Re: Details that Inspire
Batty said:
Thank you kubrick, I like those door handles in particular, very nice.
Incedently, I have only had the opportunity to go to Hamburg once (2005) and stayed in a rather delapidated hotel which I think (and I am by no means sure) was near the city centre (on the corner opposite a McDonalds franchise of all things). It was a fraught journey to get to the hotel, we got there late after following a taxi, and when added to the seeming endless machinations of the ladies of the night and their "friends", left me rather disappointed. It seemed much better in the early morning but we had to leave rather urgently. I recall a glass "pissoir" in a park near the hotel, which I thought risque and highly amusing. I have often wished I had seen more, or had a better experience and feel guilty when I read your musings- if only I had known then that you resided there, I am certain I would have seen it in a better light, or at least I could have asked you where to go.
That sounds very much like either St. Pauli or the area surrounding the central station. In Germany the surroundings of train stations are typically the centre of sleaze and dirt in larger cities. St. Pauli, on the other hand, is one giant combined red-light district cum entertainment district (clubs, bars). It's one end of the spectrum of this city, the other being the posh central shopping areas and large inner-city residential areas, such as Rotherbaum or Harvestehude, which look like a smaller-scale, cleaner Kensington or Belgravia. Regrettably, you seem to have only seen the one extreme.
But please do make sure you get in touch should you ever plan to visit again so that you'll be able to get a more rounded impression of Hamburg!
