The first impression was great; the doorman/bell hop took away our luggage immediately. He advised that we had to take the elevator to the 2nd floor. Before checking in we enjoyed the views of the small atrium, giving glimpses of the stucco animals (elephant, octopus, etc.) of the Levante House (built in 1911/12 as Kontorhaus) between ground and first floor and the colorful glass dome. Levante means towards the sun rise, and it was the head quarter of a ship line with the same name.
Unfortunately our room wasn't ready, but we were told to come back in twenty minutes and it would be. We strolled through the shopping mall, located on the ground floor. It is very exclusive with quaint boutiques and a luxurious perfumery.
On our return the room was ready. We had views over Moenckeberg Strasse, Hamburg's pedestrian zone and shopping district, which includes designer boutiques, high street brands (Zara etc) and department stores like Galleria Kaufhof.
There is a different elevator for the rooms.
The room was very large with a Bang & Olufsen TV (with international programs), king sized bed, a writing desk, chair and ottoman and a huge comfortable bath room. Having stayed at all Hyatt properties in Tokyo, the concept reminded us of the Grand and Park Hyatt, especially the bathroom with the Japanese wet room, where the shower is in front of the bath tub and to take more than one lift to get to your room.
The internet access isn't free, only if the guest is Platinum or Diamond Level member of the Hyatt Gold Passport program. It was fast for uploads and downloads.
I booked an appointment at the spa for the same afternoon. Before I went there at floor -1, we had a late lunch or early dinner in our room. He had a burger, I the salmon and citrus risotto. Both were deemed excellent. The freshly squeezed juices are also highly recommended.
The spa is going through renovation at the moment. The treatment room was small and modern.
The massage was good, but didn't remove all the tensions.
The next morning we were a little bit lazy and spent longer in bed. After a lavish Hyatt breakfast with bread, jams, butter, juice, green tea, hot chocolate, waffles, Gravad Lax, omelet, cold cuts and cheese, we went to explore the neighborhood, including the City Hall and Jungfernstieg. We visited another hotel the Steigenberger Hamburg, originally owned by a German family with the same name, but the Steigenberger chain was sold to the Egyptian Travco hotel chain a couple of years ago. The cocktails and Eierlikoer cake (available from a dessert trolley) were very good. The clientele was international, while, to our surprise, the Park Hyatt had a lot of German guests.
Before our dinner we bought a point in shoot camera at Saturn, an electrical retailer. To our dismay the company doesn't accept Maestro or credit cards, beside American Express or an IKEA Debit Card. Thank goodness an ATM is just outside the building, so we could still purchase the item. Our mood was dampened for a little while. It had never happened to us before.
In the evening we had a reservation at Apples Restaurant at the Hyatt. It serves modern German cuisine and the dinner was a delight. It started off with a glass of Champagne and a large bottle of still water (Aqua Panna). The taster from the kitchen was goose liver pate. It was delicious.
My better half had as a starter a salad, I had the lobster soup and alone how it is served at your table is worth it ordering. The waiter arrives with your soup bowl, a tortellini filled with lobster meat is placed in the middle and a carafe - it contains the soup. The waiter then pours the soup onto the plate around the ravioli. It's an art in itself. All was excellent.
My fiancé kept Vegetarian and ordered the gnocchi as main course, while I had the sea bass. As dessert we had espresso mousse. When the bill arrived for around 130 Euro, we were also served chocolates. We were already full from the three course meal, but couldn't resist the temptation and ate at least a few of them. The service was attentive, but not intrusive.
Our table was placed at one of the large windows and overlooked Moenckebergstrasse. I had also good views into the open kitchen. The other guests were from Germany and English speaking countries. Most were on business. The fellow diners were placed in a way that privacy was guaranteed.
The next day we went to the Hafen City. It's a regeneration project of the harbor and is not finished. The estimate is before 2030, so way to go.
We were looking for a specific building and as mostly in Germany signage is appalling. If we hadn't had a look at the map before and general knew, where we had to head to, it would have been difficult to find the Chile Haus, so named because it was a Kontorhaus (office buildings of all importers/exporters) of a company, which imported goods from Chile. It now houses apartments, a café and a few shops on the ground floor.
Before using the under ground walkway to get to the Hafen City, we saw the Spiegel TV and Manager Magazin building (German media, Spiegel is also a weekly printed magazine and as the name implies Manager Magazin is a publication about business matters in German). You can also see the head quarters of a chemical producer. They were responsible for the production of gift gas, providing it to the Nazis for the End Solution in concentration camps. Thank goodness the management team didn't escape punishment and was executed after the Nuremberg Trial.
There was also a plaque, reminding of all the emigrants, hoping for a better life, who started their journey here.
At the Hafen City a few buildings were already finished (modern) or restaurated (former warehouses or Kontorhauses), but there were a lot of building sites, dirt and dust. We saw a restaurant, dedicated to dining in the dark, guests are served by blind, the former customs office, now the customs museum and were looking for the Prototyp car museum. The maps provided were a little bit confusing, so it took us longer to find the place. The museum itself was great. Entrance was 10 Euro each and if visitors want to take photographs, that's an additional 2 Euro. At least photographs are allowed (no flash, though). There are three floors, one is dedicated to a more permanent exhibition and shows the prototypes of racing cars, Porsches and Volkswagen at the very beginning. The exhibition starts on the first floor. There are also lockers, where you can store your personal belongings, a restaurant and gift shop.
On the 2nd basement level was an exhibition about a German race driver Rosemayer, who took part in races in Germany, Continental Europe and North Africa before World War II. He died trying to break a speed record, leaving behind a young wife and baby son. There was also memorabilia from races in the 1920ies and 30ies, unfortunately mostly in German, while the main exhibitions had English and German signs, and photographs about Formula 1, available for sale.
On the 1st basement level was the temporary exhibition of sixty years Formula 1. There were Formula 1 cars from founding til present, introduction to the era (always 10 years) and the most important drivers. It was highly interesting and inspirational. We learned a lot. It also woke funny and sad memories. One was remembering Damon Hill being chased down O'Connell Street in Dublin by female fans - that was about ten years ago - and the way too early demise of Ayrton Senna. When we were in Sao Paulo we visited his grave site in Morumbi Cemetery. It's easy to find and located near children's graves.
The building, housing the museum, is a restaurated Kontorhaus and the architecture is stunning, with high ceilings and a vaulted basement.
Before we returned to our hotel we visited a specialist photo store on Moenckebergstrasse. It is very old. Because my fiancé ruined his DSLR camera while in Warsaw (freezing it), we had saved for a new one. Originally we had planned to buy it at Saturn, but because they didn't accept the cards I have, they lost the business. For security reasons I didn't want to carry so much cash with me.
At the shop, which also sells a wide range of Leica cameras, we purchased a Canon EOS 60D including lens kit. We were lucky. Two had just arrived in the morning. After some advice EW decided to buy an additional lens, specifically suitable for architectural photographs.
At our hotel we had dinner again at Apples. The evening was as pleasant as before. We had nearly the same table as the night before. This time around we received as still water Staatl. Fachinger, a German brand. We have a preference for waters from other countries than Germany. The reason behind it is that mostly the water is heavier and saltier in taste, of course it's depending where it's coming from. The saltiest and nearly undrinkable water we ever had was from Georgia.
I didn't specify, what water we wanted, but assumed we would get Aqua Panna automatically as the previous evening.
The taster from the kitchen was a Sauerbraten (sour roast) with potato soup. It tasted really good and was a modern interpretation of the German classic.
His starter was goose liver, mine was the beloved lobster soup. We both had the same entree, pheasant with sauerkraut ravioli on potato mash and white wine foam. It was fabulous. All the textures and flavors worked well together. Having only a little bit space for dessert we shared a citrus dessert. Again it was very well done, not too sweet and only slightly tart, perfect. When the bill arrived, we didn't receive any chocolates.
The next day was our day of departure and the end to our Finland - Lithuania - Germany tour. We checked out slightly after 12.00 hours and left our luggage at the hotel. We had a stroll through the area until it was time to leave for the airport.
The bell captain organized our luggage and a taxi. This time the driver was silent.
Within 20 minutes we were at the airport. There was no check in queue at the Air Lingus desk and we made our way quickly through security. We had an excellent coffee break at Moevenpick Cafe with their famous ice cream. Our plane left on time and we arrived a little bit ahead of schedule in Dublin.
Hamburg is a wealthy city, it offers a lot for hotel lovers (from Sofitel to Le Meridien, Fairmont to Kempinski), culture vultures and shopping addicts.
There were only a few things I didn't like.
No good signage to find places of interest.
The Jungfernstieg at night. It turns into a meeting place for teenagers to get drunk and trouble makers in general.
Saturn not accepting the more usual credit cards and a 3% credit card charge at the photo shop.
The Park Hyatt was overall perfect, only niggle at In Room Dining the tray wasn't stable and either my fiancé or I found the plate dropping on our lap more than once.
So happy travels to you all!
Keep a look out for more reports of our experiences. If you have any questions, need advice or want to leave feed back, just drop me a comment.
©2011
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