 Durant
& Cheryl Imboden'sEurope for Visitors europeforvisitors.com |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
News Archived press release
ABOVE: Rowing on the Alster in Hamburg, Germany. Hamburg announces 2004 spring and summer eventsThe city of Hamburg, Germany has a number of important events on its calendar in the months ahead, including: 815th Harbor Anniversary, May 7-9, 2004. Hamburg’s most celebrated events started when Emperor Frederick, I Barbarossa in 1189 granted Hamburg special trade exemptions on the River Elbe on this day. Tugboat ballets, fireworks, and parachute jumps, dragon boat racing and more! Europride, June 11-13, 2004. This international gay festival will light up Hamburg’s streets, restaurants, bars and cultural scene. Alstervergnuegen, the annual open air festival in August, when the otherwise sober-minded Town Hall becomes a focal point of merriment. Theater, music, dance, pantomime and top quality artistic groups participate. Slapstick comedy, old clowning traditions and the Hamburg Police’s “bike circus” add to the fun. Dom Festival in Spring, Summer and Fall where citizens pour out to play games, enjoy food stalls and attractions abound. Wednesday is Family Day with special prices. Cherry Blossom Festival with Japanese Fireworks at the end of May is a special treat for all Hanseats. The Art and Wine Festival in June each year combines culture and taste. Various wineries from around the world offer champagne, sparkling wine. Galleries, designers and artisans display their wares while tastings take place from noon to 11:00 pm every night. Hamburg: Venice of the NorthThe canals weaving in, out and around Hamburg remind one of Venice, but Hamburg is an experience unto itself. The reserved dignity of the citizens, their sophisticated style and tastes, their love for their city and their fierce independence set them apart from any others and are what make Hamburg, Hamburg. Proud of their maritime legacy, Hamburgers also honor their port’s international importance as the center of European emigration to the world, and the city’s atmosphere and ambiance is imbued with a certain maritime flair. The roots of this northern hanseatic city and federal state extend back to the 12th century when Count Adolf III of Schauenburg conceived of Hamburg as a place for barge masters, merchants, small traders and fisherman. Hamburg grew quickly as a port city. It’s only 60 miles from the North Sea via the Elbe River, and today, Hamburg’s harbor is the second largest in Europe after Rotterdam. After the great fire in 1842, Alexis de Chateauneuf and Gottfried Semper designed the classical Town Hall square and the Venitian-style Alster Arcade on the Inner Alster Lake and these have become the focal point of Hamburg’s city life. Hamburg is a city of restaurants, museums, musicals, design hotels and shopping. It is a media metropolis where companies and top lifestyle and fashion publications, including Gruner & Jahr, Spiegel, Jahreszeiten, Heinrich Bauer and Milchstrassen and various radio stations, have their headquarters. Paddle, sail, row or canoe the two Alster lakes in summer and skate them in the winter. Explore the romantic canals on a 1920s canal boat. Roam the Harbor that covers 12% of the city and where over 14,000 sea-going ships call every year. See the Oevelgonne Museumshafen Museum with its wide range of vintage ships, including the Rickmer Rickmers, a restored windjammer, and the Cap San Diego, an old freighter restored as a museum ship. Visit the Fish Market in Altona, which is renowned more for the funny wisecracks of the sellers, such as Banana Harry and Eel Dieter, than for its fish. Dance the night away at Jungle Nights at the Hagenbeck Zoo. Stylish bars and restaurants are open all night, but St. Pauli and the Reeperbahn is where the fun starts—and never stops! Hamburg is home to over 70 museums including the Kunsthalle with seven centuries of art and the world’s largest art nouveau collection housed at the Museum for Art and Industry. Shopping arcades, including the Hanse Viertel passage, and the Gaensemarkt passage, abound. While the weekend flea markets and the weekly open-air markets, such as the Isemarkt under the elevated rail tracks of the Hochbahn, are relished by those with more eclectic tastes. Cutting-edge and trendy design hotels serve those with healthy appetites for style. The 25Hours Hotel is the answer to the lifestyles of creative, metropolitan nomads while the Gastwerk Hotel is an industrial classic built in a former municipal gasworks building. The five-star SIDE is a 12-story tower of glass and natural stone with minimalist design. For further information on events and the city, go to: www.hamburg-tourism.de Text source: |
|
|
