Pirate City

Needless to say I spent all of Saturday in bed. When I did wake up at 5:30 PM I had a really bad headache and still felt slightly drunk. I decided I needed to eat and went down to the restaurant on the first floor. It was pretty quiet again so I sat at a table up the back. The waiter came and I ordered a Caprese Salad and a Rump Steak and some Ice Cream for desert. I also ordered a glass of Temprenillo (Red wine).

The food was really nice but I struggled through the meal due to how hungover I was. I ate very slowly. After about an hour, the waiter came to ask if I wanted anything and I told him to cancel the dessert as I would not be able to eat it, but got another glass of wine. He understood and said "Too much food" and brought the wine.

In the restaurant there was a big screen and they had the German Bundesliga on. I sat and watched that for awhile then returned to the room to watch a live stream of the Liverpool Vs Wigan game on my laptop. Great game, Liverpool showed what they’re capable of and Luis Suarez scored a hat trick and became the premiere leagues highest scorer. Fantastic result.  I went to bed not long after the game finished, I needed to do the walking tour of Hamburg the next day. 

I woke about 6:30 AM the next morning and decided to go down for breakfast. If I was going to be walking around for 3 hours I needed some energy. I payed the 18,00 Euro. After breakfast I enquired about getting some laundry done but they only do it on weekdays.  I was checking out early Monday morning so it was not practical for me to get the laundry done so I save myself some money there which helped pay for the breakfast. I had to go and get some money from the ATM.

I asked the girl at the reception where the nearest ATM was, she told me it was at the train station up the road. I walked upt to the train station. It was a 10 minute walk. I entered the train station but nothing was open and the gates were closed. I asked a taxi driver if he knew where there was an ATM and he told me across the street. I headed over and found an ATM inside a bank. The door wouldn't open. "Fucking great", I thought to myself. Then I saw there was a swipe thing on the wall to the right of the door. I put my card in and the door unlocked.  I went in and took out some money, then walked back to the hotel.

The walking tour started at 11:00 AM and we had to meet at Rathausmarkt (Town Hall Square) in Hamburg. I had no idea where this was so as usual I left early. It was very easy to find and I found myself with about 35 minutes to waste. I took some photos of the Rathaus and watched some geese fight over some food for awhile, then I wandered around the city centre and was shocked to see that at 10:30 AM, there was nothing open except Starbucks. I really needed a Red Bull to wake me up. I could not find anywhere open.

I rejoined the tour back at Starbucks and got my ticket. I had met most of the guides on the pub crawl and we had a chat about what happened on Friday night. Stephen, the Australian guide, told me that he had a tour the next morning and was throwing up 15 minutes before it was due to start. I told him that I didn’t get home until after 7:00 AM and fell asleep in the back of the taxi. He laughed and said “Fucking hell, good to see we didn’t break you then”, and gave me my ticket for the tour.

There were a lot of people there for the tour. As usual there was a Spanish tour and an English tour. There was maybe 30 people in the English group. Before the tour started Stephen Introduced himself to the group and we had a group photo taken. Hamburg is a port city and is also built around canals.

Apparently it is similar to Amsterdam, yet has more canals then both Venice and Amsterdam and more bridges then London and Amsterdam combined. The group photo was taken in front of one of these canals.

The tour then started at the Rathaus. The Rathaus is an impressive building similar to a lot of the other gothic style buildings I’d seen around Germany, with statues all the way around the façade and lots of stylish trimming. It was built after the great fire of 1842 in which half the city was destroyed and was destroyed by the allies in World War 2.

Next we saw some buildings called ‘contour buildings’. These buildings were usually headquarters of major shipping companies and designed by the owners with various external characteristics such as textured walls or one was designed to resemble a ship.

We continued to walk around the city and learn more about its intriguing history. The city was bombed for 8 days nearing the end of World War 2 and almost destroyed. The commander of Hamburg surrendered to allied forces without a fight and saved many lives in the process. Hearing these stories and seeing the various memorials of World War 2, just reminds you how fucking stupid war is, and why we should all fight for peace. Germany has faced up to its past and I think it’s time that human beings as a whole realise there is a better way.

Stephen added a lot of character and humour into the stories and there were plenty of laughs along the way.  The final story revealed why you see a lot of skull and crossbones around Hamburg. Hamburg was home to one of the most famous pirates of them all Klaus Stortebeker. He was sort of a Robin Hood of Pirates and Hamburg are proud of this history it seems.

After the tour a few of us went back to a restaurant, which coincidentally was where the great fire of 1842 began for a meal and a couple of drinks. They had a special with Weinerschnitzel and a drink for 12,00 Euro. Hamburg is a pretty cool city. I spent some time talking to a couple (I told you I am bad with names) there and got the husbands email address in Paris, so if I need something he will try to help me out.

They had an interesting situation actually, He was French, and she was from Australia. They met while in Munich. The wife lives in Munich and the husband lives in Paris. A very nice couple.

Everybody left and Stephen and I stayed while he finished his meal and I finished my second beer. We talked about a lot of things.

When we left, he told me about a bunker in a park and suggested I go and see it. I wandered in the direction he told me saw the bunker and it is very cool. I then wondered around the block and tried to find a taxi. I eventually found a few waiting outside of a hotel not too far from St Pauli station. I went back to the hotel and spent a couple of hours in the hotel bar. I drank 3 beers and had some pasta and watched some German football.

I started to feel like falling asleep, so I payed the bill and headed up to the room. I fell asleep for an hour or so. Then woke up packed my stuff a little and went back to bed. I set my alarm for 6:30 AM as the train to Paris leaves at 8:00 AM. I am not looking forward to this trip as it is 8 and a half hours, I have to change trains at Karlsruhe, and hopefully I don’t fall asleep and miss this station.