Christmas Markets - Hamburg Page

At breakfast, we found ourselves in the Kiel Canal, fairly near the West end, so after, I went out on deck, chatted & got cold, as it was barely above freezing. We went through the lock at Brunsbuttel (panorama above), although there was little height difference. They seem to be building some more locks.

Into the lock

Out from the lock

Church/Lighthouse on the Elbe

The ship did a really tight turn to port, which made it heal over & slop some of the swimming pool, which was actually in use (!) over the deck. The canal actually ends in the Elbe but we went to the Oceans Club party. Then, I went back on deck but did few circuits, as it was still misty. Brief lunch. Into Hamburg,

Actual industry

Redundant nuclear power station

Hamburg Town Hall

I had a plan: to do a couple of churches, St. Petri & St. Jacobi, before which, I went to the Jungfernstieg.

Jungfernstieg	Jungfernstieg Xmas Market	Stalls outside St. Petri
St. Petri	Inside St. Petri	Inside St. Petri
St. Jacobi	Inside St. Jacobi	St. Jacobi organ

Then, as it was so cold, I just went through the Town Hall Xmas Market (below) & back to the shuttle point.

Back to the ship & a chance to warm up before dinner, with some more chats. The show was the two funny men, after which I advised Chris Gee to change the God joke to Theresa May asking God when she would achieve Brexit, saying he had caused offence with the Jeremy Corbyn version. At dinner, our companions were outed as Corbynistas & he was all for deselection. Wow!

There was a day at sea with Force 9 gales, closing the decks to guests, the only time we had not had mirror-calm seas. On returning to Tilbury, the Sun came out for the only time on this cruise.