Hansa City) of Lüneberg.
Here CroisiEurops provided an excellent English language guide just for us. This was Louis Marvick, a retired Professor of French Language and Literature from Reno, Nevada. We hit it off immediately.
He explained to us how Lüneberg was founded in the ninth century to mine the huge underground salt deposits there. Salt was an essential preservative before refrigeration was invented. The city thrived, with wealthy merchants building fine houses and an impressive town hall. Luckly they were largely spared from Allied bombing, and the town has retained its charm, though occasionally houses and a church subside into the caverns dug out underneath over a thousand years!
Our Church of the Day was the sailors’ church of St Nikolai. This is quite small but was built with a clever perspective in the pillars that made the nave ( main body of the church) look longer when seen frim the door. Pretty smart for the 14th century!
Back to the boat and another ship lift at Uitzen (23 metres this time.)
We loved our time in Hamburg. It’s a big city but has an intimate feel with its many canals and leafy parks. They also enforce height restrictions to keep the traditional long, low cityscape punctuated by spires.Lue lisää
You look as if you belong! [Judith]