We left Berlin around noon and hopped on a train to Hamburg, a North German city, the 2nd most populous in Germany and the 2nd largest port in Europe. Located on the River Elbe which runs into the North Sea it is often referred to as the gateway to the World. It has a distinct maritime feel. I was told by both of my Canadian friends living in Germany that if there was any other city they would like to live in Germany it would be Hamburg. We had already made plans to make this one of our stops but it wasn't until an episode of this past seasons Amazing Race made a stop there that I actually got excited. When booking accomodation I chose to pick a hostel to the West of the downtown core in a district known as Altona. Altona was at one point a separate city and both towns have been historical fishing rivals. Altona borders St. Pauli a working class neighborhood perhaps most famous for it's fishing, it's red light district known as the Reeperbahn, giving the Beatles their first taste of success outside of the UK and it's football club St. Pauli FC. St. Pauli FC is celebrating it's 100th anniversary in 2010, as it says on their T-Shirts "disestablished since 1910". The team plays in the German 2nd division and the fans are fiercely loyal. In the mid 80's the team adopted the Pirate imagery, a historical connection with the city which did in fact have it's share of Pirates that operated out of the area. The players are involved in a number of social causes throughout the community and they are seen as a socialist team by some, according to a friend of mine living in Munich they are considered to be a bit of a joke by much of the league. The team has struggled financially and are heavily dependent on sponsorship by Astra Beer and the genrosity of fans. T Shirts sold with the word RETTER or saviour can be seen all througout the city. If I could compare St. Pauli fans to any other fans or their attitude to any other team I'd definitely have to say they would be like Oakland Raider fans both in outlandish dress and behaviour, St. Pauli has been described as league "Raiders".
When we got off the train to our first bit of sun the entire trip. Munich had been cold and wet and Berlin had been overcast. The first thing I noticed were tattooed, pierced unwashed green and pink ripped clothes wearing youths. They reminded me of the squeegee kids you see in Toronto who are basically all from Quebec. We walked to our hostel the Schanzenstern Altona and it seemed quite a bit of grafitti. When we got to our hostel we were pleasantly surprised the building was this bright yellow freshly painted building at least 5 stories. Our room had a nice king size bed with twin comforters and bedding. There was a wardrobe a table a flat screen tv with cable and a nice big three piece bathroom all for less than 70 Euro a night. Really this wasn't a hostel, more of a small bed and breakfast: Immediately after checking in I wanted to do 3 of the things I'd seen on the Amazing Race. Find the Haifisch bar in the Fish Market Area, check out the Reeperbahn and find Beatles Platz.
The Haifisch bar is a local Maritime themed bar, on the episode of the Amazing Race the teams had to down a massive boot of beer called the Nordenwind and then ring a bell when they completed it to get their clue. Those who can finish the boot just get their next pint free. They don't seem to actually offer this as a regular drink it seems to be one of these special challenges that is intended to generate buzz for an establishment. We had lunch and I had my first taste of Currywurst otherwise known as Andy Ling's worst nightmare it is sausage smothered in curried ketchup accompanied by pommes frites. I had meant to try it in Berlin but just never got a chance. It is quite tasty and the Pomme Frites are actually really crispy and fresh. Moving on we wanted to find the Reeperbahn is a notorious red light district which has many strip clubs as well as bars and night clubs. At night even the street would be packed with people including prostitutes. We went mid afternoon and it was pretty much empty. We stopped and had a drink in a bar and noticed that the club the Beatles got their first big break in Hamburg, the Star Room had been turned into a strip club. We watched a tour group walk down the alleyway where the bar was located and then quickly walk back the other direction. St.Pauli and the Reeperbahn is the most policed neighborhood in all of Hamburg in the most policed city in all of Germany. They were omnipresent but never intrusive. The entire time we were in Germany I felt extremely safe, as safe or safer than in Toronto. The only sort of unnerving thing is the streets are not well lit, this is due largely to a general German attitude of conservation.
After we walked to the end of the strip and found Beatles platz which is essentially these aluminum silhouette cutouts of John, Paul, George Ringo/Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe. It was an interesting contrast. After several hours of walking we noted it was almost 8 PM and decided to head back to our hostel before thinking about dinner.
One thing that sort of confused me is it doesn't start to get dark here until around 9 PM right now. We discussed what we wanted for dinner and before we knew it was almost 10 PM. We tried going to one of the listed locations in our travel book but noted it had actually closed we settled for a kind of strange bar that melded German and British pubs. There was a large menu on the inside which read "Spargelkarte" or Asparagus menu. I had some spargel in Munich but didn't realize it was such a big deal. Turns out it is a really popular food and the Asparagus is massive. It doesn't look like the tiny green things we eat in Canada, rather they are these massive phallic like plants. I've only had spargel once, I think my last supper in Munich will involve some form of spargel.
We got home after midnight and noted that late night German tv is basically all soft core porn. The only English language programming I found was Celebrity Championship wrestling basically recycled reality tv stars and former child stars like Danny Bonaduce and Todd Bridges are trained by Hulk Hogan, Brutus the Barber Beefcake, Jerry Saggs of the Nasty Boys. Very amusing.
One more full day in Hamburg. Having done the fringes our hope is to get out on the river and get a tour around the Alster, basically a man made lake in the Old Town.
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