We got up early and headed to Miniature World near the harbour. Once there we went and tried out the virtual reality experience in their tiny world. We actually quite enjoyed it and it was hilarious as we ended up bumping into each other and heard each other squealing throughout.
We really enjoyed strolling through Hamburg with its vibrant streets and heaps of shops. We met up with Auntie Julika at the Hamburger Rathaus before getting some ice cream with her. TV ducked out to buy some pants and shorts while everyone else enjoyed their ice cream. Afterwards we found a beer house restaurant and had a lovely dinner. The kids were getting tired though, so we headed home to be rested for tomorrow's big day.
The Saint Nikolai Memorial is a church which was destroyed in air raids during World War II. It has been left as a reminder and has a museum highlighting how the war started. Today it is quite a powerful symbol highlighting the destruction of war. We enjoyed walking through it and letting the moment sink in.
We walked to get a bit of lunch and to catch up with Auntie Sally and Auntie Tess. We were impressed with all of the canals and the public access to the canals. It was very good to see our Aussie friends and have a couple of beers in the sunshine. We got some news and a bit of a reminder of home. We are going to catch up with them again so it was good fun.
We had arrived in Hamburg in time for their big harbour festival. They had all sorts of food stands and games too. The main draw of course was the boats going up and down the river and harbour. We enjoyed sampling some of the goods, somehow ending up in a Lithuanian spot with dancing fox characters and delicious beer.
In the morning we had a quick breaky and headed to the local park. The girls really enjoyed it because it was more natural with all of the structures made of wood. It had heaps of trees and was such a pleasant place to be. They played some really creative games including making up a play on the spot.
Once we dropped off our stuff at the accommodation we headed out to catch up with Auntie Julika. We walked through a long green park which had several playgrounds all the way to the lake. It gave us a good idea of Hamburg which is a very walkable and bikeable city. It was really fun to see Julika and have a great German pub dinner. We then walked back and got to see a rainbow crossing which the girls enjoyed.
