Popped into Altona earlier to check out where exactly the mainline station is for tomorrow.My train starts there and as it’s the Munich train I expect it to get packed at Hamburg HBF.I don’t have a seat reserved so figured it would be easier to find one at the relatively small Altona station…glad I did cos’s it not very easy to find being tucked away in a corner and not particularly well sign posted.Preparation an’ all that…luckily not in a rush tomorrow.
Went to the Feldstrasse Bunker earlier to see about going up and once there I realised I wouldn’t be able to make the climb,asked about a lift and explained why and they pointed me to one but it was only going five floors( which would have been fine) however there was not access to the viewing decks, the only way to them would be through offices which were all shut as it’s Sunday.There was a service lift outside round the corner but I chickened out as there were a few people already eyeing me with suspicion…
There’s not a lot to say about Hamburg that I haven’t already said in blogs on previous visits.If you’ve been you already know what a cool & exciting city it is,if you haven’t been then it’s certainly worth a long weekend break and if you’re a Brit you can fit in straight away by moaning about the weather…
Found out from Rikky that the hotel next to the laundromat is where the Beatles first stayed when they lived here for a time in the early 60’s.It’s the Hotel Pacific…I love little details like that about places.
The street next to the hotel was having a clear up this morning after yesterday’s party.Didn’t look too bad Infact,the Pfand boys & girls had already been round taking away any empty bottles for “Pfand(deposit) “which is basically half the battle,everyone wins,the street gets cleared & there’s 25cents back on each bottle…that’s why you see people going through bins everywhere in Germany,they’re after the bottles to get some money back…some people will deliberately leave their empty bottles at the sides of the bin to save an undignified delve into the wastebin itself…once saw a lad outside the Union Berlin ground with a big shopping trolly full of empty bottles,maybe 150.Fair play to him…
One good thing about returning to cities I like on these trips is I slowly find out the areas of that particular city I like to stay in or if that’s not possible then at least the parts I want to spend most quality time( ie drinking time) all of this is trial an error but in Paris it’s gonna be Ménilmontant,in Berlin it’s Kreuztburg and here it’s gonna be the area of St Pauli I’m currently in…they all suit me down to the ground.Vibrant,diverse neighbourhoods with a distinct left leaning politically…
I decided to do the sensible old man thing and went for an afternoon nap for about three hours.It’s now 7-15pm and I’m back in the cafe bar where I watched the semi final…
Ho hum.Can’t really complain about the result.Spain were by far the better team and I was the only one who made a noise when we scored…said my goodbyes to the fellas who ran the bar,they were Iranians helping to destroy Europe by serving great food & drink.Walking back to the hotel at 11pm and saw a bloke cleaning his teeth in the street so I hope his date went well…on to Berlin tomorrow…goodnight.
In a while crocodile…
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