Cruising the Elbe in Hamburg
No trip to Hamburg would be complete without taking a cruise on the Elbe River. Like Venice, Hamburg is a city of islands, and the best way to see them is from the water. Take the S-Bahn to Landungsbrüken, the St. Pauli Piers. This is a 700 m (almost half-a-mile) long floating pier that is home to many ferries, water taxis and several companies that offer tours along the Elbe. All of the companies offer both one and two-hour tours. I strongly recommend the two-hour tour, and I will explain why later on. Before you buy you ticket check carefully as to the language of the tour. Many of the tours are only in German, and even from the companies that offer it tours in other languages on some boats. I ended up on a German only tour. While I missed information about what I was seeing, I also avoided having to suffer the “guide humor” that seemed to be plentiful, judging from my fellow travelers. The tour starts with a trip down the canals, through the Speicherstadt neighbor...