Germany - Hamburg

You could ask why we chose Hamburg as destination, about two years ago? Well, mainly it was because we wanted to see the German version of 'Love Never Dies'. We both love this show and didn't want to leave the chance of seeing it once more.

All in all, Hamburg is not that far off. Only a plane ride of one hour. And not expensive either, as Brussels Airlines offers cheap fares inside the EU (especially when you only take hand luggage). We found a hotel online, and we were set.

Well, we found the town quite pleasing. Enough to see and the distances were not too big. We could walk to any place, and it mostly did not take longer than half an hour. I love towns that are walkable. For those who don't like to walk however, I can recommend the InterCity hotel. They offer you a free public transport ticket for the entire duration of your stay.

The muscial - in a theatre quite near to the (in)famous Reeperbahn of Hamburg - was superb. The lead roles of Phantom and Christine were sung by Mathias Edenborn and Rachel Anne Moore. Edenborn is a Swede, who used to be a premier league soccer player before he went to the music academy. And Rachel Anne Moore is American. Normally, it disturbs me when muscial numbers which are originally in English are translated - it is horrible how they do this in Holland and over here in Belgium! But the German version sounded just as believable as the English one. Beautiful texts, well set to the music. A live orchestra with great conductor and the superb singing of all the artists made this a show I'm not likely to forget.

Something I can recommend while visiting Hamburg is a boat trip on the Elbe. There is also the Alster (inside and outside) but that's only a big lake, nothing special (although houses around the Alster are quite expensive). The boat trips on the Elbe are something else. I recommend you go for a small ship, as they are able to navigate the small canals in and around Speicherstadt (for those who don't understand German: warehouse town). The temperature inside these building remains equal despite the climate, which makes them great for storing goods.

Shopping can be done in the area around the Town Hall. All the great shops - and a lot cheaper than in Belgium. I bought a tunic at Gerry Weber's that was 20€ cheaper than the one I saw in a local shop here.

All in all, it was a nice trip. The hotel was ok - we slept undisturbed - and we could spend our days without any problem.