I've been off on a couple of outings of late, one to Tempelhof Airport and the other to Hamburg. Not for any particular reason other than to simply see the places, leaving me lacking in any sarcastic quips for the moment.
Tempelhofs
One's viewing of Tempelhof was part of an organised, English speaking, guided tour. Which when I first heard about it sounded like an awesome day out, go and see the big ol' city airport with its huge ominous buildings and big imposing rooms, excellent. But, the problem being that whilst there are these types of areas, for the most part its 1970's looking offices and empty corridors.
Plus, the tour guide was a little on the abrasive side. He spent pretty much the whole time doing one of two things : Telling us how bad it was that construction was never completed on the airport because Germany lost the war (with a few snarky comments at those pesky English bombers) and how the Germans of the 1960's and 1970's ruined the vision of the airport (ie. the vision from the 1930's and 1940's). Me thinks he had a little bit of nostalgia for a certain political movement of the past.
former nazi
We did go down into the basement though (the coolest part of the tour) and look at an old bunker that still had fire damage from WW2. Then we looked at some pipes in the boiler room (the wankest part of the tour). All in all, worth it though.
Hamburgs
Hamburg was a bit of a random, lets go to a nearby city thats easy and quick to get to, type of trip. Never really had any great desire to go there as such (as I never did for Berlin). But, the place did surprise me and turn out to actually be worth a visit, definitely putting it up there as my second favourite city in Germany and giving me more cause to go and visit places that I don't want to go to, they all seem to be the best places. Didn't do a whole lot there other than sight see, drink coffee and stay in a rather dodgy hotel with knackered 1970's furniture, carpets and paintings. Containing the worst bathroom I've seen in Western Europe (the 'privacy' on the window went up about 75% to give people in the apartments across the road lots of topless shots of guests) :
Very Bad WC!
My favourite thing of all though was the architecture :
The only bad part about the whole place was the Reeperbahn. I'd been told about this 'biggest red light district in europe' before, and pictured something along the lines of the Amsterdam one, which whilst being disturbing is intriguing and safe enough to walk around. The Reeperbahn, however, was a completely different animal.
I think the only way I can describe it is if you build a picture of it in your head. Try and imagine you're walking down a long street, now cover the floor of the street in squashed fries and burgers, cigarette butts and chewing gum. Now throw in a smattering of homeless people and a couple of wizened crack addicts ambling around. Line the sides of the street with seedy looking strip joints and shifty bars, manning each one with either a bruiser doorman or a sleezy mofo trying to entice victims inside (with the occasional mafioso looking type). Smatter in a few prostitutes walking around with dildo's in their hand, and then for the final icing on the cake, fill the rest of the street with groups of 4 to 10 drunken English men (of the type who think football is something more than moronic sheep excrement) all stumbling around trying to start fights and bottle each other.
shitsville
So, throw in a nobhead screwing up my drink order and then being a complete cock about it (all at the worst bar in existence) and the night out that there wasn't the best one ever.
fuck you reeperbahn
But, thankfully, that was just one night. The rest of the trip and the rest of Hamburg was pretty good, although my favourite places there were basically Berlin.
