Travel: Hamburg, Germany

The cruise has come to end...
We disembarked the cruise ship at Hamburg, Germany.  Interestingly, we had discussed travelling to Hamburg during the winter while watching a travel channel show.  (The show featured a young woman who was barge captain and expressed how much she loved her city...)

Disembarkation morning is always busy and structured but somehow still feels chaotic.  We collected our bags and off we were to get a taxi to our hotel.  O-M-G the line for a taxi was worse than any amusement park ride in the middle of summer!!  However, Germany being Germany and efficient as it is, had just about every taxi in the city on call and it was the quickest cue/line we've ever been on.  Taxis were constantly arriving; so to the front of the cue/line we were and off we went for a mid-morning drive through the city.  First impression, lots of greenery, well cared for older buildings, plenty of modern ones too, and great roads.  We arrive within 20 minutes to our hotel: Atlantic Kempinski Hotel.  Lovely turn of the century hotel, period details, elegant lobby/lounge area and modern room decor.  Rooms were not ready for checkin at 9am, so we left our bags with reception and off we went to investigate Hamburg.

Lucky for us, it was Sunday.  The streets were calm and gave us a chance to admire the buildings, stroll and check out a few places where to dine.  The old and new seem to intertwine as we rambled street after street.  We found the town square and the magnificent Rathaus (city hall).  It was incredible and hope the photos can do it justice (but I doubt it!).  Afterwards, we were ready for lunch and, of all places that were suggested, it was Cafe de Paris!  A French bistro!  With no reservation we sheepishly asked if they could accommodate us considering the place was jam packed with locals.  Quick as can be, we were shown to our table (two were pushed together for the 4 of us).  The brunch menu was fabulous and we spared no time in ordering - with a bit of help from the bartender who was more than willing to help translate some of the menu items.  During the meal he, as well as our server, checked on us to be sure we were content with our order.  Afterwards, they suggested other places for us to check out in the city.  How nice was that?!

We walked the city that day and the following day; we covered lots of territory, enough to warrant a few "pit stops" each day for beer or wine and give our feet a rest.  Hope you do the same right now: put your feet up and check out the photos!

Fifi

Travel: Fredericia and Copenhagen, Denmark

And so the cruise continues!  We are almost at the end of the journey as we call upon our next ports of call.

The next two cruise stops were in Denmark.  Our cruise ship was the first to ever call upon Fredericia and the whole town was out to greet us!  It was the most amazing thing to witness - a whole town from infants in carriages to toddlers to teens to grandparents and all in between!  There were cannons being fired, school marching bands, folk dancers and local politicians among the community that came to welcome us.  And as luck would have it, we were the very first two cruise passengers to step off and meet the flash of photos!!

The people were so kind, so warm and friendly.  It was suggested that we walk the park/town ramparts and enjoy the walk ending at the sea.  We took their advice and found our way to a far corner of the town and began the walk...the park was so green and lush with trees and shrubs and multitude of duck families laid claim to the slow moving waterway.  The walk had us walking up and down hills, stopping every so often to read historical markings.  The end of the walk brought us down to the shore where we met a group of friends who were out for a morning walk and swim...they were the happiest, healthiest and prettiest 80-somethings we've ever met! After a short chat (we speak no Danish, and only one lady had a good a grasp of English), we were back on our walking route along the water.  No sooner had we picked up our pace, we slowed down to see what was going on behind a little brick building...It was a rowing club - and already two boats had been launched and a third was getting ready.  But this was no college rowing club - no it was a "golden" group of rowers.  In fact, this third boat was a group of ladies heading out for the mid-morning workout!  Impressed - to say the least!  As we arrived back into town, we wandered along the main streets of shops and stores admiring such beautiful flowers, fruits and vegetables along side clearance sales of shoes and summer wear.  We stepped into a bakery and, needless to say, I became dizzy with the scent of fresh breads and delicate sweet treats!  After 5 hours of walking, we went back to the ship for a quick lunch and put our feet up for rest!  The evening sendoff by the townspeople was just as amazing as the welcome.  Again the town was out, the cannons fired, the band marched and thousands of hands waved us goodbye.

Fredericia was followed by Copenhagen.  Hans Christian Andersen published the "Little Mermaid" in 1837 and a bronze statue of her is perched upon a rock on the waterfront and she is photographed by almost every tourist - and that's a lot of tourists!  From the ship we walked to Tivoli Gardens - part amusement, part entertainment park.  It is the second oldest amusement park in the world, opened in 1843.  It has some nostalgic features like the 1914 wooden roller coaster (one of the oldest still in operation) alongside a roller coaster that has loops and turns and dives and spins.  There are plenty of places to eat, and in the evening the park is magical - lights are strung from trees, framing buildings, illuminating garden paths while music plays in the background from any one of many stages and entertainment venues.  There is something for everyone.  We've had the pleasure to be there during the day to see how beautiful the grounds are and by evening to admire the spectacle of lights.  After leaving the park took a long, aimless walk that, somehow, magically brought us to an enormous pedestrian only area.  Throngs of people were out, enjoying the bright sunny day and the "sales" must have been good ones, judging by the number of shopping totes we saw along the way.  Eventually, we made our way back to the ship just as sunny skies decided it was time to water all of Copenhagen's gardens and lawns!  Where's that umbrella when you need it?!
(http://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/top-30-attractions-0)

Enjoy the photos!  (Next week: Hamburg, Germany including where we ate!)
Fifi