My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
Sunday March 2, 2025
Moin again!
It was my last Sunday in Hamburg – my last chance to do those things on the “things I want to do” list that seemed to get longer rather than shorter with each week.
Early in my contract on MSC Preziosa, I met a couple of Americans at my American cocktail party who had lived in Hamburg for a few years. How cool! I asked them, as locals, what did they recommend? They said the fish market, hands down. It was open early on Sunday mornings and it was an event. They were disembarking in Hamburg, so they actually wanted to figure out if they could go to the fish market and come back before they checked out, but the ship said no. I was intrigued.
The fish market supposedly finished around 8:30am. I looked up where it was and debated my options: to take the shuttle in and figure out public transportation from there, or to walk to the tunnel from the ship and go that way – it looked like it was about a 15 minute walk from the tunnel. But the tunnel was a 45 minute walk from the ship. Anyway, I had to wait until we had shoreside clearance to check out and check back in on Sundays, which also delayed me. Plus I had to sit in the lounge for an hour, so it was starting to seem like I wouldn’t make it to the fish market. But when we passed the fish market on the tour bus, it looked like it was still going after 9:30. And when I rode the boat with Peter, it looked like there was still something going on over there and that was closer to 10:30. Maybe the fish market wasn’t so elusive after all!
So on my final Sunday in Hamburg I managed to convince the powers that be to release me from my morning lounge hour. I had my stuff packed and ready to go, I checked out and checked back in as soon as we had shoreside clearance and I flew out the door. I power walked to and through the tunnel, turned left, walked another 15 minutes and there it was!
It was still pretty busy!
There were souvenir stands, and local stuff like they typically have at markets. There were stands where they were selling fish that people would take home to cook.
Then there were these trucks with men standing in them and shouting (in German so I obviously couldn’t understand what they were saying):
They had a lineup of big grocery bags. They would shout about a product they were featuring, then they would put it in each of the bags. I’m guessing that the people would buy the bags package deal with what the shouting man had put in it. It was quite a show.
There were coffee stands and tons of places selling sandwiches.
Everyone seemed to be eating these sandwiches. It seemed a little odd to eat a fish sandwich for breakfast, but I love a local experience, so I partook.
I wanted a hot drink as well, but I was trying to take a break from caffeine – so when I saw this stand, I went for it!
When I reached the far end of the market, I was near a big building that I’d seen from the river.
It was open so I thought I’d check it out.
Inside were more food stands and a place serving beer (it was about 10am and I didn’t get one- can you believe it?). It looked like they were setting up for a band to play.
But I still had one more thing I wanted to do in Hamburg.
I headed toward the big lake near the shuttle stop in search of one of those two-hour boat rides that went into the canals. I had met an Australian on the ship named Jon – he was living in Germany and was staying on the ship for about five weeks back to back. He just had knee surgery and had done the math – it was less expensive to stay on the ship and do his rehabilitation exercises, swimming in the pool and working with the fitness instructors than it would be to do these things in Germany. Plus there were a lot of Germans on the ship so he would have plenty of chances to practice speaking German, which he was also learning. He had recommended the boat ride from the lake.
I looked online and couldn’t find an option. The ticket booth seemed to be closed, so I walked up to the little steam ship and asked if I could join the tour.
The man on the boat said there was another boat down the way that would do the tour in English, but that was the one I had done before. I wanted to go on the canals – would this go on the canals? It would. I told him I knew about the buildings that lined the lake so it was okay if I didn’t understand the guide.
Once onboard he told me I could go down to see how the steam engine worked.
We cruised the lake, passed under a bridge and then made our way to the canals!
There was a duck or a swan perfectly centered under this bridge but I couldn’t get my camera out in time to catch it.
I saw the backyards of rich people – I assumed.
The captain’s family was onboard at the front of the boat. He held his kid on his lap while he narrated the tour.
There were likely more canals to explore, but I wasn’t sure how to find them. Still, it felt like the perfect note to end on.
I had time for one more culinary adventure. Rose (whose sister lives in Munich) told me I needed to have some pork knuckle in Germany. I found a very touristy place to once again eat way too much food before returning to the ship.
I ended up enjoying the pasta more than the knuckle, but I’m glad I tried it.
The next morning was supposed to be a sea day, but in the middle of the night a technical problem was discovered so we turned around and headed back to Hamburg to get it fixed before turning into open waters.
My schedule had already been published for a sea day. I had been thinking for the last couple of weeks how lovely it would be to see Hamburg not on a Sunday in the Spring – and here we were on a Monday and the sun was shining. I debated asking for permission to go out. It was a hike to get into town, and I’d had such a satisfying day the day before, and crew were not allowed to go ashore (I was on the guest list rather than the crew list so this may not have applied to me). I sent a message to the Cruise Director who was the person I answered to on the ship asking if it was okay for me to go out. But I didn’t realize until too late that he had been medically signed off work and didn’t answer. It was okay. I’ll just have to return again someday on my own.
Tchuss Hamburg!