Friday morning Vagn and I met in Kræmmersten early. We wanted to fly to Hamburg already Thursday morning, but the weather in Denmark wasn’t VFR, and we had to try again Friday. And whilst we waited for the fog to go away, we had briefing and breakfast in the club house:
It showed up there was a low cloud mass in the southern Zealand, after we took off:
We could see the end of it, and flew over. On the photo below it looks like overcast, but it was broken, and we had ground in sight.
We were so happy the weather finally gave us a chance to go on a flying trip!
The Danish island of Famø, and in the upper right corner – the cloud mass we left behind:
And soon we were in the German FIR. The 963 meters long Fehmarn Sound Bridge that carries both rail and road, and connects the German island of Fehmarn with the German mainland:
In Germany, the air traffic was heavy – so many were out flying. There wasn’t any break in radio communication on Bremen Info, so we had to leave the frequency without saying goodbye. EDHE Uetersen/Heist warmly welcomed us to their airfield. It was +16C when we landed!
Vagn’s blue RANS on apron photographed from the tower:
We quickly got to Hamburg, checked in to our hotel where we dropped our bags and got rid of the sweaters we were wearing. U-bahn to the harbour, and we were soaking the sun and a first spring-like day this year.
The Elbpromenaden was simply jaw-dropping. The location of Hamburg’s best-known waterfront promenade could hardly be more prominent.
It functions as a link and walkway for strollers between Landungsbrücken and Speicherstadt, and it connects with the HafenCity district and Hamburg’s new landmark, the Elbphilharmonie. It also acts as a flood protection barrier and has an integrated parking area.
There are plenty of small shops and cafes, and people sit on the stairs watching the ships passing by.
It was quite difficult to leave this wonderful area, but we wanted to experience other places, too. We saw many bridges embellished with colourful love padlocks:
The sun was going down, and we continued to the restaurant where our hotel booked a table for dinner on our request.
We chose Bairro Alto, a Portuguese restaurant (named after a Bohemian district in Lisbon). It was small and cozy, with good atmosphere, and packed with cosmopolitan crowd. Tapas and wine were good, but the sea-food paella was overcooked…
In the 1960’s workers from Portugal were one of the big communities who left their home for work in Germany and settled near the harbour in Hamburg. About 10.000 Portuguese people are currently living in Hamburg, particularly enriching its cuisine with Galão, Portuguese croissants. There is even a small quarter unofficially called the Portuguese quarter.
After the dinner we went for a stroll through the streets of Hamburg’ vibrant night life. The photo below is a richly “decorated” (otherwise beautiful) building with a sign “Achidi John platz” – in a memory of a Cameroonian drug trafficker (!). When he died, 41 bullets of crack and cocaine were removed from his gastrointestinal tract… That’s one of the many shades of the city of Hamburg…
We were a bit tired when we got back to our hotel, but excited, and looked forward to our next day in Hamburg.
