migratorybird

Oh, St. Pauli. What would Hamburg be without you?

Take the underground line U3 from the main station. For most of the ride to St. Pauli, it’s not underground at all, but provides wonderful views over the city and especially the harbor area.

Well, there are many rumors about this place. It’s a fact that this is a street entirely dedicated to prostitution and that there are barricades at both ends with signs saying that minors and women are prohibited. Yet I still haven’t found out if they have the right to ban them. Some say the whole street is privately owned, so they can ban whomever. Some say it’s not actually forbidden, but police strongly recommend women to stay away from the street, because the “sex workers” can become pretty aggressive when seeing non-costumers in their working place (throwing eggs, water-filled condoms and stuff).
Being a girl, I haven’t taken the risk of entering this street, I just had to say so to be able to write this entry.

The “Große Freiheit” is a street off Reeperbahn with an interesting name and history. “Große Freiheit” means “great freedom”. This name dates back to the 17th century, when merchants and religious communities there indeed had an amount of freedom that was unusual for that time. Later the street became infamous for its night clubs. In 1960, the owner of the then established club “Indra” in Große Freiheit 64 decided to invite a then unknown English band called “The Beatles” to have their first real gigs there. It turned out to be a very good decision…
Today, Great Freedom is a one-way street with parking prohibition.

Hamburg’s beaches are very nice to hang out. On a sunny summer day you can meet a lot of people there, especially around the Strandperle Café at Oevelgönne. The coolest way of getting there is by ferry, line 62 from Landungsbrücken, stop Neumühlen. Bus line 112 starting in Altona goes there, too.
If you feel like get some beer, barbecue stuff, a guitar, sit down and watch the big container ships passing by. The latter, in my opinion, make the feeling a bit less lovely and more bizarre, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing :)

Hamburg Harbor is quite impressing. It’s Germany’s biggest seaport, the second biggest in Europe and one of the biggest container ports in the world. The huge ocean liner Queen Mary 2 comes there occasionally for repair works at Bloom + Voss Repair. Besides, it’s just nice to walk around the area or make a guided tour by boat. There are also some historic cargo ships, sailing ships, lightvessels and other types you can visit.

Some say it’s is too dirty and seedy. Some say it’s too snobbish and expensive. I say it depends on where you go and what you want to see. It’s a big city, with celebrities living in luxury hotels and junkies living in the streets. Home to the fancy and rich as well as to students, immigrants from all over the world and some of the best German indie music. There’s space for everyone, there are nice houses, alternative quarters, a lot of parks, bridges, water and the distinct influence of seafaring and the hansa traders. The atmosphere in northern Germany is quite different from the rest of the country. I recommend it to anyone who’s open to more than Bavaria and Berlin.

You can discover the old German beech forest there in 25m height! Pretty cool.