A collection of places to go after work or on weekends:
-------------------------------------------------------

*  visit the Elbe beaches:
   53.545274,9.881043, 53.544343,9.905269, 53.556218,9.804783 Blankenese
   btw: at some areas barbecue is "tolerated".
   all equipment can be bought e.g.
   at 53.584659,9.871001

* A nice bar is e.g. the Aurel
   in Ottensen 53.553764,9.928368

* Places to swim:
   - Stadtparksee: 53.591588,10.028028
   - public heated swimming pools such as
     Kaifu 53.570339,9.964557
     Poseidon pool: 53.602183,9.916792
     that's not so far from DESY
     (Be prepared to pay couple of Euro for entrance)
   - if you dare in Elbe, but it's not 100% clean for sure,
     and there can be dangerous currents

Shopping centers close to DESY:
- Elbe Einkaufszentrum
   53.571002,9.862804
- Altona Mercado
   53.552751,9.931941

Parks close to DESY:
- Jenisch park (that's beautiful)
   53.552177,9.865894m
- Volkspark (more for sports like jogging)
   53.578468,9.887481
- Neuer botanischer Garten (interesting plants
   from all parts of the world)
   53.558971,9.862204

Touristic things in Hamburg:
- Citycentre:
   53.550813,9.993181
   visit Rathausmarkt, Jungfernstieg,
   St. Michaelis church (climb up the tower!),
   Krameramtsstuben, Deichstrasse,
   !!! Warning: the city centre is rather dead in the evening, since
   there are not many people living there, night life is elsewhere!!!!

- take a walk around the Aussenalster
   53.571817,10.002151

- Visits the parks around the city centre, Planten un Blomen, japanese
   garden, botanische Garden
   53.561724,9.982667

- Visit Miniatur Wunderland in Hafencity
   53.543878,9.989233
   if you like "modelleisenbahn"

- Harbour round trip!! - some people claim this is the
   biggest attraction of all, it's not cheap but it's worthwhile.
   53.545153,9.968247
   or just take line 62.

- Kunsthalle - the art museum in Hamburg with the highest reputation
   53.554638,10.003953

- Museum fuer Kunst und Gewerbe

Interesting cities to visit:
Please take note that compared to many other cities in germany
Hamburg has not many old buildings, due to destruction in
fires, second world war, and in general old buildings were just
tore down and replaced by new ones:
But there are other very picturesque  cities
- Luebeck (1h travel), old hanse town
   53.880869,10.691071
- Lueneburg (45 min), medieval houses!
   53.25289,10.409546
- Stade (1h), medieval houses
   53.611248,9.475708
- Bremen (1h) another Hansetown
   53.087426,8.805542
   and of course you can also visit the german capital
- Berlin (2h)
   52.551306,13.414307

nature reservats:
- lueneburger heide (50 km south of hamburg), visit undeloh, Wilsede
   hiking or bycicle trips
   53.164887,9.959793

- Wattenmeer: large parts of the northsea shore, a special treat,
   53.895438,8.552856
   54.131064,8.846741
  the ocean is 'not there' during low tide you can walk over the ocean
   e.g Cuxhaven to Neuwerk
   but it's not everbodys taste.

- Rent a kanoo at Alster river (winterhude)
   google search for "Hamburg Bootsverleih"
   you can make tours along Alster/Aussenalster and some
   sidearms, Kanaele,

- Bicycle tours, e.g. in Alte Land south of Elbe
   53.53235,9.680672
- the largest connected fruit tree area in Europe,
   now it's still the cherry season


Special tickets/fares:
Schoenes Wochenendticket: Special cheap group railway ticket
Schleswig-Holsteinticket: another special cheap group railway ticket


> Dinner places:
>
> - Ottensen:
>   53.552063,9.930182
>   it's a nice quarter in Hamburg,
>   restaurants, bars,
>   The busline 1 stopping at DESY will
>   take you directly there.
>
> - Portuguese quarter:
>   53.545535,9.974084
>   nice fish restaurants
>
> - Schanzenviertel:
>   53.562107,9.961767
>   restaurants, bars
>
> - Reeperbahn
>   53.549819,9.957218
>   most famous street in hamburg
>
> Cool places/beaches:
>
> Elbe Beach: nice location e.g. for chill out in the evening:
> 53.544439,9.905462
> Recommend to talk a walk from there along the river (both directions
> are interesting)
> Take bus line 1 to Hohenzollernring/Kinderkrankenhaus
> and then walk by feet in south direction.
> This is what I would recommend you for e.g. tonight, when
> the weather is not so bad.
>
> Hamburg is 80 km from the baltic sea and 120 km for the
> north sea and one can swim there.
>
> Baltic sea:
> Scharbeutz or Timmendorfer Strand
> 54.053745,10.750122
> nice sandy beach, webcam
> http://www.scharbeutz.de/aktuelles/webcams.html
> takes 90 minutes with train from hamburg, for train
> connections in general check www.bahn.de,
> there are special weekend group tickets.
> (schoenes Wochenende Tarif)
>
> Northsea
> St. Peter Ording
> 54.338546,8.590965
> 1 km broad beach.
>
> Westerland, Sylt
> 54.908643,8.297596
> Some people think Sylt has the best beaches in germany,
> There is every hour a train from Hamburg Altona (it takes
> 3 hours)
> the south and north parts of the island are quite beautiful.
> Sylt webcam
> http://www.wonnemeyer.de/webcam/
>
> Other places:
> Hafencity:
> 53.542564,9.993353
> A whole new district is built here, but the old
> buildings still look nicer