Oh the gilded glamour

After a good night's rest, T and I spent today tackling all of Hamburg's art museums. We visited the "Old Masters" (and saw some famous paintings I never expected to see in person) and also visited a couple modern art galleries - which generally isn't my thing (modern art, that is), but turned out to be fascinating. It was curious to peer into German culture / kulture.

We also finally got a tour inside the Rathaus / town hall (blip I posted earlier this week of the exterior). This ceiling was one of my favourites there, but the entire building felt like a palace. It is slightly smaller than Buckingham Palace (short by a few rooms) - and each room is coated from floor to ceiling in grandeur ... marble, fine woods, gold, paintings. My jaw remained permanently unhinged for most of the tour. It still doesn't compare to the raw in-your-face gems of St. Marco's Basilica in Venice ... but the Hamburg Rathaus did come close.

Today I got a real feel for the old Hamburg, the Hamburg that once was a mighty sea power as part of the Hanseatic League ... Hamburg boasts the second oldest bank in the world (1590 CE), having been part of the merchant-class wave that made credit, insurance, and financing the "things" we know and love/hate today.