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Comment by domstatecraft | Hacker News Reader

Moving from Manchester to Hamburg the difference in greenery is already pretty astounding, but Stadtpark is really the jewel. Wonderfully maintained, easy transport access and close enough to the centre that you can walk it without the dog getting exhausted, a few spots to get a beer or a schorle when needed. One of the highlights of the city.

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Beautiful park indeed, though i wish it was closer to the city center (like Planten un Blomen). Also, the planetarium is fantastic, I went last year for a live modular-synth event, it was such a dream

Hamburg has a lot going for it, it's just a shame the locals are so cold, unfriendly and boring.

Being from Hamburg I've heard that a lot. Too often, really, to not have an ounce of truth to it. OTOH there are barely inhabitants of the town who have any deeper roots there (ie. their grandparents grew up there), so I'd argue that this is not an original cultural quality. "Locals" is a really broad term here, because actual Locals are either gentrified away a long time or if they were able to weather the gentrification, they usually ended up in the posh islets, to which I'd wager you didn't have much contact with.

That's true actually, I know an echte Hamburgerin (3 generations both sides) and she's nice, as are her family. The "locals" I just meant the German inhabitants of the city, many of whom of course did not grow up there or are from there or have strong roots in the city.

Like I said, it's a pity, but for a city that claims to be Germany's "gateway to the world", its people are awfully parochial, small-minded, and terribly lacking in curiosity.

> small-minded

The mother of Karl Lagerfeld once told him that, yes, Hamburg is the „gateway to the world“ but you have to go through it.

She meant, being willing to exit through it.

One could argue, that this entails a selection bias in who comes and stays and who actually goes. And over time you got a population which prides itself to be something others have been/are.

That's a great quote, thanks for sharing it with me.

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