StarwoodGuy: Around the World With Starwood Hotels in 30 Days

I had finally reached the halfway point of my journey in my father’s hometown of Hamburg Germany. I had spent a great deal of time here as a child but it had been over fifteen years since I had been back for my grandmother’s funeral. Unfortunately, before I could leave Munster, I had to take the train, and the previous day Deutsche Bahn, the German train service, had announced they were going on a two day strike. I was able to get an express train operated by non-union members but my previous train was cancelled and the reservation was forfeit. The train was not one of the deluxe ICE trains but rather a speed commuter train, so it did the trick of Munster to Hamburg in two hours and fifteen minutes with few stops, though there was no dining car or elaborate seats. When I arrived at the station in Hamburg, I made the quick five minute walk to the beautiful Inner Alster, the smaller of the two lakes that are a part of the center of Hamburg. The most famous hotel, the Hotel Atlantic was right next door to my choice, Le Meridien Hamburg.

I checked into the large modern lobby and was given a wonderful greeting and a suite upgrade to a corner city-view room. The room was amazing, with a large entryway, a walk-in closet section that led into the bathroom with a separate tub and shower, the latter which had multiple jets. There was a large sitting room and desk which flowed right onto the bedroom, two large televisions were on with the SPG channel on and a personalized greeting message. I went right upstairs to Le Ciel restaurant and bar for a beer and a beautiful view of the sunset from their wonderful rooftop. At 4 Euros the beer and various snacks were a steal. The view is just simply amazing. I would have loved it for my room but my upgrade was to a garden view which was still a nice city outlook. After drinks I headed for a walk around the downtown area which I remembered from my youth. The main station or Hauptbahnhof is large and impressive and the shopping streets of the city wind down to the beautiful Rathhaus or Town Hall. I kept going along a few of the shopping canal streets, down to the large Gansemarkt shopping Passage or walkway, and then came back along the Inner Alster to the hotel.

After a great sleep the next morning I headed into the small gym where there was only one other person doing weights but as in Essen, the space was so small only one could do weights while other people did cardio. I did cardio first until the other guest was done, then showered in my room and headed to breakfast at the rooftop restaurant. The views were even mores stunning by daytime on the restaurant side of the rooftop, and the breakfast buffet was elaborate with many options from German brochen or crisp rolls served with cheeses, meats and pates or honey and other fare such as eggs, bacon, and sausage, as well as various cold fish options. After a great breakfast I headed out on a long walk around the city, starting in the old town and heading to the large Michaels Church, then to the red light district of the Reeperbahn, down to the old Elbe Tunnel crossing with an elevator that lowers cars down to an underwater tunnel, and along the water passing the ferry terminal and then on to the new Harbor City. The Hafen Stadt is an entire area that never existed previously in Hamburg, with old buildings that were derelict completely redone and mixed in with amazing new construction and with mixed use apartments and condominiums. It is a great addition to the city, still a little quiet, but apparently getting busier all of the time as new restaurants are added.

I made a quick trip back to the hotel for a shower but unfortunately found that the lights in the bathroom were not functioning. I told the front desk on my way out to meet up with my family, getting picked up by my Uncle and going firstly over the Elbe in the much newer and main Elbe Tunnel, to see my cousin and her husband and two kids for coffee and cake, and then we headed to Rissen, the town where my family is from just at the end of Hamburg back on the main side of the Elbe and next to the famous and beautiful town of Blankenese. Stepping onto our street the Hildeweg was like going back in time. I had brought a few friends here over the years (hi Dave, Jamie and Alison), but I had spent most of my trips here as a child. Right when we pulled up it was like going home again. I ran into one of our neighbors right away who had visited in Victoria years earlier, and now here she was with three children, the oldest being fifteen! I had a wonderful dinner with my Aunt and Uncle and my other cousin and her husband, who I was meeting for the first time, and then the husband of the neighbor I had run into came over for some beers before my cousin drove me back to the hotel. It was a great visit and wonderful to catch up with everyone again.

Unfortunately, when I got back to the hotel the lights in my bathroom were still out but it was midnight so I just went to bed. The next morning another workout and wonderful breakfast and I asked the same front desk agent about the light issue. She was, well cold, to find a somewhat polite term for her demeanor with no apology or reason why nothing had been done about the situation so far but I just shrugged it off, it was stubble for me for the day. I still had five hours before my train to Berlin since I had gotten up extremely early with the hope of giving myself time for a quick trip by train from Hamburg to the picturesque town of Lubeck, famous for being the place where Marzipan was invented. The Meridien is only fifteen minutes from the station so I walked over and with my Eurail pass simply jumped on an ICE to Lubeck. Thirty minutes later I was in the beautiful and picturesque town. The old city is surrounded by a moat, and inside the inner-city you find wonderful churches, small shopping streets, and old homes, plus many sections of the original wall dating back over eight hundred years. I wandered around for an hour and a half, stopping by the beautiful town hall and the Niederegger Marzipan store, in operation since 1806. A quick walk back and I was back on the ICE to Hamburg. I had a quick walk back to the hotel, grabbed my bags from the room where I found the lights in the bathroom happily operational, and then headed back to the station for my trip to Berlin. Overall Le Meridien Hamburg is a wonderful hotel with great suites and an amazing bar and restaurant. The free online magazines were a wonderful addition. I opened web pages for several available from Newsweek to Mens Health, and left them open so that I could enjoy them later on my next train trip. Free access to museums with your room card was another perk, though I did not have time to enjoy this feature. The location in hard to beat, but the service could certainly be friendlier, problems resolved a little more quickly, and the gym needs to be bigger especially when a convention is going on in the hotel as was happening when I was there. I would also move the gym away from the odd smoking lounge. Great stay though!