16 May '05 - + 5 - 25 Stade
Today we visited the small city of
Stade.
Stade
has a long history as a merchant city, but I'd never heard of it until
Jenny looked for day trips in Lonely Planet. We didn't spend much
time there, but it was invigorating to be a tourist again for a few
hours, in addition to trying to make a life here.
We rode our bikes down to the harbor for the catamarn ride to
Stade. We really hoped that our bike locks would be enough to
protect our new bikes in a busy part of town. Fortunately, they
were.
The catamaran ride to Stade was relaxing and interesting. Along
the way I saw the answer to a question that had been bugging me: if
Hamburg is one of the world's biggest ports, where are all the
container ships? We definitely found them on the ride down the
Elbe River to the sea. It was also interesting to see that most
of the ships were likely bound for Asia, with ships carrying the names
"Hyundai," "Hanjin," and "China Shipping."
Stade itself was a cute little town. There's not enough there to
make a weekend of it, but we had a great time for the three hours we
were there. We could have stayed longer had the museums not been
closed for the Monday. The cutest area was around the
Alter Hafen,
the old harbour. It doesn't serve any useful purpose anymore
except luring tourists to relaxed, inexpensive cafes and closed
museums. We enjoyed lunch there and then walked around more of
the old town and its 17th century buildings.
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