The Germans are serious about Christmas

These are the decorations in the main Hamburg railway station. Everywhere you go in Germany, the Christmas decorations are beautiful, especially at night. They've got Christmas right - ein Winterwunderland!

Christmas flowers...

The flower shops have lots of interesting types of Poinsettas like in this pic.

Deutches Essen

The German food is very good. The bread is excellent but they're really into buttery pastries (yuck!). I know taste's personal, but I couldn't start the day on a croissant. Yuck!

The coffee varies for my taste, although there is some really good coffee. I Iike their brewed coffee, but a lot of places don't get the cappucinos right at all...

0630 Hamburg Hauptbanhof

I've arrived nice and early for my train to Itzehoe which doesn't leave for another 50 minutes. I always arrive early, check where the platform is (actually, double and triple check) and then get some breakfast. The station is amazing - huge with lots of facilities - so different from Australia. I have a first class rail pass, and you get great service. It's like travelling business. If I lived here, I'd use the second class. I've travelled in it, and it's great, but on holidays, I go for a treat. Also I can use my laptop while I'm travelling. It's really comfortable and convenient.

Anyway I'm off to a regional town today - Itzehoe - to meet Harald, a pastor whom I meet in October in Oban in Scotland. He's learning Gaelic and doing very well indeed. It won't be long before he's fluent. The Europeans are really good at applying themselves to learn about the languages and cultures of others. Anyhow, I'll put some pics up later today - when the sunrises, which is about 9 am.

My walk beneath the River Elbe, Hamburg.

In these pictures, you can see one of the dual tunnels that go 12 meters under the Elbe River in Hamburg. The tunnel is used during weekdays for workers. There are car lifts on each end of the tunnel, and in one of the pictures here, you can see the entrance to one of them.

There are two tunnels, and lots of pedestrians use the tunnel too, but the pedestrians can use the tunnels anytime. Being Sunday, the tunnel was closed to cars, so I walked the tunnel with my friends Julie and Thorsten.

The walls of the tunnel are lined with beautiful ceramic tiles and it has such a turn of the century feeling, being built in only 4 years in 1904. I bet that people would be hard pressed to meet that sort of schedule now!

Lighting a candle

This amazing display in St Petri Church is a mass of candles burning away symbolises humanity's collective hope and compassion for all of the hardship we have to endure. You find a place on this huge mass of candle wax - you can see in the picture the huge white rough mass beneath the candles - it's all candle wax. Once you find a spot, you melt a little area on it with the flame and candle wax, and then you put the base of the candle onto the little pool of wax. You hold it there for a few seconds, and the wax cools and sets, and your candle joins all the mass of other peoples candles. It's a simple idea, but so amazingly breathtaking.

Church Service at St Michaelis

This is the Sunday night church service (Gottesdienst) at St Michaels Church in Hamburg. I know the picture's not great, but I hope you can make out orchestra and choir. The service includes a choir and orchestra with the Festikantate zur Weihnacht (Festival Cantata for Christmas) "Ehre sei Gott" by Anton Bruckner and "Ehre sei Gott" by Max Reger.

Amazing!