We spent last night at The Sofitel at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 in preparation for our early flight this morning to Hamburg. After dropping the car at Southampton airport the next stage which was a train to Woking didn’t go exactly to plan, with lots of disruption, reroutes and delays we eventually arrived at Heathrow not at 7:10 but at 8:30 and because of our early start it was then pretty much straight to bed.
The transit through Heathrow went very swiftly and we were soon on our way to Hamburg taking off just 10 minutes after our scheduled time.
On arrival at Hamburg we were again swiftly through the arrival procedures and on our way to our hotel. The route was via the S1 railway to Hamburg Central Station where we then changed to the U4 underground to HafenCity Universität pictured below.
From there we had just a 5 minute walk to the Holiday Inn HafenCity where we had booked a room using previously earned points. Unfortunately at 11:00 in the morning our room wasn’t ready so after dropping the cases off we set off to explore Hamburg. As a guide we downloaded a self guided walking tour which started at the Central Station so being as we had public transport costs covered with a Hamburg Card we retraced our steps using the subway.
First four sites were Central Station, Hamburg Kunsthalle (Art Gallery), Binnenalster (artificial lake) & Alster Arcades.
Next were Jungfernstieg ( one of Hamburg’s oldest streets), Bleichenfleet (one of the many canals in the city), Hamburg Stock Exchange then the Town Hall (Rathaus).
Moving on we found the Bucerius Art Forum, St. Peters Church, Kontorhausviertel office block and the 10 storey Chilehaus which is arguably the most famous office building in Hamburg due to its angular end.
Poggenmuhlen Bridge & Speicherstadt then St. Michael’s Church where we were able to go up the tower for arguably some of the best views of the city and port.
On our way back to the hotel we passed the Elbphilharmonie and the HafenCity waterside. Stopping only for a bite to eat at one of the many restaurants in the area before finally arriving at the hotel just after 6:00.
Totally cream crackered but having had an amazing but long day.
Time to take it easy for the night, we intend to head off in the morning to explore some more as boarding doesn’t start until 2:30 and we have our room until 2:00 so everything seems to be working out quite nicely timewise.