Well Done

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For me a visit to the local Zoo is a typical part of a city tour. At Hamburg the “Hagenbecks Tierpark” is conveniently reached by the public transportation. Just after entering the park, at the elephant area a specially of the Zoo is immediately visible. People can feed the animals. This is of course a very special experience, especially with the elephants. They seem to be quite well adapted to that routine and line up at the border of their cage. Of course the animal Read More +

U-434

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A bit of on the far end of the fish marked at St. Pauli, the U-434 has found its last harbor. The russian military submarine has been securely fixed at the harbor and is now serving as a museum. You can enter the ship on your own or take part in a guided tour. I can only recommend the guided tour, as you get of course good explanations of what you see and you also get more to see, as the guided tour is the Read More +

Only by Lift

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The “Alter Elbtunnel” is a fully functional tunnel for cars and pedestrians. But despite the fact that you can drive through it, below the Elbe, there is no ramp to the tunnel. Instead, every vehicle that likes to pass the tunnel has to use one of four lifts to down to the ground level of the tunnel. The tunnel itself is quite nice to visit also for pedestrians as its walls are covered with white porcelain, its quite bright and friendly down here. Also there Read More +

Huge

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Every thing is a bit larger here. At least if it can float on water. On the harbor tour, some very impressive ships, cranes and docks can be seen. From a bit of a distance, those cranes look like toys. But once approached with the ship, there real size becomes immanent. Some of those cranes are designed to lift several containers at once in order to be more effective in unloading and loading the panama class ships. With all the technology used here, e.g. also Read More +

Staircases and Paternosters

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This guided city tour was a bit special. Of course I also learned something about the city, e.g. the big fire, which destroyed a third of the houses of Hamburg and resulted in a completed rebuilt of the affected areas. But the main topic of this tour was to show the “Kontorhäuser”, houses of the merchants. Typically those buildings where built by red/violet stones and named after their builder. Some of the merchants also built multiple houses, so the second or third house got a Read More +

Home – Hotel Wagner

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This was a really good choice. And that is not always easy if you select your hotel based one some reviews an photos. Not only is the hotel located conveniently close to an S-Bahn station, yet still far off the streets to be in a quite place, but the Hotel itself is really nice. The house is a little bit older an the hotel is located in a newly renovated floor. So you get all the modern comfort, but you can live in an individual Read More +

Walkabout at Warnemünde

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Quite obviously I am not the only one taking the train from the city center to the harbor area at Warnemünde, a district of Rostock at this Sunday afternoon. It’s a bit like a mixture of a party and a tourist site. There countless boats offering food and drinks on one side of the path and on the other souvenir shops and shops selling luxury articles hope for customers. At the beach, there is even quite a crowd of people. But the main beach activity Read More +

A Cool Tour

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There are quite interesting Wikipedia articles to read on the smart phone for the objects surrounding one. There is not an explanation for all sites, but it’s quite impressive, what contributors have created. But of course hearing the story from a local guide is more personal and individual. So, like in other places, I took a guided city tour through Rostock. Luckily, the weather was quite nice – as most of the time on my trips – but also quite cool. It was not a Read More +

No Reservation? – Garni am Hofenmarkt

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After traveling for some weeks now, the daily or bi-daily routine of a hotel checkin was interrupted. Not sure, whether I was a the right place, I heard in astonishment, that the hotel staff at the reception had not heard of my arrival, which I booked some months ago. Luckily, this was just a missing printout from the online booking agency I used and I finally got my room. The hotel is located in the middle of the pedestrian zone, and hence its a quite Read More +

For Pedestrians Again

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After the arrival in the late afternoon, I took a first opportunity to get an overview of Rostock. I used my favorite approach, the random walk, to get along the city. As I quickly discovered, this city, at least in the center, is again very well suited for being discovered by foot. My first steps outside the hotel, which is situated quite in the center, brought me right through the pedestrian zone. At first, I though, this looks quite similar to Rheinfelden AG (in Switzerland). Read More +