We woke up earlish to go and see the miniature museum in Hamburg, which was by all means – excellent. It is a miniature train museum, but by no means is it miniature! There was models of different countries or regions (eg: Scandinavia, Hamburg, Austria – which stretched over 3 floors vertically) there was a concert mockup and much more. The detail was also excellent, it told stories in miniaturist terms – there was a swat team that was having a gun fight with a team of robbers, all the while the trains from different countries are rolling through the 17kms of track (I can’t remember, but I read it somewhere at the museum). The only thing that degraded the experience was the amount of people that were there, lots of kids, lots of people. It made it hard to fully see the detail in the exhibits. We arrived at about 10am on a Thursday morning (outside of school holiday time, so I shudder to think what it would be like in school holiday time). We booked online to get in without queuing which I would HIGHLY recommend that you do – and also it is suggested that you go later at night – like 8pm or 9pm to avoid the heavy crowds.
We had something to eat and drink there, and Wilton met us to show us around the harbour area of Hamburg. This was another highlight of the day, and are so thankful of the chance to be able to have someone to show us around. Wilton has lived in Germany since 79’ so he was very knowledgeable and knew a lot about the area. We walked through the new to old areas of Hamburg, saw the new ‘opera’ house being built which was cool. We then got taken to a nice Portuguese shop where we had some really fresh fish – not filleted, just cooked and served – very good it was. A strange thing at the restaurant was that you could eat as many potato chips (kinda – almost wedges)as you wanted – as long as you ordered a main meal. You also get a plate of salad for free as a starter! Thankyou Germany! Again, another benefit of being able to walk around with a local. It was so nice to talk to Wilton, I thought we got along very well, he is going to Australia next year with Claudia (his wife) and we were trying to convince him to come down to Victoria! (well if you are reading this Wilton come to Victoria! – or at least research it first! Then tell me that you don’t want to come. We then went to the underground tunnel that crosses the river – but an interesting point is that there is not a ramp down, they transport the cars down on a lift and the road is very narrow – maybe 10-20cms tops between the curb and the wheel, not for people who can’t drive really. That was interesting, we then went on a ferry ride (travel tip – use the public transport along the river), seeing the fish market(open on sat-sun in the morning), the cargo ships, and other things along the river. We then stopped for a drink alongside the river with wilton and then we headed off to the cathedral for view over hamburg. We took the stairs – conveniently directed Andrew away from the lift, and climbed some 300 stairs to the top.. When a button flies off your shorts, you know that you should take the stairs!! But fitness can wait until October. The views from the top of St michaelis was good, although the 4euro was a bit steep for a view alone. We then hi tailed it back to wilton and claudia’s. They cooked us dinner german style which was nice, talked a bit more, and then set off to start our television career.(poorly might I add). They wanted to make a video for Claudia’s children who are doing a topic on Australia. So they got the kids to ask questions about Australia. You can view this video on my youtube account if you have 4 minutes to waste. It was fun I thought – but you can check out andrew’s face – of how much he liked it hahah.
It was getting late, so we went to bed – sleeping like a rock nowadays – sending myself to sleep a little earlier, getting over my cold I think (well feels like it today).
The next morningI got up early to talk to wilton again, (very interesting) had some German rolls which he kindly went out and Bought for us, and then we headed off after a few hours and coffee’s to Schloss Schwerin – a fairy-tale castle in between Hamburg and Berlin.
More coming later.
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