June 16, 2024
Elbphilharmonie Hamburg Concert Hall "the Elphi"
The new glassy construction resembles a hoisted sail, water wave, iceberg or quartz crystal resting on top of an old brick warehouse on a peninsula in the Elbe River. The City of Hamburg wanted a statement building, similar in concept to the Sydney Opera House. It opened in 2017, at a cost of 866 million euro, by the Swiss architect firm of Herzog & de Meuron. There are over 1000 curved glass window panels. The building has 26 floors with the first 8 within the brick façade. A curved escalator rises from the ground floor to the top of the brick floors, to a Plaza observation deck, open to the public. These escalators are the longest in Germany. The Plaza offers great views of the Elbe and Hamburg. The Westin hotel leases space in the eastern half of the new glass structure for 244 rooms and there are 3 concert halls in the west half, along with 45 luxury apartments, conference space and a spa. There is a parking for 433 within the brick building below. You cued to get tickets to ride up escalator, but they were free and line moved quickly.
We got up at 6:45am to get to National Park Forts Walk trail in the hope of seeing koalas . Prior walkers mark trails with tree branches pointing in the direction of their sighting and we were luck enough to see 3 markers in our first hour of hiking. It is so stinking hot and humid the success we had made it bearable. The koala population on the island started with 20 brought over in 1930, to escape fur hunters. Today, the island boast 800 to 1000, and they are so cute and drowsy. They need 20 hours of sleep a day! The early morning is when they are the most active.
Just off the coast of Townsville, Australia is a special little island (that used to be part of mainland, hundreds of thousands years ago). The island was formed by molten granite that was pushed to the earth's surface with volcanic force.Over time the volcanic overlay weathered away leaving an extraordinary landscape of rounded domes and boulders, many as big as a house and spectcularly perched. Over Seventy Percent of the center of the Island is a National Park. There is lots of wildlife here too - koalas, rock wallabies, snakes & birds.
This is my third time in CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA and I really enjoy how walkable, clean and charming it is. The waterfront esplanade and lagoon area is a nice walk day or night. We had 2 nights here in the waterfront Shangri La Marina Hotel while waiting for the Ship to arrive and then 2 additional days in Port.