Hamburgers in Hamburg

We spent a relaxing weekend in Hamburg, checking another city off our list! Amy arrived first via train and Jeff joined later Friday evening, flying in from a Deloitte training he was providing in Stuttgart. We dropped Jeff’s bags off at our pristinely located Marriott hotel then set off to taste our first hamburger in Hamburg. Rumor has it hamburgers originated in Hamburg, so we decided to embrace the tale and sample a few burger joints while we were in the city.

We had a nice leisurely morning on Saturday, enjoying breakfast at the concierge lounge before heading out to tour the town. For our first excursion, we decided to head towards the Miniatur Wunderland (the largest model railway in the world). We arrived at the museum and realized we needed tickets for a certain time slot, so we booked that for later and continued our walk through Speicherstadt (the warehouse district). We took a quick break to admire the unique architecture of the Elbphilharmonie and to watch a giant slab of concrete lift to the sky as one of the hydraulic drawbridges opened for a boat. Eventually we made it to St. Nikolai Memorial where we took the elevator (finally no stairs!) to the top of the tower (the fifth tallest church tower in the world) to enjoy a bird’s eye view of the city.

The New Elbphilharmonie

To better appreciate the St. Nikolai Memorial, you need to know the history so here we go… this is a snapshot of what we took away from our visit. In WWII, more than 50% of Hamburg was destroyed during Operation Gomorrah. At the start of the operation, the Allies dropped thousands of metalized paper strips on the Nazi’s radar system, essentially blinding the radars and causing confusion. This was followed by 10 days of 24-hour bombing and, as you can imagine, massive destruction. During the bombing, the Allies used St. Nickolai’s church steeple as a landmark and somehow, it survived. The church itself, which was connected to the steeple, was destroyed and is now a memorial, but the steeple itself was one of the few structures to remain standing after the bombing and immense firestorm that destroyed the city. As we left St. Nickolia’s, we listened to the bells on the tower ring, bringing one more unique feature to this incredible memorial.

St. Nickolia

A board game used to teach kids how to find shelter during the war

Following our visit of St. Nikolai, we decided we better grab something to eat before heading back to the Miniatur Wunderland. Amy had found a Markethall which sounded promising given our success in past cities... however after our quiet walk across the bridge and to the outskirts of town we realized it wasn’t quite what we expected (it will be really neat in a of couple years!) so we implanted Plan B and found a perfect little cafe along the canal instead.

At 2pm we arrived at the Miniatur Wunderland ready to see for ourselves what the mini hype was about. Let’s just say we were not disappointed. This place is amazing! It’s 16,000 square feet filled with familiar landscapes all of which are made up of tiny houses, buildings, people, trees, cars, animals, boats and working airplanes... everything you can think of! We saw a miniature version of the Rocky Mountains, rock climbers climbing in Yosemite, rafters floating though the Grand Canyon and the Vegas strip lit up at night as the lights in the entire center dimmed and went out allowing for a “night” experience. We saw cross country skiers and Santa Claus in the Netherlands, a boat traveling though the water in Norway downhill skiers in Switzerland, and all the highlights in Rome where we’ll be in December. And that wasn’t even close to all of the things we saw! There were European football stadiums and concert venues full of little people with working lights, a drive-in movie theater with an actual animated Pixar short playing, silly scenes such as ET and Elliot riding through the sky, several wheels of cheese rolling down the mountain side, a working volcano and a functioning airport where the airplanes (and the Millennium Falcon) were actually taking off and landing and at “night” the runways were lit up with hundreds of little LEDs. It was unbelievable! The humor and pure creativity of this place is astounding! If you’re ever in Hamburg, definitely put this on your list.

Stepping back into our real life, we continued our tour through Hamburg, stopping at our hotel for a quick snack and beverage before taking a walk around Alster lake and later finding a seat in the bleachers to cheer on the athletes participating in the Hamburg Wasser World Triathlon (apparently the largest triathlon in the world). We watched in full admiration as the athletes swam through Alster lake, unzipped and pulled off their wetsuits while running to their bikes, slipped their feet into their shoes (which were already attached to the bike), then pulled on their running shoes for the last leg of the race all while wearing a skintight suit… let’s just say we were happy to be observing the race and covered by the warmth of our long sleeves and rain jackets (we went from 90s in Düsseldorf to low 60s and spitting rain in Hamburg... quite the drastic weather difference for July). There were several points during our weekend trip where we took a break to observe the triathlon or tried to find a way to sneak around it.

For dinner on Saturday, we decided to try another burger shop and are happy to report that it was as good as our burger the night before. Burgerlich had a great atmosphere, delicious fries and tasty burgers… the perfect combo for a good meal. We’re two for two with our Hamburg hamburgers! 

On Sunday morning, we made our way to the Rathaus where we waited for a free walking tour to begin (shout out to Robin and the Tour Guides! Brent gave a fantastic tour). Along the tour we learned about the elite part of Hamburg, (the Rathaus and stock exchange) and we learned that the majority of Germany’s millionaires and billionaires call Hamburg home... this city has some money! We also learned about the great fire in 1842 and more about the effects WWII had on Hamburg. We wandered through Speicherstadt again and stopped to admire Deichstrasse (Hamburg’s oldest street and home to the few half-timbered houses that survived the fire in 1842). We ended the tour at the beautiful St. Michael’s church where we stopped inside for a quick peek before making our way to admire Hamburg’s port (apparently the third busiest port in Europe, dutifully named the “Gateway to the World”). Here, we sampled the infamous fischbrötchen, which our tour guide said is the real local food in Hamburg. It wasn’t bad, but we decided to stick to the hamburgers. 

Hamburg's Rathaus

St. Michael's Church

Following lunch, we made our way back to the hotel, packed our bags and took one last trip to the waterside to enjoy a local cider while listening to a flute and clarinet duo and watching the triathlon. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at a little Italian restaurant with a view of the race and watched as a small rainstorm blew in (don’t forget your hat Jeff!). After dinner we picked up our bags, made our way to the main train station and enjoyed a beautiful three-hour train back to Düsseldorf. #theperfectweekend