The Melbourne lad (Rhaun) from my room came with me to the FC St. Pauli stadium for the game last night. By the time we got there the 2nd half had already started so it was too late to get in but we watched the rest of it in a pub built into the ground. They got the winner against Ahlen in the 92nd minute so the atmosphere was great. I’d like to come back one day and sample it from within the stadium.
Post match was a little crazy. There was some huge protest march by the fans (living up to their reputation). There were a good 5 thousand + I reckon and there were a lot of seriously heavily protected and armed dibble on the prowl, there were even armoured veichles and trucks with water-canons on. It all looked peaceful enough though. The most frustrating part was that I couldn’t get to the bottom of whst the whole thing was actually about.
After that we had a few beers down on the Reeperbahn, it’s quite a long strip and all very seedy. I couldn’t believe how busy it was, thousands of normal looking revellers (i.e. not just there for a bit of titilation!) flooding up and down the street. It was worth a look but I wouldn’t want to go back.
The last 2 mornings I’ve had free brekkie and free lunch as well for that matter. It should have been 4 Euros but Rhaun had managed to wangle an extra pass (as it happens I never needed it as they didn’t bother checking). I had a wee bit of cereal and then made a ham and cheese bun up for me lunch, as travellers must. Jobs a good ‘n.
Apart from St. Pauli I’ve not really seen much of Hamburg but from what I did I liked the look of it, it seems to have a very liberal populous and a decent vibe about it. I’ve also never seen so many Vespas in one city. Good stuff.
I did have one hour to kill in Hamburg city centre before I got on the train to the nation’s capital and I picked an interesting time to kill it. I left the station and walked slap bang into the middle of a gay parade. There were lots of ‘women’ with suspicious jaw lines and blokes walking about in cod pieces and chaps. The open top buses full of badly dressed men, dancing badly to awful Euro dance made for a hilarious sight.
I’m just on the train now and am listening to a BBC Football podcast about Newcastle United. Hearing them forever droning on about how great and passionate they are as fans is embarassing. Some of them are nearly full on blubbering again when they are talking about their relegation. Get a grip. Let’s see how many of the World’s greatest fans turn up this season eh.
I’ve got a plethora of different things to see and do in Berlin so it’s a good thing I have 4 days to do it. Pekka has given me an impressive list of bars, clubs and areas to check out and there’s loads of touristy sort of things that have caught my eye in the guide book. Should be good.
Tags: Alan Partridge, Blogsherpa, Europe, FC St. Pauli, gay parade, Geordies, Germany, Hamburg, ladyboys, Reeperbahn
