VIEWS FROM A PLACE CALLED PLAZA

The word Plaza is originally Spanish but made a global career, establishing and feeling itself quite comfortable in the English language. Great places such as high end hotels or prominent public spaces have the honour to be called Plaza this and Plaza that, yet the phrase has been used on an inflationary level, making it sound like a catch-all term. Why a spectacular place like the Elbphilharmonie (Elphi) needs a (Spanish) anglicism for its viewing deck beats me. It´s beautiuful and unique and would have deserved a more suitable, perhaps a local name, making use of the particular Hamburg dialect. Oh well, that´s not what this picture series is about; I just wanted to show some of the views I had in a friendly break on a mostly foul weather January day.

View of the harbor at the end of the escalator

that leads up to the Plaza from ground-level.

Same view from a few feet higher. It shows the main jetty

that runs along the right bank of the Elbe River. The

districts that can be seen are Sankt Pauli and Altona.

Across the river one can see the vast area of Hamburg Harbor

and the mighty cranes of one of the container terminals.

To let more daylight into the main hall, the viewing deck has

two arches on the north and south sides respectively.

The cranes that decorate the Elphi on the

outside are listed as historic monuments.

A new city quarter around and along old harbor basins extends to the east of the Elphi containing new residence blocks, office spaces, public and private Universities, museums and Germany HQ´s of some global players such as Greenpeace and others.

View into the newer part of Speicherstadt (Warehouse City).

At the northern archway looking into the

main hall of the observation deck.

The Elphi´s exterior - the band between the old structure

and the newly constructed top is the viewing deck.

Elbphilharmonie

The Elphi @ wiki

HafenCity

Speicherstadt

Speicherstadt @ wiki