German weather forecasting is a dark art, clearly not yet mastered by the meteorological people.  Today was meant to be raining, with possible thunderstorms.  Instead it was blue skies with some innocuous clouds, and a temperature that topped out at 30 degrees.  Plan A was to visit indoor venues, but instead we leapt straight into Plan B, which was to walk around central Hamburg and see the Old Town.

Before we could hit the tourist trail, we had long-held business to conduct.  Germany is the only European country which accepts pre-euro coins.  You can take Deutsch Marks to the Bundesbank (Reserve Bank) in large cities, and they will exchange the coins for euros.  We had the princely sum of 14 marks, left over from our European coach tour of 1992.  This seemed a better option than our usual practice of throwing them into the Trevi Fountain in Rome, so we set off by train to visit this respected financial institution.  We were amazed at how many other people were queued up waiting to swap DM for EU – surely locals would have done this years ago? Were they saving their stash for the right time to make the exchange? Shrugging our shoulders, we joined the line and waited patiently for 45 minutes as those ahead of us handed over buckets and bags of coins.

Just as we reached the head of the queue, it dawned on us that everyone else was simply bringing in their Euro coins and getting notes in return.  There was a second counter for the DM swap – and there was no line! We could have been in and out in 5 minutes flat.  Sheepishly we handed over our useless currency and received 7 euros in return.  That will buy us a magnum each.

By now we’d missed the 11am departure of the walking tour we’d planned on joining.  There was another departure at 2pm, so we headed for St Michaelis Church instead.  This is Hamburg’s tallest tower and most famous landmark.  Built between 1751 and 1786, it has been mostly reconstructed after fires, lightning strikes, and bomb damage.  But more importantly, it was the parish church of my German great great grandparents Gottlieb Kleiner and Johanna Wendelburg, who were married there in the 1870s, and whose son Julius was baptised there shortly before they emigrated to Australia.

First we ascended the tower, which is 132 metres high. Originally wooden, it was rebuilt from fireproof materials after the 1907 fire.  It is certainly very sturdy! We took the lift to the viewing platform, and soaked in the expansive 360 degree views over Hamburg.  We descended via the stairs, which gave us a good look at some of the mechanics for ringing the huge bells, which chime faithfully every 15 minutes.  We were lucky enough to be right next to some of the bells at midday, and were nearly deafened as they were swung vigorously by a system of pulleys.

The bell ringing signalled the midday service, so we had to wait for an hour to see the church’s interior.  It is dazzling inside, all fresh white paint, and gold everywhere. It is very ornate.  The organist was still playing and we could almost feel the vibration of the massive pipes.  I pictured my great great grandmother walking down the aisle – it must have been quite daunting to be the centre of attention in such a huge and lavish church.

Next, we headed to the Rathaus (Town Hall) – I’m sure there are many jokes about the appropriateness of the name when referring to politicians so I won’t add to them!  We were meant to join a walking tour, but by now it was very hot and we were footsore and weary.  We couldn’t see any obvious signs of the tour, so we decided to continue sightseeing on our own.

The Kleiner connection continued – my great great great grandfather, Johann Anton Martin Kleiner, was a photographer.  He had a studio in Altona (we don’t know where but we have possibly inadvertently walked past the site), and later, a studio in Neuerwall, which is now a very upmarket shopping district in the Canal area.  It was probably always “posh” and we suspect the Kleiner photography business was successful and that the family was reasonably well off.  Today there is a Mont Blanc store at no 52 Neuerwall.

Already we’d become adept at jumping on and off the S-Bahn and U-Bahn trains.  Our day tickets included the commuter ferries, and we decided that a nice cruise along the Elbe would be a restful way to finish the day.  First, we paid a visit to Landungsbrucke (Landing Bridges), where all the various ferries and cruise boats depart from.  A short walk away was the Bismarck Memorial, the largest of over 250 monuments to the unifier of Germany, and an exercise in grandiosement.  These days it is adorned with not very respectful graffiti, and is largely bypassed by tourists, nor maintained.  Its sheer size was quite something.

The Old Elbe Tunnel runs under the river connecting the north and south sides, and allows cars, cyclists and pedestrians to cross.  You descend in one of several lifts big enough to hold 2 cars at a time (designed for horses and carts),  plus half a dozen cyclists.  The two tunnels, each just over 400 metres long, were constructed between 1907-1911.  These days the bulk of the traffic is bikes, with the occasional car probably driving through just for the experience. Whilst we didn’t walk the length of the tunnel, we did ride the lifts just for fun.

The ferry took us upriver to Finkenwerder, on the south side, and most notable as the Hamburg home of Airbus.  We even saw one of the rare “Beluga” planes (it looks like a flying whale), which are used to transport the fuselages and other components of Airbus products.  The Hamburg factory is the company’s German headquarters, and employs 12500 people. They assemble and equip A320s, as well as provide spare parts for Airbus customers worldwide.

The temperature had soared and the river breeze was a welcome relief.  After disembarking at Altona, we caught a bus to the station.  Ian made a successful trip to the Edaka supermarket (better than ReWe) – managing not to get scolded out by the checkout staff for one of several offenses which include not having change, or taking the receipt before the cashier is ready to hand it to you.  Local etiquette takes a while to get the hang of.

Staying in self contained apartments really does give you a feel for living locally.  We shop locally, cook our own food and eat it looking out at the comings and goings along the street.  We walk to the station and catch public transport.  OK, the backpacks, cameras and maps give us away as tourists – as does looking the wrong way before crossing roads, and our complete lack of German language skills besides “danke schon”, “guten tag” and “ich nicht spreche Deutsch”.  So far the language hasn’t been a problem, though I expected more signage in English than there is.

Hamburg is an easy place to feel comfortable in.  Maybe it’s just the summer weather, but there is a very relaxed feel, and we get the impression that people here live a good lifestyle.  There is not a lot of traffic in the city, and we noticed there are no billboards.  People don’t seem too rushed or overly stressed.  The trains are very efficient.

I love the variety in architectural styles – it reminds me of Chicago.  You can have 16^th -18^th century buildings slap bang against modernist glass and steel towers, and it all works somehow.  We saw so many unusual and quirky things.  Despite not having a big ticket tourist drawcard or landmark, there is plenty to see and do, and a lot to like about Hamburg.