Hamburg, Hamburg, Deutschland

The name above should remind you of something. Like when I told you about Bremen, Hamburg is both a city and a province. It’s the second largest city in Germany, after Berlin, with about 1.8 million people. To Americans, Hamburg tends to better known as a large port city. Bremen is also a port city, though, which means these two cities have had slight trade squabbles throughout the ages. Yet, in the complex nature of German history, both Bremen and Hamburg were once united (in 836 A.D) under the Bishopric of Hamburg-Bremen.

Nothing like religious obligations to bring people together. Regardless, Hamburg has a distinct culture. But, it closely reflects Bremen’s history — a free, imperial city in the Holy Roman Empire (Heiliges Römisches Reich/Erstes Reich). Hamburg was also invaded by Napoleon and then reassumed its independence after the war until the German unification of 1871 under Otto von Bismarck. Now, Bismarck wasn’t born in Hamburg, but there is one of the largest and most impressive statues of him there.

As you can see in the picture, there’s graffiti on his statue, which I tried to not get in the shot, but there was a lot of it. What I’ve noticed both in Bremen and Hamburg is that there’s quite a lot of graffiti on Bismarck’s statues. Now, I’m going to make an educated guess as to why — the end of Bismarck’s career led the country down a path toward WWI (and, no, WWI was not because the entire country of Germany just felt like going to war — please, read a history book if you think that’s what happened). Bismarck may resemble the militaristic, nationalistic mindset of old Germany. I mean, he sometimes looks like it with the Pickelhaube (spiked helmet), right? He also targeted Catholics and Socialists as he feared their influence.

These persecutions don’t help his reputation, but I don’t think that gives him enough credit. He still implemented the Sickness Insurance Law of 1883, Accident Insurance Law of 1884, and the Old Age and Disability Insurance Law of 1889 as well as basically instituting the first, modern welfare system (one that actually worked). So, I’m not sure why his statues are being spray-painted, but I’m going to take a stab at the dark and say that modern, German kids don’t like him because he isn’t a saint and he reminds them of a militaristic Germany. Americans have been doing something similar to this, too, with our historical figures, so that’s my best guess.

On that same note, I noticed an excessive amount of graffiti in general. And I’ve been to München, Nürnberg, Augsburg, Bremen, Oldenburg, Füssen, Freising, Salzburg, and dozens of cities in the U.S. and let me tell you, Hamburg is the graffiti city. I walked down several neighborhoods and every inch of the lower half of the buildings were covered in graffiti. The one area that didn’t have any street art was, of course, the iconic Elbphilharmonie and the Hafenstadt, or “port city” of Hamburg. These are the most touristed areas.

The Elbphilharmonie officially opened in January of 2017. It’s an architectural masterpiece. The glass design imitates the waving motions of the sea. The building was under some controversy as it took longer to complete than estimated and also ran over its budget of 200 million Euros by 670 million Euros. If you’re wondering what that is in dollars, remember, the dollar is more inflated than the Euro — so it’s a lot more in dollars… about $1,026,600,000 to be exact. The Elbphilharmonie was built on the foundation of an old, stone warehouse, so it has some historical significance as well.

I think this building is symbolic for the city. After WWII, the city had been horrifically bombed and couldn’t efficiently conduct trade for dozens of years. After the reunification, it slowly but surely regrew its trade base. With the European Union growing along with Germany’s economy, it has since returned to its former seat as one of the top cities of trade in Europe. So, I think this building captures Hamburg at a point where they can let out a breath and know that their city is doing well.

Another area that has seen growth is the Planten un Blomen park — especially the Japanischer Garten und Teehaus. The city park has been in Hamburg since 1930, while the Japanese Garden and Tee House opened after the reunification. The Japanese garden was my favorite portion. Walking through this area wraps you in serenity and gentleness. You can’t help but hum a happy tune.

This park was a breath of fresh air. I enjoyed its layout, its flora, and its architecture. It’s also centrally located and easy to get to. However, I didn’t enjoy the construction that was happening on a building only a block away. But, that’s to be expected in a city.

After the park, I attended a yoga workshop from David Keil at Ashtanga Yoga in der Schanze mit Inke Shenar in Sternschanze. I was able to take a glimpse at German yogis/Ashtangis and guess what I found out? They’re the exact same as us! There was the two chit-chatty people in the back, the person who likes to answer the questions, and the several people who were dedicated and intrigued to learn new ways to approach their practice.

And this leads us to Ehron’s takeaways

• A Must-See: You have to go the the Havenstadt and at least see the Elbphilharmonie. Especially since it’s so new, you’ll be seeing something not everyone who’s visited has seen before.

• What I Recommend: If you have about €15.00 and a whole lot of time, I would see the Miniatur Wunderland. I made a separate journey back to Hamburg just to see this incredible place and it’s worth the money. This is the largest model rail system in the world. I love miniature everything, so I was in love. You get to see huge model sets of the U.S., Scandinavia, Hamburg, Middle Germany, Bavaria, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and Knuffingen — a completely fictitious city with its own working airport and central train station. Check out my blog post to read about my experience there.

• My New Favorite Place: You probably guessed it, but the Planten un Blomen. More specifically, the Japanischer Garten portion. They have restaurants and a café in the park, too, so if you ever go, you can grab a cheap cup of coffee or tea and find a bench to take a seat to soak in the atmosphere.

Thanks for reading.

Until next time, lovelies,

Ehron