Hamburg, Germany: A Hard Day's Night

A day off, thank the heavens! Not such a big deal for me but, you can tell after so many consecutive gigs that it starts to wear on all the guys. But all is usually healed with a little R & R and a night in a hotel. We all stayed up LATE the night before  on the bus watching this tour's theme movie, "The Room," the absolute worst and most incredible film in the world (if you have heard of it, you know what I'm talking about) so the first couple hours of the day were spent napping. After regaining energy, a few of us went and got paninis and gelato at a local cafe. The neighborhood is called St. Pauli and boy is it seedy. There were normal streets that sort of reminded me of the brownstones in New York and then you turn a corner and BAM! sex shop with a 10 foot full-frontal poster in the window. That was the first clue. 

Interesting Architecture

 There were more conservative parts to the area as well. I strolled through a beautiful green park with blankets of yellow daffodils at my feet. There were hipster restaurants down small streets that looked delicious (though, I couldn't understand the menus), a local carnival, huge statues with no plaques so I couldn't tell you who they were and tall twisted skyscrapers with innovative architecture that drew my eyes up but once that sun went down that town got cara-zay.

Note how tiny the man is comparison to the statue on the top left

Wayne and I had a date night at "China Restaurant" across the street from our hotel, The Monopol. The food was surprisingly good and pretty healthy as far as Chinese food goes, though we had an almost impossible time ordering with the language barrier. My sweet husband ended up ordering plain fried rice because he asked the server to just bring him her favorite dish and I think she interpreted the word "favorite" as fried rice. 

Fun Fact: St. Pauli has it's own Red Light District but woman are not welcome. The "ladies" in the windows will apparently throw things at any woman that walks down the street.

Breakfast spread

Our second day in Hamburg started with a delicious breakfast spread at the venue. German bread is one of the most exquisite things I've ever tasted. Later, we found out from the promoter that the catering room was one of  The Beatles' venue's in Hamburg, they even slept on the stage when they didn't have a place to live. Ben and I decided that we wanted to wander around and see if we could find any more of Beatles spots before the show.We found the Star Club where they performed in 1962 and Inka, the venue where it all began. I looked in the window but there was a curtain blocking the view. As a HUGE Beatles fan, this was a really special experience. You could tell the city had little appreciation for the history of these buildings but at least they are still standing. Hopefully, some Beatles charm will rub off on the band. 

The 1st club The Beatles played in Hamburg.

The Beatles played here in 1962.

 Ben and I also stumbled upon a two-story vintage shop with so many clothes that I felt suffocated, aka my dream come true. The clutter didn't stop me from finding an amazing pair of green wedges and haggling them down 10 Euros. I love shopping with my husband, don't get me wrong, he is honest, has great taste and is very smart with our money...but Ben is the kind of person that will encourage you to buy everything in the store including the shop owner's dog and I like that. 

Vintage Shoes

The performance that night was out of control, I have never seen an entire audience put their hands up all at once. The crowd moved with the band through the journey of the set and reacted accordingly to the energy level of each song. I watched from the sticky, sweaty balcony until I made my grand entrance to the stage to toss out the glow in the dark beach balls (which gives me major anxiety every night because I throw like I imagine a T-Rex would) and then watched the rest from the side of the stage. There was a Daniel Platzman doppleganger out in the crowd and it was hilarious for all of us to watch him rock out. He really looked exactly like him. See photograph: 

Platzman Impersonator

Wing stomp-clapping during "It's Time"

After the show, we walked down the street (more like big ally) Grosse Freiheit (where the venue was located). I have never seen people party so hard. The clubs and bars were packed, I witnessed two fights, got offered drugs and I'm pretty sure EVERY person on that street was smoking. After our safe return from chaos, Dan, Wayne and I huddled up in the bus  reeking of cigarettes and listened to the police radio play-by-play of the search and arrest of the 2nd suspect in the Boston Marathon explosions. It was nice to feel connected to The U.S. and the tragic events when we're so far removed from the news and people.