With human activity on hold, Mother Earth has been allowed to heal and we are reaping the rewards. For the first time, many of us are basking in pristine, crystal clear  images of Natural Wonders as if we’ve never seen them before. Profound, majestic, ethereal; no words can describe their unmatched magnificence. We only hope that they remain. With that said, time is of the essence for the results of the T-Boy Society of Film & Music’s Five Favorite Natural Wonders. Like our previous poll, there were no clear cut winners. I found members’ deeply personal lists to be mesmerizing, with many taking me to the depths of my soul. Perhaps Richard Carroll summed it up the best, This one really makes you think about your life in regards to the world of travel. So, without further ado, here is the T-Boy Society of Film & Music’s Favorite Natural Wonders. — EB

Ed Boitano – T-Boy editor:

• The Geirangerfjord and her Seven Sisters – Norway: The fjords were carved out in a succession of ice ages, approximately 12,000 years ago. When glaciers retreated, plants soon appeared, animals thrived, and humans eventually made their way into this spectacular, but remote, heaven on earth. With its jagged mountain peaks jolting dramatically from the sea and stunning waterways sandwiched between them; the Geirangerfjord and her Seven Sisters would be my pick for the most beautiful place on the planet.
• Ha Long Bay – Vietnam: As our wooden vessel glided along Vietnam’s pristine Ha Long Bay, I stood in awe of the hundreds vertical karsts that surrounded us. Vendors in little skiffs tapped on the side of our ship, selling unfamiliar exotic fruits – mangosteen, rambutan (aka Harry Cherry), longan, star and jack fruits.
• The Dylan Thomas Trail – Southwest Wales: The path’s enchanting land and seascape helps you understand Thomas’ passionate bond with nature. The Gower Peninsula is where Dylan would camp and often walk the Gower Cliffs. Two of his best loved short stories, Extraordinary Little Cough and Who Do You Wish Was With Us? are set there. If you’d like to hike further, the 870 mile long Wales Coast Path spans the entire length of the Welsh coastline.
• Yosemite National Park – California: Humankind finally got it right when esteemed conversationalist John Muir persuaded President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903 for the creation of a unified and protected Yosemite National Park.  Today the park’s 1,200 square miles  of granite cliffs and waterfalls, giant sequoia groves, lakes, mountains, meadows, glaciers, and biological diversity are known throughout the world. While sitting by a tranquil crystal-clear steam in the meadow of the valley’s floor, I realized I could have stayed there forever.
• Spitsbergen – Svalbard Archipelago, Arctic Ocean, Norway: I was surprised to see the rush of the Spitsbergen Adventure Team to the bow of our Hurtigruten expedition vessel to view a retreating glacier. Later I asked the team leader why everyone was so excited about this particular glacier. The man replied, I’m not suppose to say this, but due to climate change we’ve never been so close to it before. Prophetic words, indeed.

Richard Carroll – T-Boy writer:

• The Canals of Venice – The 177 canals of Venice, for me, are an international treasure. Lined with buildings dating to the 13th century, the latticework of canals flowing throughout the heart of the ancient city with 409 bridges, and numerous islands, has a history that touches all of Europe. Best enjoyed off-season.
• Mexico’s Copper Canyon – Each of my six visits to Copper Canyon has been spectacular. Located in Southwestern Chihuahua in Northwestern Mexico, the canyon is four times larger than the Grand Canyon and home to the Tarahumara, noted as excellent long distance runners. The textures, and long casting shadows at dusk are memorable, as is a barefoot Tarahumara playing a crude handmade guitar singing in his native language.
• The White Cliffs of Dover – The first glimpse of the White Cliffs of Dover is an historic welcoming for travelers and for pilots during World War II. The eight-mile long chalky cliffs are on the narrowest part of the English Channel and visible from France on a clear day. To walk the White Cliffs of Dover footpath is to relive history..The nearby 11th century Dover Castle, the largest in England, a medieval lighthouse, wild flowers and active bird life, set the imagination a flight.
• The Pacific Ocean – The mighty Pacific, the largest and deepest ocean, seems to be staring up at me wherever I travel in the world, whether it be Columbia, Antarctica, Alaska, Fiji, or French Polynesia. With great respect I’m aware of its fickle personality and temper tantrums, creating monster waves, or in contrast a lake-like setting perfect for a canoe, a sip of wine, and a lingering browse. Best of all what lies beneath the rippling waves.
• Mt. Whitney – Rising 14,505 feet into an oxygen-starved sky in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Whitney, the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States, and only 84 miles from the lowest point in the country at Badwater in Death Valley, is a gorgeous natural wonder to experience. Only 15 miles from the town of Lone Pine, Whitney offers challenges, the easiest being from the Portals, and a 22-mile round trip hike via switchbacks to the summit, a view forever, and changeable weather.

T.E. Mattox – T-Boy music critic:

• The Redwoods National Park – Humboldt County, California: Majestic and massive and incredibly serene.
• Mt. Fuji – Japan: Over 12,000 feet and everyone one of them…up!
• Amalfi Coast – Italy: Like living on a postcard.
• Grand Canyon – Arizona: An upside down mountain. There’s a whole desert down there.
• Yosemite – California: The beauty from the Valley floor… and eating blueberry pancakes in the Lodge while staring up at Half Dome. Things you never forget.

Richard Frisbie – T-Boy writer:

It is hard to pick just five (I hate creating listicles) and, at the risk of sounding parochial, these show my New York and United States bias, but here goes:

• The Adirondack Park (NY): Created in 1892 by the state of New York, at six-million acres is the largest park in the contiguous United States. It covers one-fifth of New York State and is equal in size to the neighboring state of Vermont. These National Parks – Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Everglades, and Great Smoky – would all fit inside it.
• Lake George (NY): Just named the prettiest lake in the United States.
• Giant Sequoias (California): Ancient redwood trees growing in only 77 groves in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains – the tallest being General Sherman at 274.9 ft.
• The Dehesa (Spain): Rolling plains of grasses and wildflowers dotted with cork and oak trees primarily in the Extremadura region of Spain. Famous as the free range of the black-hooved pigs and black cattle that produce the finest pork (jamon) and beef in the world.
• The Mississippi River (US): A network that bisects the US, draining more than 1/3 of the country, and facilitating trade and human migration between the northern and the southern border (& parts in between) as well as the East Coast.

Susan Breslow – T-Boy writer:

• Victoria Falls – Zimbabwe
• Grand Canyon – Arizona
• Arches National Park – Utah
• Mount Fuji – Japan
• Niagara Falls – Canada

Deb Roskamp – T-Boy photographer & writer:

• Paradise Bay – Antarctica

      A reverence of silence
      Shimmering with purity
      ethereally pristine
      I sensed that we had floated into a space
      that was utterly and purely divine
      This, from one who (normally) abhors the cold

• Sugar Loaf Mountain – Brazil
• Lake Lucerne – Switzerland
• Mount Orohena – Tahiti, Moorea
• Ha Long Bay – Vietnam

James Boitano – T-Boy writer:

• Yellowstone National Park – Wyoming, Montana & Idaho
• Grand Canyon – Arizona
• Mt Rainier – Washington State
• The Westfjords of Iceland
• Lake Bled – Slovenia

Fyllis Hockman – T-Boy writer:

• Grand Canyon – Arizona
• Great Barrier Reef – Australia
• Sahara Desert – North Africa
• Aurora Borealis – Alaska, Northern Canada, Greenland
• Galápogos Islands – Ecuador

Lee Olson – TV producer & writer:

• The Matterhorn – Switzerland
• Iguazu Falls – Argentina & Brazil
• The Great Barrier Reef* – Australia
• The Li River Valley – China
• The Grand Canyon – USA

*I’m referring to the reef before the recent mass bleaching, from which the reef may never recover.

Stephen Brewer – T-Boy writer:

• Steens Mountain – Oregon
• Caldera – Santorini, Greece
• Dolomites – Italy
• Fingal’s Cave – Scotland
• Mekong Delta – Vietnam

Jim Gordon – Co-host & co-producer Travel Guys TV:

All my picks are part of “Travel Guys” episodes and the picks are in no particular order.

• Giant’s Causeway – Northern Ireland
• Grand Canyon – Arizona
• Moorea Island – Tahiti, French Polynesia (specifically the beautiful water/beaches)
• Fjords/Waterways of Fjaeland, near Balestrand – Norway
• Great Barrier Reef – Queensland, Australia
• Honorable Mention as I must include one from Canada: Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick (specifically the “fastest rising tides in the world”)

Alex Brouwer – T-Boy writer:

• Table Mountain – Cape Town, South Africa
• Yosemite Valley – California
• Mount Rainier – Washington State
• Grand Canyon – Arizona
• Cliffs of Moher – Ireland

Raoul Pascual – T-Boy co-founder, illustrator and art director:

• Mount Mayon – Philippines; the perfect cone volcano
• Niagara Falls – Shared by New York & Ontario
• Mount Everest – Himalayas (on border between Nepal & Tibet)
• Zuma Rock – Nigeria
• Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park – Palawan, Philippines

Brent Campbell – Musician and composer:

• Lake Chelan – Washington State
• Mt. Saint Helens – Washington State
• Hurricane Ridge – Olympic Peninsula, Washington State
• Crater Lake – Oregon
• Grand Canyon – Arizona

Annie Brouwer – T-Boy writer:

• Mt. Rainier – Washington State
• Galápogos Islands – Ecuador
• Yellowstone – Montana
• Olympic National Park – Washington State
• Rainbow Mountain – Peru

Raudi Benscoter – Tech maestro:

• La Ceiba – Honduras 
• Yellowstone – Montana
• Roatán Coral Reef – Honduras 
• Pulhapanzak Waterfall – Honduras 

Ringo Boitano – T-Boy Writer:

• Ha Long Bay – Vietnam: It’s easy to be spellbound by Ha Long Bay’s 620 sq miles of jade green waters with hundreds of towering karsts dotting the seascape. With thanks to Harrison Liu, PR extraordinaire.
• Tierra del Fuego National Park – Patagonia, Argentina: A life reaffirming display of coastlines, lakes, lagoons, peatbogs, wildlife and commanding forests; all protected on the southernmost tip of Argentina. This is the place to breathe the purest air ever found. Once again, thanks to Mr. Liu.
• The US Rocky Mountains & Continental Divide – Colorado: Looking east and downward from the edge of soaring 14,271 ft. Mount Evans was akin to seeing a living map, where the mountain abruptly ends and the flat pancake plains begin. Also in Colorado, you can hike the Continental Divide, which cuts through Grand County, and witness the divided watersheds which either drain into the Pacific Ocean or the waterways that lead to the Atlantic Ocean. No doubt you will encounter an array of rugged Big Horn Sheep. My advice: stay out of their way.
• Mt. Rainier – Washington State: If you can see this majestic 14,411 ft alpine marvel from Sea-Tac airport it means it’s about to rain. If you can’t see, it’s raining.
• Hoh Rain Forest – Olympic National Park, Washington State: Yes, I’m used to rain, moss and ferns living in Seattle, but the temperate Hoh Rain Forest’ s lush, green canopy rainforest, both coniferous and deciduous, is like entering into a new misty world of enchantment.

Greg Aragon – T-boy writer:

• Grand Canyon – Arizona
• Mono Lake – California
• Old Faithful Geyser, Yellowstone National Park – Wyoming
• Amazon River: The largest river in the world by the amount of water discharged and the second longest river in the world.
• Cuevas del Drach (Dragon Caves) – Majorca, Spain: These cave feature mesmerizing Martel Lake, which is 82 feet below ground. The lake is surrounded by wonderful stalactites and stalagmites hanging everywhere in a giant natural cathedral, where visitors can sit and listen to live musicians paddle by on gondolas.

Steve Rosenfield – T-Boy writer and photographer:

I’ve been struggling a bit with my favorite places since some of them date back to the 1970s when I was traveling overseas. Many of those places have changed and may either not exist as they were back then or they have become more touristy and maybe lost some appeal.

Anyhow, my most recent favorites would be – in no particular order:

• The Serengeti, Tanzania – The Great Migration is a year-round event, but the river crossings only occur as the herds head north through the Serengeti from around June through September.

• Victoria Falls on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia.

• Cape Town, South Africa for its natural beauty, friendly people and history.

• Santorini in Greece for its natural beauty and the donkey ride up to the town from the port – many people are now saying that the donkeys have been abused for many years, but, when I was there, it was the main mode of transportation up short of walking.

• Normandy in France with its coast beaches and memorials that are everywhere. One cannot help feeling the pain and heroism of what took place on those beaches and changed the history of the world – opposite of what Trump is doing (had to throw that in).

• The old man receiving the US flag was a veteran of the invasion and was given the flag during the lowering ceremony the day we were lucky enough to be there.

The post T-Boy Society of Film & Music’s Favorite Natural Wonders appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Water is as much a part of her soul as the stone and brickwork that breathed life into her atop marshlands along the Baltic Sea 300+ years ago. With 45 rivers, tributaries and channels crisscrossing her city limits, not to mention 40 man-made canals and 342 bridges, St. Petersburg has rightly earned the moniker “Venice of the North.”

Mother Nature continues to bless us with another splendid day in the city that Tsar Peter the Great built, as this photojournalist, invited by Insight Vacations to experience its Easy Pace Russia journey, boards the Baltika, a sightseeing boat, with my travel mates — 22 paying customs — and shoves off on this optional one-hour cruise from a dock along the banks of the Moika.

Passing under bridges, some less than 3m tall (DUCK!), we make our way past the Winter Palace, home to the State Hermitage Museum, and into the Neva, the city’s largest river that empties out into the Baltic, and take in the hustle and bustle of all the water traffic and camera-ready panoramic views.

Like La Serenissima, situated across 118 islands out in the Venetian Lagoon, St. Petersburg, bathed in the White Nights — those unique, luminous northern mid-summer eves when the high latitudes radiate an overnight glow — encompasses 101 isles, sans crooning gondoliers in striped shirts and straw hats, but she’s equally intoxicating in her own special way.

Outdoor seating under a clear blue sky makes this the ideal photoshoot. Add to that glasses of champagne and I’m all in on cruising the canals and rivers of St. Petersburg, one of Europe’s most beautiful cities, made even more spectacular at water level.

Down past the ornate, art nouveau Troistkiy Most (Trinity Bridge), St. Petersburg’s second longest bridge at 582m, we glide. The Neva rests easy today, like a cobalt-blue sheet of glass, as it reflects perfectly Peter and Paul Fortress out in the distance. Just past the Mir, a three-masted, full-rigged, sail training ship, our pilot slows the craft down as we cautiously tuck in underneath the three-arched Parchenchy (Laundry) Bridge and enter the Fontanka.

From here it’s clear sailing as we pass by Letniy Sad (Summer Gardens) and squeeze underneath St. Petersburg’s high street, Nevsky Prospect, via the Anichkov Bridge and its four, horse tamer statues. We then make a U-turn at the opulent, palatial digs of the Stroganoff family — from whom the classic sautéed beef in a sour-cream sauce dish got its name — and then head back up the Fontanka.

Nearing the end of our cruise, we veer left back onto the Moika, passing by the iconic, five-domed Church of the Resurrection of Christ, a.k.a. Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood, and then slowly make our way to our starting point just behind the Winter Place, gliding alongside more Italianate mansions and baroque and neoclassical palaces. A friendly wave to the crew of the Baltika — SPASIBO! — and we disembark.

Lunch, on my own ruble, is just a few steps away as I stroll along the cobble of Moika Embankment until I spot the bright-red, wooden bicycle fronting No. 16: Yat, a Russian fare-only, country-cottage-style restaurant down in the basement of an elegant, okra-colored building.

I score a table straight away, select a bottle of chilled French rosé d’Anjou, scan the menu and order the following: a beetroot and cottage cheese salad, an assortment of homemade pickles, a plate of pancakes with both red and pike caviar and a tempting slice of Yat’s homemade cheese cake. I finish my midday repast with a couple of shots of interesting flavored house vodkas — cranberry and horseradish. Na zdorovye!

Go here for complete information on Insight’s six itineraries to Russia, as well as more than 100 other premium and luxury-escorted journeys around Europe, or call toll free (888) 680-1241, or contact your travel agent.

They say it’s unthinkable to come all the way to Mother Russia and not experience a Russian ballet troupe. Well, if you’ll join me at sunset we’ll find a couple of seats inside the intimate Hermitage Theatre for a performance of Tchaikovsky’s very first ballet, Swan Lake.

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So, what’s the connection between me and Sammy the Poet? Well, I fled winter back home to enjoy a brief, second summer along the Sunshine Coast, and every morning for 24 straight days I would stand on the balcony of my ninth floor apartment at the Duporth Riverside complex in Maroochydore and gaze down and out at the panorama of the Maroochy River flowing into the Coral Sea and quietly remark to myself, “Water, water everywhere.”

My daily ritual began at around 6:00 a.m. when the “early to bed, early to rise” locals sped past my sleepy eyes aboard kayaks, canoes, stand-up paddle boards, pontoons, sail and motor boats and jet skis. Although delighted, it really pained me to watch as every passing day I would chomp at the bit to join in all that fun-loving water traffic below.

My wish finally came true as I joined the rest of my party of six and slipped into a flotilla of kayaks and a lone Canadian canoe to be expertly guided along the outer banks of the Maroochy by Neil Oldham, a master kayaker and pro guide for Sunshine Coast Sea Kayaking.

Our sunset glide took us around Goats Island, past Pin Cushion Island, along Mudjimba’s North Shore and down Stingray Alley, not to mention a few tricky spots where the low tide left us a bit high and dry. At the midway point we beached our craft and cracked open a few cold ones. A tip of the paddle to Neil for organizing this really cool experience, my first ever since coming ashore in Oz.

Now sea, actually river worthy, I gave it another go and rented a little half-cabin cruiser from Ready 2 Go Boat Hire at the Noosa Marina in Tewantin for a four-hour float up and down the busy Noosa River. Not the best of craft, I pretty much bobbed and weaved my way in and out of heavy traffic all day long, trying desperately to avoid all the wakes created by an armada of larger craft zipping around my “little boat that could.”

All the way down to where the Noosa meets the mouth of the Coral Sea, with a stop midway in the Noosa Sound to grab a cold one and an egg salad sanger (sandwich), I returned back to the dock at Noosa Marina without incident, but with a promise that next time, in the words of Roy Scheider from the movie Jaws, “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

If bigger is better, then by golly this time around I’ve finally got it covered: a six-person pontoon boat, complete with an on-board barbie, that I hired from Swan Boat Hire in Maroochydore for my third and final self-drive cruise.

Shoving off from the banks of the Maroochy, our crew of four headed up-river with hardly any traffic at all. Keeping the boat between the red and green buoys, I guided our craft straight and true just like Columbus over the ocean blue. On the return leg, we cracked a right and cracked open another cold one and went quietly up Petrie Creek until the clock struck “head back to GO.”

My self-drive antics on water now over, there’s still one, atop-the-wake activity left on my Down Under to-do list. It involves eating and drinking while someone else steers the boat.

If you book only one cruise while staying along the Sunshine Coast make it a sunset dinner cruise aboard the Noosa Cruiser Restaurant & Bar (NCR&B), rated no. 1 by TripAdvisor.

Waved through the security gate at the Noosa Marina in Tewantin by Ron, the owner/operator of the boat, our party of four makes its way on board and is led to a corner table by Dan, the head waiter. Quick on the draw, he has me twisting the top off the first of several bottles of chilled Aussie Pinot Gris in no time.

As the sun begins its descent, Skipper Greg puts the cruiser in glide and away we go, up the Noosa to the edge of Lake Cooroibah and back, passing by Sir Richard Branson‘s private Makepeace Island along the way, where exclusive and luxurious accommodation awaits 22 privileged castaways. Say “hey” to Sir R for me, will ya?

And, the white tablecloth service aboard the NCR&B? How about Chef Tristan’s appetizer plate of locally fished oysters, king shrimps, lemon pepper calamari and an avocado and mango salad. The main follows, a pan-seared darn of Tasmanian Atlantic salmon. And this floating feast ends with a fruity and creamy dessert. Mmm.

What a fun way to spend sunset aboard the Noosa Cruiser Restaurant & Bar. Me and my mates handled the merriment, Skipper Greg piloted the boat and Uber got us home safely.

Australia boasts 21k+ miles of jaw-dropping coastline and some of it winds its way around the Sunshine Coast. Join me next time when we’ll trek along the Costal Pathway to have a look at some of the OMG beaches and, no doubt, leave a few footprints in the sand before my final hooroo (goodbye) to the land Down Under.

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But that is not all the remarkably charming city has given us. It is Karl Lagerfeld’s birthplace, the home of Jil Sander, and corporate headquarters for Wempe Jewelers, Nivea face emollients, and Mont Blanc, makers of fine writing implements and luxury goods. The second-largest city in Germany, Hamburg is a verdant (bucolic parks weave through the city) and historic Hanseatic metropolis, and — you may be surprised to learn this — the city can claim more bridges than Venice.  Germany’s second-largest and arguably its wealthiest city has countless reasons to be on your bucket list.  Here are just eight:

The Extraordinary Elbphilharmonie:  The Elphi, sobriquet of the new, astonishing concert hall, opened January, 2017, after much Sturm und Drang.  Originally conceived in the early part of the century, it was to have been finished in 2010 at an estimated cost of €241.  Not. Construction concluded in October, 2016, at the cost was €789 million, but for my money (and, yes, I know, I am not a local taxpayer), it was worth every cent. Having visited it twice for two very different concerts, I found the acoustics remarkable, the design mind-boggling, and the experience overwhelming. The undulating, entry “tube” housing the longest escalator in Europe — nearly 300 feet — transports guests to the marvelously asymmetric, organically flowing hallways and tiers of the hall proper. Conceived by Swiss architecture firm Herzog and de Meuron — and with rich sound engineered by acclaimed Japanese acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota — it is perched on the Elbe River, surrounded by a watery perimeter.

The lower levels are red brick, vestiges of warehouses that up until 1902 were repositories for cocoa, tea, and tobacco.  With both curvilinear and rectilinear lines in its silhouette, the panels of glass on the upper floors reflect the water and skyline. Inside, the main concert hall seats 2,100 (with a 4,765-pipe organ!); a smaller recital hall, 500; additionally, there are countless terraces for viewing the stunning panoramas, several restaurants and bars, and capacious open space.  The promenade is open to the public and it’s a wonderful spot to simply sit and contemplate the always busy harbor.

More Music:  Hamburg was a hangout and showcase for the shaggy-haired Liverpudlians in the early 60s (and there is even a Beatles music tour), before their famed Ed Sullivan appearance.  Today, it ranks third in the world, after New York and London, for musical theater. “Rocky” previewed here and currently, “Aladdin,” “Kinky Boots,” “The Lion King,” and “Mary Poppins” are huge hits.  The musical scene is rife with jazz clubs, alternate performance venues, the Hamburg State Opera, and after-hours boites.  And if ballet is your passion, the highly regarded Hamburg Ballet (along with its school, Ballettzentrum Hamburg – John Neumeier) should not be missed.

The Port and Waterways:  Hamburg is considered the third-largest port in Europe after Rotterdam and Antwerp, and its waterways, thanks to the Elbe River, are labyrinthine. Not to mention, there is also water, water, everywhere, thanks to both the Inner and Outer Lake Alster, which are both pleasant places for an afternoon sail. Nearly a dozen companies offer boat tours weaving around the harbor and the old warehouse areas, the Speicherstadt, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015; here, 19th-century red-brick warehouses, on the periphery of endless ribbons of canals, have been transformed into trendy boutiques and cafes.

An atmospheric “nighttime lights” tour at dusk is a delight.  If you are ambitious, the Fischmarkt is a Sunday morning (5 a.m. until about 9 a.m.) experience, featuring much more than fish — souvenirs, clothing, fruit, produce, and tschotschkes; it has been the go-to place for fish since the early 18th-century.  And, if you want a local souvenir — a woven market basket — you can buy ten Euros’ worth of fruit and it will be packed up in a handsome basket, with “Hamburg” spelled out on one side.

The Dahlia Garden (Dahliengarten):  What a hidden gem, with 14,000 blooms that grace the city from mid-spring until the October frosts. Riots of color have been exploding all over this People’s Park (Volkspark) since 1920. With over 400 species of dahlias, it is a photographer’s and horticulturist’s delight… and entry is free.

The Majestic Town Hall (Rathaus) and the festive Christmas markets:  Hamburg has several holiday markets, and its most charming is the Weihnachtsmarkt, in the shadow of Town Hall; if you have time for one market only, this should be your destination. Germany offers some of the most delightful Christmas markets in Europe, where the tradition of outdoor holiday fairs is more than four hundred years old.  Steeped in custom and dazzling in presentation — horse-drawn carriages ambling through cobbled streets, glittering lights, intoxicating aromas, engaging entertainers — Germany’s markets are worth a special trip and they usually start with Advent.

Museums: While the city can boast some 50 museums — including one dedicated to Johannes Brahms, one that showcases erotic art, another known as Spicy’s (a museum chronicling the global space trade), a children’s museum, and several port/maritime/naval/nautical museums — these two are a must:  Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (Museum of Art and Crafts) has extensive collections of everything from faïence to fashion, including period rooms, vast photography archives, and a world-renowned collection of musical instruments; Hamburger Kunsthalle is one of the largest museums in Germany, and covers seven centuries of European art with outstanding works represented  in every era (including Manet’s Nana), from the Middle Ages (countless, priceless Old Masters) to post-1950 Pop Art. Additionally, the BallinStadt Emigration Museum should also be on your hit list. Starting mid-19th century and lasting nearly a hundred years, some five million emigrants fled Europe from Hamburg.  In 1899, Albert Ballin became the CEO of the Hapag company (today Hapag-Lloyd, a freight shipper), and this museum reflects the many buildings he erected as an emigration community, where those departing Europe “killed” time, getting ready for their journeys.

Miniature World (Miniatur Wunderland):  Billed as the world’s largest model railway, this attraction (75,000 square feet, spread out on several floors) features nine different, intricate railway systems, including those of Austria, Italy, the States, and diverse German systems.  The longest train is nearly 50 feet, and in total, there are 10,000 rail cars on 50,000 feet of track. The topography is dotted with nearly a quarter-million “people.” The craftsmanship is heartbreakingly detailed requiring perspicacious study; periodically the room lights dim, so that the train tableaux can be illuminated with nighttime lights, rendering an entirely different scenic panorama of the models. Expect gaggles of children here, as it is really a museum for the young, but any curious adult, especially a rail aficionado, is likely to be delighted with these models.

Cafes and Shops:  Hamburg has no dearth of high-end luxury designers and internationally celebrated boutiques, but look for local specialty shops, like Läderach Chocolates with sheets of appetizing confections, sprinkled with nuts and fruits. Bethge Stationery has elegant papers, handsome writing implements, and stunning leather goods.

The Hilde Leiss Gallery is chockablock with fine crafts — a treasure trove of ceramics, jewelry, and one-of-a-kind wearables.  For an afternoon pick-me-up that leaves Starbucks in the dust, Cölln’s is a find — gloriously tiled from floor to ceiling in colorful designs, it offers victuals that measure up to the décor, with a groaning board of patisserie-style sweets.

Where to Stay

The Hospitable Park Hyatt Hamburg

Windows on the City: Westin Hotel Hamburg

Hamburg’s Atlantic Kempinski: A Lakeside Retreat

Additional info:  Hamburg Travel

The Hamburg Pass (turbopass.com/hamburg-city-pass and hamburg-card.de) is a valuable tool for visitors, providing free public transport, some museum entries, harbor and lake boat rides, and the hop-on/hop-off bus tour, among other benefits.  For information in planning a trip, check out Hamburg Tourist Information

© 2018  Ruth J. Katz  All Rights Reserved

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