False Impression

I realized my first post might make this city seem dark, cold and eternally snow-covered. This is simply not true.

Hamburg is a beautiful city. One of its most appealing features is the waterfront. The Elbe allows Hamburg to be 120 kilometers (about 75 miles) inland and still be Germany's largest port. In the photo you see the Michel, officially known as Sankt Michaelis, as well as the bright green of the Rickmer Rickmers, the museum ship, built in 1896 in Bremerhaven.

Anyone who visits Hamburg should take one of the many available tours of the harbor and see the city from a different point of view.

-T

["Ouch! OK, I wrote the upbeat blog entry just like you asked! Now take the thumbscrews off, get out of my apartment and take the U-Bahn back to the Office of Tourism. And, yes, I promise not to post any more pictures of Hamburg in the snow, rain, or with ice anywhere in the foreground!"]