When I was little my parents were all about gender-neutral toys. As well as having a Dolls House we had a Fisher Price Garage (complete with petrol station) and a Seaport. The Seaport came with a big container ship, a dock where the Ship could harbour and a couple of Cranes for moving things on and off the Ship. I had completely forgotton about this bit of my childhood until I visited Hamburg Port last weekend. Looking over the enormous Hamburg Hafen, the toy set and all the games I used to play with it came flooding back. Happy memories! I'd love to know if Mum has kept that toy amongst all our childhood treasures; would be nice to get it out again and see if it's as I remember it. Anyway, even over the Easter weekend the port was alive with the comings and goings of container ships. Hamburg's port really is still the heart of the city and we found ourselves coming back to the port repeatedly, thankfully always with five minutes to spare to watch the ships and take just a few more photos of the busy-ness that was all about.
Back behind the port is the old Speicherstadt area. The warehouses were built in the late 1800s to store goods from the free port. It's a pretty quiet part of town now - there are a few apartment conversions in the pipeline and curious tourists walking through the old lanes, but mostly the old buildings have been left to themselves leaving you to imagine how the place must have looked 200 years ago when bargeships and men and pulleys and horses would have filled the place with the sounds that now echo from the modern-day port.
13 comments:
I love the Speicherstadt, I think it is one of the best places in Hamburg. When I was there last summer we saw the arrival of the Queen Mary II ship, that was fantastic!!
Have a lovely Wednesday!
I love hanging out at ports, and this one looks amazing! Also, your parents sound awesome!
I love the port's atmosphere,
sunset is my favorite moment
;) Fede
http://fedulab.blogspot.com/
wow, the Speicherstadt area looks really cool...i'd love to see that in person. guess i will someday :)
LOVE LOVE the flower shot and the last shot!! Beautiful! The seaport looks like a fun atmosphere to shoot at!
I'm absolutely fascinated by the way cities like Hamburg mix the modern and old together. And that last photo is something else. It reminds me of a scene from some movie I once saw. How beautiful.
I love this post Clare. The last 3 shots especially. The POV down the canal-I'm imagining you on a bridge. Hope you have some gender neutral toys for your little one coming-my poor mum pushed the dolls, and I ended up grabbing for the trucks. Good to have options.
I've never been to a port, but this looks awesome!
I loved reading the bit about your childhood toys! The port actually looks nice, I'd have expected it to be gritty and unpleasant - so glad to see it's quite the opposite!
I love ports too, love your shots of it all, really interesting, there is something about cranes against a blue sky - needs to be photographed.
Clare, the last photo is breathtaking. Gorgeous.
Can confirm that port is still in mum's collection! Rowan has loved it too, maybe even more than I remember loving it, but certainly made a big impression on me too, all brought back when I saw it again!
Amazing photos! I love that Black and white/Sepia shot. So great they just leave things the way they are. So much of NYC is knocked down and rebuilt.
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