I am a few days behind on updating the blog, it's been a bit crazy. I have a lot of catching up to do. I am currently in Paris writing this but this is how the story goes.
I got up the next morning and packed my bags. I booked for the Pub Crawl in Hamburg for later that night. The trip from Berlin to Hamburg was 2 and a half hours. It would arrive at around 1:45 PM and the pub crawl started at 9:30 PM. So there was plenty of time to relax before I had to go out. I then checked out of the hotel and got a taxi from the hotel to Hauptbahnhof (Central Station). The taxi driver was really talkative and we talked about my trip. When we got to the station, he wished me luck and told me I was brave.
I got to the station fairly early and found myself getting extremely bored while I passed the 45 minutes until the train was due to leave. There's only so many times you can walk around Berlin station. There is also not a lot of seats around the station and with my big pack, I couldn't really be free to just roam around.
Eventually the train came and as I boarded one of the straps on my pack got caught in the arm of the seat. I struggled for a couple of minutes to try to get it free. People behind me were getting annoyed but nobody offered to help. Due to that reason, I deliberately took my time to free it. Maybe that makes me an asshole, but I really don't care. Eventually, I got it free and made my way to my seat. A woman was sitting in the seat opposite me. She smiled, I don't think she spoke English or maybe didn't want too. Our seats were like a booth. It was 2 seats on either side facing each other with a table in the middle. I sat down and an elderly man came and sat in our booth, next to me. He spoke German and I didn't understand anything he was saying. It turns out he was meant to be in the booth on the opposite side of the train.
He got up and moved to his correct seat.The train trip was uneventful, I just listened to my Ipod most of the way and looked at the scenery. The countryside between Berlin and Hamburg, was really amazing. These little German towns are very nice and tranquil. The train I was on was a mixture of trains. The first stop was Hamburg, but at Hamburg the train split into 2 trains. The front half went to another German city, via Rostock. The back half of the train went to Copenhagen.
I got off the train at Hamburg and was shocked by what I saw. Hamburg is a very different city to Berlin and Munich. There were people everywhere in the streets. There seems to be a lot more of an alternative lifestyle presence in Hamburg. There were lots of people with piercings and patches on their clothes, coloured hair and mohawks. I had a cigarette and got a taxi to the hotel. The hotel was a fair way out of the city centre. I also saw lots of flags and banners with the skull and crossbones on it. "This is interesting", I thought to myself "Is everyone a pirate?".
The hotel was relatively nice and the room was big. The staff at the hotel reception are all women and were very friendly and welcoming. The girl who checked me in asked if I wanted to swap to the backside of the hotel as it was quieter, but it would cost an extra 10 Euro a night. I replied "It's Ok, I would sleep through a war" and one of the other girls laughed. I went upstairs and settled in to the room and plugged in the laptop to go online. It's hard to get decent WiFi for free in Germany. It seems you have to pay for a good service. The free service tends to be limited in what you can do or is very slow. I had some beers from the mini bar while I played around online.
At about 5:30 PM, I decided to order some room service. I called the room service number and the woman who answered was speaking German. "Do you speak English?", I asked. She replied "Yes" and I told her I wanted to order the special. The special was Penne Carbonara with a beer for 10,00 Euro. The woman told me that there were limited staff in the kitchen today and they couldn't do the special. She suggested I order a pizza instead and I agreed. About 20 minutes later the pizza arrived and it wasn't what you would expect from a pizza. It was a pizza base with a few slices of Seranno ham and loose rocket on top.
There was some shaved parmesan on it and the pizza wasn't even sliced so as I was cutting it the rocket went everywhere. I ate it and it tasted good, but it's definitely not the sort of pizza I want again. Had it have been sliced it would have been better. After eating the pizza, I prepared myself mentally for what this night might entail. At about 8:50 PM, I headed downstairs and got reception to order me a taxi. I got in the taxi and headed into the Reeperbahn. The Reeperbahn is the entertainment stretch of Hamburg. I guess it's along the lines of Kings Cross in Sydney. It's a section that is about 4 or 5 city blocks full of bars, clubs, pubs, strip clubs and brothels.
I got out of the taxi in Beatleplatz (Beatle Place). Yes, it's named after the band from England. The Beatles formed in Liverpool, England but it was Hamburg where there career really took off. They played nearly 200 shows in the early 1960's in Hamburg. It was also where they met Ringo Starr. John Lennon was once quoted as saying "I was born in Liverpool, but I grew up in Hamburg".
"Now where was the meeting point?", I thought to myself. I could remember 2 things mentioned on the brochure, they were Beatleplatz and S-Bahn. I wasn't sure which one it was, so I headed up to the S-Bahn entrance and waited. It was about 9:15 PM. The Pub Crawl was to meet at 9:30 PM. I stood around and waited. I could see other tour groups forming around this location and was sure this was the meeting point.
9:35 PM passed and nobody had turned up I was starting to think, "Oh shit, where is everyone?". I gave it a few minutes more and decided "Fuck it, I'll go down to Beatleplatz and if there's nobody there, I'll just abort and go back to the hotel". I headed back down to Beatleplatz and sure enough, I found the tour group. It was a huge group. Over 30 people. I lined up to get my ticket and a wrist band then waited for everyone else to get theirs.
Once all the tickets were handed out, Bruno the tour guide introduced himself and the tour and off we went. The first stop was the 99 cent Bar. Bruno told us a time to meet out the front and in we went. This is not just a clever name... all the drinks... including shots cost 99 cents.
We all got a free beer. It was a small bottle of some unknown beer, but it tasted good. The bar itself is very small and there is not much room to move. At each end of the bar was a small area that could hold about 10 people each and between the bar and the wall in front of it, there was no room at all for people to squeeze by. Fucking amazing. The music was a variety of pop and R & B.
I would have spent all night there (well at least the hour before I passed out) just for the cheap drinks, if I wasn't part of a group. I started talking to the guy standing next to me. He was German and on a bucks night with a group of friends. I also had 2 shots of Tequila and a shot of Jack Daniels while I was there. I went outside for a cigarette about 5 minutes before the group was to emerge.
I had felt a little tired while I was standing around at the meeting point, but now I was feeling very much awake. Bruno lead us to the next bar, it was called Kachinskys. It was what I would describe as more of a pub. We all got a free shot. It was a spicy tomato type shot, like a Bloody Mary. I had my shot, then one of the German guys gave me his because he didn't want it. The music here was mostly a mix of old and new alternative rock. I ordered a beer and sat down at the bar. The girl behind the bar was wearing a T-shirt with Gun Club written on it. She was cute, so I asked her what it was about. She told me it was a bar that her friend owns. I said "It sounds interesting, I might check it out".
I started talking to these 2 people who I thought were a couple. It turns out they were also on the tour by themselves but this guy had just latched onto her. He was American, early to mid 20's, he was already drunk after the first bar. The girl was Russian, she didn't drink but just came along to meet people. She liked that I was Australian. I went to the bathroom and ordered ordered another beer. A different girl served me but gave me a weird smile.
I started talking to the guy sitting next to me. He was American. I think he was in the military or something. I don't remember too much because I got involved in a discussion with another group of Americans. It was one guy with his girlfriend, and 2 of her friends. This guy really annoyed me. He just thought he was really awesome. Midway through this conversation, the first bar girl returned and handed me a piece of paper with the address of the club on it and told me to "check it out". I said "Ok" and she walked away. I finished my beer and went outside for a cigarette.
The group came out a few minutes later and we walked back around to where we started and headed to an Irish pub called 'O'Rielly's'. On the way one of the American girls was hitting on Bruno and she definitely wasn't being subtle. Also an Australian guide decided to join the tour. He came running up to the front of the group where I was and we started chatting a little.
O'Rielly's was fucking awesome. It was packed but I found a spot at the bar and ordered a Guiness. They had a live band playing upstairs and there was a downstairs part which was a nightclub with dance music. I stayed upstairs, but the band finished their set as we arrived. They played plenty of rock music upstairs while the band was on their break. I drank my first Guiness and went outside for a cigarette. When I came back in, I found 2 of the guides at the bar and asked them if they knew where the address the bar girl had given me was. They looked it up on their phone, but it was not nearby and apparently was a fair way away. I decided not to chance it on my own. I drank 2 more Guiness' and for the first time was starting to fell like I was drunk.
I don't recall the circumstances around us leaving O'Rielly's but we ended up at another club not far from the 99 cent bar. I don't remember what it was called. We got a free shot of something though. I got my free shot and realised I hate nightclubs and walked out to the hallway near the entrance. There were some tables. I sat in one. I started talking to the people in the booth next to me. They were German. I thought they were part of the group but I realised quickly that they weren't.
I'm not sure what the story was, but it was a fat girl and her cousin that I was talking to. The cousin was very interested about life in Australia for some reason and I spent most of the time talking to him. He spoke English reasonably well, but I was drunk and found it hard to understand him. All of a sudden the girls brother and other cousin appeared at the table and introduced themselves. They started saying "You're going to come with us now?" and I said "No, I'm part of the group, I gotta stay with them". They said it again a few minutes later and I saw the American girls walk out of the club and I saw that as my queue to say "It looks like we are leaving now" and got up from the table and headed outside.
I stood with the girls and thanked them for rescuing me. They wanted to know the story, but I really didn't what had happened myself. I explained as best I could and then the rest of the group joined us. We went off to a club called 'Fucking Pussys' or something like that. Again we got a free shot. I stood with Bruno at the end of the bar and we chatted. I was fucking wasted, but I was hypnotised by the girl behind the bar. She was Australian. Bruno left after about an hour and I just stayed at the bar and talked to the bar girl. At some point in the night I had my photo taken with a Russian guy and a Black guy. Apparently they wanted me in the photo for some reason, I think they thought I owned the bar. The bar girl took the photo.
I don't really recall too much about the rest of the night, but I stumbled out at about 6:30 AM and somehow found my way to a taxi. I woke up in the back of the taxi out the front of the hotel. I paid the taxi driver and headed up to my room. I don't remember finding the room, but i must have. I had an amazing time on the Pub Crawl, I know it to be fact BECAUSE I can't remember.
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