I have only been here four days and for the first two I did the touristy things: The fish market is only open on Sunday between 5-30 & 9-30. I only got there at the last knockings.Basically it's lots of shouty blokes flogging stuff( not just fish) and playing up to the crowd of tourist,who were mostly German.
The Rathaus is ok I suppose but it's only a town hall at the end of the day.When I was there a bike ride was going on so it was hard to really appreciate the place.But hey ho...
The two things Hamburg is most famous for of course are the Reeperbahn & the dockside.The Reeperbahn for those that don't know is the strip in St Pauli dedicated to sex basically( oh and getting smashed too) I was only there on a Tuesday afternoon so Obviously didn't get the full effect.It was as tacky as expected but not much else.The Bars off the main drag were much better and cheaper.The first bar I went to charged 5€ for a beer.Thought I'd been transported back to London! The Reeperbahn sort of put me in mind of what Soho must have been like in it's hayday before it went clean and corporate...
So Reeperbahn is ok for the novelty.The Hamburg people don't appear to be phased of disgruntled about it,esp as it brings in mucho tourist money.
The big thing with Hamburg though is the dockside area.For one thing it's bloody massive! If you like your buildings big & warehousesy then this is the place for you...
They have done a magnificent job on it.London should have taken note.It is of course a working port So many of the warehouses are still used for import & export.While there visit Minatur Wunderland.It's the biggest model railway in the world.You don't have to be into this kind of thing to be impressed...It's 13€ and well worth it.But get there early as it gets rammed.
The next few days I toured around the suburbs getting a feel of the place.I liked Altona a lot.It had a Hackney/Highgate vibe about it,and Schlump seemed ok too.( I only went there because of the name.Who wouldn't want to go to a place called Schlump?)
Mind you...
Fuck me I'm in Rotherham!
Overall I like Hamburg even though it took me a while to get into it.In four days the most socially unacceptable behaviour I have seen is two people jaywalking( oh and that waiting at the red lights thing is bloody hard to get used to!)
I have not met with anything other than kindness & civility,even though my grasp of the language is limited at best,everyone I have spoken to has been great.Christ we're so lucky having English as our mother tongue...
Been very lucky with the Hostel too.Run by two south East Asian women who have been superb.It also helps that it's next door to a Brot & Brötchen shop where I got breakfast daily.Oh and this helps too..,
Having an U-Bahn stop literally on your doorstep is bloody superb...
Of course I will miss my local too...
But as I'm a little whore there will be other locals...
...next stop Berlin.
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