Train hopping and much more

Hamburg is a wonderful city ... so much more than I expected. Luckily we had an extra day here ... due to our travel plans to Paris. Yesterday we spent the day getting the most out of our Hamburg Card ... using trains and buses ... hopping off where ever something took our fancy. First stop was the wharf area .... with LOTS of boats of all sizes. We discovered some amazing ´village atmosphere´ areas not that far out of the city.

We went to an area called Blankanese (well something like that) and walked around ... expecting to see some of the Elbe River .... and we did .... and more boats ... small wooden ones this time. And up many many stairs through windy lanes to the village, which was so beautiful. Had lunch in a Backhaus (bakehouse) and followed up with a wander through another one of the street market areas like we´d discovered the day before. Bought some cheese and sausage to have with a drink later. Drinks ... turned out different from the plan. We did buy a bottle of wine ... but not knowing much German, we ended up with a bottle of grape juice (alcohol free red wine) .... LOL!!!!! Had seen alcohol free beer on a menu earlier, so Lex was careful not to buy alcohol free beer, but we didn´t check the wine!

Hopped off again at Altona .... walked up to a mall area where we saw the most amazing street entertainment ... a Mongolian 6 stringed band ... 3 members but only 6 strings between them. Their voices were the most amazing instruments .... unbelievable. Pete ... you´ll love this!!! Took so many photos and a few video clips .... and you guessed it ... we have added another CD to the collection.

Today we spent some time on a boat ride around the lake and along some of the canals in this city. The place is sooo green. The weather is cloudy and showery, but we´ve been really lucky to avoid the showers. Had a great buffet lunch ... tried everything ... so much easier when you can see what is is ... rather than ordering from a menu.

Hamburg is a city of canals. Didn´t expect to see so many canals ... all through the city. Love the little markets. Apart from food, they have flowers everywhere ... and so cheap. Just beautiful. The Elbe River is huge .... such massive ships and so many ... and so far from the coast really. A real eye-opener.