#568 Hamburg, Germany

The MV Explorer is docked in Hamburg for three picture-perfect days and one less-than-perfect day.   

Kelly might tell you that his Hamburg favorites include the nautical book stores and the German food (labskaus, currywurst, bratwurst, wienerschnitzel, Beck's lemon beer, the Hamburgers' hamburgers, and all the lovely fish).
 
But I'm writing this blog post, so I'll tell you that my Hamburg favorites include the architecture, the Japanese garden, the Miniatur Wunderland, and the Elbe Tunnel.    

The Planten un Blomen Park includes a delightful Japanese garden with a teahouse, built in 1985 and is the largest of its kind in Europe.

Miniatur Wunderland is a model railway exhibit that has grown for the past 12 years into 8 sections of 1,000 trains, 13,000 meters of track length, 215,000 figurines, 228,000 trees. It is huge!   See the official Miniatur Wunderland video. 

Nearly 300 employees are needed to build the models and monitor every section.

The America section includes the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas with more than 30,000 lights, the Rocky Mountains, Cape Canaveral, Mesa Verde. And I am thrilled to find one of my favorite things - a small drive-in movie theater!

The Elbe Tunnel was built in 1911 for both pedestrians and cars to pass beneath the River Elbe.  On Sunday, the tunnel is for pedestrians and cyclists only.  Glazed terra cotta ornaments decorate the tunnel walls and are best admired by the pedestrians!

Yours in Deutschtand,
Mary