Left Hamburg nearly two weeks ago, but I cannot stop daydreaming about it

The first few days in Hamburg were so rainy that when the sun finally came out I purposely went on a walk through one of the nicest parts of the city. Purportedly, there are more bridges in the Hanseatic city on the Elbe than there are in Venice, but I still don’t know if that’s true. I did read it on the internet, so I suppose it must be undeniable.

I wrote about this somewhere else recently, and maybe here as well, but Hamburg has an element of its public transport system that reminds me a bit of Chicago, which is one of my favourite American cities. Similar to that, Hamburg’s is an above ground train (Bahn) that sometimes goes underground. Other German cities have a U-Bahn or underground train (Untergrund Bahn) system, but this one is above the street, so it’s called a Hochbahn. ‘Hoch‘ is German for high or above.

Especially in such glowing sunlight, I love buildings like this. I could try explaining the German education system and the difference between a Gymnasium (college preparatory ) and a Realschule (intermediate school), but just the thought makes my brain hurt. I do like the thought that the latter is a ‘real’ school. I spent enough time in Montessori and Steiner type schools that I know what an unreal school looks like. I prefer those to the real ones.

This poster made me smile, and I like the way you can see the building in the reflection of the mirror. Cool, eh?

Look, I know there’s beautiful masonry and there’s not so beautiful masonry. According to a historian, these are probably of no consequence, but I simply love the lion and the faces of the men. Maybe it’s that the style of facial hair is similar to a blogger we all know.

So, there you have it. My fascination with the era of the Fin de siècle (turn of the 19th to 20th century) is based on art and music and architecture, but I have to admit that beard styles are not a small part of all of that.

I could’ve easily just included only shots of bridges and water. The light on the water is something that I’d likely never tire of were I to live in Hamburg.

Reminds me of my trips to Chicago when I was studying music in Cincinnati. The above-ground trains in both places were probably built in the same era…can’t be too dissimilar. A better blogger would go do a bit of research. I’ve got better things to do.

This is Sankt Johannis. Beautiful, isn’t it? I really like the architecture in northern Germany. More on that in a future blogpost.

So, that’s it. There’s your latest tour of Hamburg with the inexhaustible Lahikmajoe. More soon. Might even start in on London. One can dream, eh?