Boat tour on the river Elbe

We almost missed our train because I got us on the wrong bus!  We had to RUN down Konigstrasse with our bags.  The bus did eventually go to the train station, but we might miss the train.  So we ran instead.  We ran straight to our track and the train hadn't left yet.  We had about one minute before departure when Michele noticed our train was on a different track!  *&%#!  Quick!  Down the steps, under the tracks back up the steps, wait for us!  We jumped on the nearest car just as the doors were closing.  That was close!  Way too close!  I wanted to get there early so we could get breakfast before we left.  So much for that idea!  (I don't think Michele has forgiven me yet!)  The train was full and people were even sitting in the space between cars.

  I'm glad I made seat reservations.  But we only had 15 minutes after departure to claim them and we had about 7 cars to walk through to get there.  But we did get to our seats.  Whew!  We were exhausted, thirsty and starving.  I went back about 5 cars to the Bord Bistro and got us some food and drink.  And then we settled down to a long, long ride. 

We arrived in Hamburg late and on a different track.  Wolfgang and Ute were there to meet us and fortunately I knew what they looked like!  They had visited my parents last fall and invited me to visit on my next trip.  They agreed to meet us in Hamburg so we could tour that city first.  Our first activity was a boat tour on the Elbe River.

  The water was high so we couldn't go under all the bridges, but we still got a nice tour of the city and harbor.  We saw the Warehouse District, Lion King Theater, shipping yards, an expensive yacht and even gulls walking on water!  The tour was in German but I was able to understand some of it and Wolfgang gave us some translations. 

After the tour we walked up to St. Michaelis Church.  We couldn't go in the church because they were about to have a Good Friday concert, but we could go up the tower.  And this one had an elevator!  We got great views of the city and harbor.  On the way back to the car we walked along St. Pauli Landungsbrucken - a floating shopping and dining area near the Red Light District.

  We also stopped in the Elbtunnel.  This is an under-water tunnel for cars and people that extends for about 427 m under the harbor.  It was closed to traffice when we were there and we didn't walk the whole thing.  I'm glad, too.  For some reason all the kids thought they had to scream to hear their voices echoing off the tunnel walls.  No thank you. 

On the way out of town, we passed a bombed church that was left in its ruined state as a Memorial for WWII.  We didn't stop, though.  And then we were home a little over an hour later.  We had a nice cup of tea and off to bed.  Our Easter Holidays had begun.