The ship docked in Bremerhaven and we took a bus to Hamburg, 170km away. Two and a quarter hours each way was tiring and pretty boring really. But here, an important first impression …

While self important morons in Canberra think climate change is a fudge, the Danes and the Germans really are getting on with using wind (and even solar) energy. As we drove through endless corn fields like this …

… we saw hundreds and hundreds of these …

… in fields, in towns, beside farms, in industrial parks (and in the ports) …

… all over the place!!

… no mindshare in these parts for fruitloops that think proximity to wind turbines ruins your health!!!

… this, after having passed countless wind farms in the North Sea off the coast of Denmark …

Score 1 to the Germans (and the Danes) … Abbott and a few others should come and take a look!

The bus dropped us at the Hamburg Rathaus(!) … (=Town Hall, for those whose German is deficient.)

… We walked/explored … first, to the fascinating old warehouse district …

… spot the hooks? … still in use to load and unload from the upper floors …

… then down to the chaotic (recreational) port on the Elbe River … tourists everywhere … then up to a lookout over this harbour (but wait for more on that below …)

Through some ordinary neighbourhoods, then to something a bit fancier … including shops …

To Binnenalster, a pretty, small lake, right in the heart of the city …

We had lunch “with” some locals (most of whom seem to smoke!) … and were surprised how cheap it was!!!

Afterwards we found Aussenalster … boating central!

… and on the way back to the Rathaus, these – some of the few buildings of any merit (at least from what we saw) – but then again, Hamburg did take some terrible damage in WWII.

So Hamburg was OK, but not place to rush back to … score another 0.5 to the Germans.

But then, our third impression. We associate German with order, discipline, tidyness, cleanliness … Right?

Not in Hamburg …

Here’s the lookout over the harbour … (and this was not an exception).

And here’s the very extensive rubbish infested weed patch beside the lake right in the middle of town …

The city is a mess. Rubbish. Weeds. Broken glass. Cigarette butts by the million. Grafitti. In this, we were told, one of the wealthiest cities in Germany. The city fathers (and the residents) should be ashamed of themselves!

Back in Bremerhaven the harbour was buzzing with a congress(?) of tall ships … maybe more than 30 …