For Tuesday, we had asked my good friend Gabi whether she could host us, and she managed to free up her busy schedule to spend time with us. It was so much fun to see her again - we went to the Gymnasium together, which is a long time ago. And she was so very welcoming that the visit was a special treat.
We got a group ticket for the public transportation for 10.50 - incredibly cheap - and took the bus and U-Bahn to be closer to the city center. A visit to the Isenmarkt was the perfect start to the day. It's an open air market under the S-Bahn line, with fruit, vegetables, cheeses, meats, and a few other fun things. We walked the length of the market and back, finding it hard to resist the many tempting choices.
From there, we walked (in a drizzle) to the Museum of Anthropologie (Voelkerkundemuseum) where we very much enjoyed the special exhibit on India minatures. I had seen so many sculptures during my trip in January, but had learned little about painting so I really enjoyed learning more about it. After fortifying ourselves with some hot drinks and some cake, we continued on foot along the Rotenbaumchaussee, a beautiful wide street where well-off Hamburg citizens have lived for centuries. I was struck by the Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) that I found everywhere. These are stones inserted in the pavement with names of jews who lived in the houses and died during Hitler's reign. It seemed such a great reminder, especially for young people who might not be so aware of how many people died.
In the city center, we saw the Rathaus (city hall) and visited the Handelskammer (chamber of commerce) which is also many centuries old and was an important meeting place for buyers and sellers from all over the world.
The Nikolaikirche is a church that was hit by bombs during the second world war and left in its partially destroyed state.
From there, we walked to the area of the harbor, where a lot of development is going on and the new apartments and shops are expensive. It was fun to look around, and to just walk for a bit though after a full day of rain, we were hoping the rest of our stay would be sunny. Little did we know...
The next morning we had a wonderful breakfast at Gabi's place and she drove us to the train station, where we boarded the ICE to Nuernberg.
