My Beatles Pilgrimage tour – Part 3: Hamburg, Germany
The tour of Hamburg, Germany was not included as part of the
The Beatles Pilgrimage Tour. It was
part of the “add on” that was a little extra.
Tony worked with Peter from the Hamburg Tours so that we could get a
great tour!
I have to admit that I do not know German. Going to a country and not knowing the
language can be a challenge. I have to
say thank you to the people of Hamburg for putting up with two Americans who
did not know what they were doing. Most
people spoke a little English, which was very nice.
It seems to me that the Beatle fans that I know will go on a
trip to Liverpool and London, but many of them skip Hamburg. I am not sure why (besides the language
issue), but I do want to encourage all of the fans to consider adding Hamburg
to their travel places to go. It is
just really neat to see where the Beatles got their start as a serious band.
Day 8- Hamburg, Germany
We flew from Gatwick Airport in London to The Hamburg
Airport. It took only one hour and 10
minutes (but you do lose an hour between England and Germany). From the airport we got a taxi and went to
our hotel, The Hotel Hafen Hamburg. The hotel is very big and older. The rooms are a bit small, but they are nice
and acceptable. The location of the
hotel is very nice. It is within walking
distance of the Reeperbaun area, but it isn’t in a place where you would feel
like you were in danger.
After we got into our room, we decided to set off and find
the Hamburg Hard Rock Café. I had
heard that the Hard Rock in Hamburg had some great Beatles stuff. Also being the geek that I am, I wanted to
eat a hamburger in Hamburg. We got a
little turned around on our way to the Hard Rock, but we managed to locate it
and enjoyed our meal.
The neatest thing inside the Hamburg Hard Rock is some
sketches that Stu did while in Hamburg in 1960.
But just a little advice if you are ever in the Hamburg and go to the
Hard Rock, most of the Beatles stuff is in the gift shop. There is a jacket that John supplely
wore, a postcard Ringo sent to his
Grandma, a letter that George wrote to someone while in Hamburg, and a few
other neat items.
After the Hard Rock, we walked along the waterfront for a
bit and went into the souvenir shops.
I was amazed that I could not find a soda machine anywhere, but there
were cigarette machines all over the place.
You just never see ciggie machines in the States anymore. I haven’t seen one since I was a very little
girl.
Sketches by Stu |
Day 9: Hamburg, Germany
Today was the day of our tour of the Beatles sight of
Hamburg; however the tour did not begin until 3:00pm. So we had quite a bit of time to explore on
our own. We walked around the Reeperbahn
area.
We really got a good feel for how things were when the Beatles came to
Hamburg in the early 1960’s. We saw
many sex shops, strip clubs, homeless people sleeping, mixed among fast food restaurants,
souvenir shops and families with small children walking. My mom
says that it was a “seedy” place. We
were obviously there during the daytime, so nothing was really going on and it
is interesting to note that both my mom and I never felt like we were in danger
in Hamburg. Although we were curious,
we made sure not be to out after dark, just to be on the safe side.
We met up with our wonderful tour guide, Peter, from theHamburg Tours. Peter is a wonderful
tour guide. He is someone who has lived
in Hamburg and is a Beatles fan. He
even met John Lennon at the western-wear shop in the Reeperbahn when John went
there for a brief break in film of “How I won the War” in 1966. Peter knows his stuff! And bless him for giving to the tour to
everyone in German and then giving it again to my mom and I in English.
We saw all of the clubs from when the Beatles were in
Hamburg: The Indra, the Kaiserkeller,
the Star Club, where the Top Ten club once was and we also saw where the Bambi
Kino was located. I know I have said
this about so many of the Beatles places that I have visited, but when you are
in one of those locations that you have read about in books, it really does
make the Beatles story come to life.
Sure I knew that the Beatles had played at the Indra, but to see where
it was located and to see the elephant sign that I had only seen in photos,
just really brought everything from black and white into color.
The best location spot of this tour is the doorway where
John Lennon stood on the cover of the Rock n Roll album. Today it is just the entrance to an
apartment, but it was awesome to stand
in that doorway. Peter also took my
mom and I around to few other spots in
the car. We saw where Astrid lived in
Hamburg. She lived in a much nicer area
than where the Beatles performed! Her
home was very nice. And we also saw where
Astrid took some famous photos of her and Stu .
After the tour we went into a pub and Peter arranged for us
to talk to Horst Faucher, whom you will recall was the man who brought the
Beatles to the Star Club. Horst told us
about how on New Year’s Eve of 1962 Paul McCartney asked him to come on stage
and sing “Hallelujah I love her so” and how it is on the Star club tapes
record. He told us a few other
stories and was so kind and friendly.
Horst has a book called “Let the Good Times Roll” about his time as the
manager of the Star Club. It currently
is only available in the German language, but Horst tells me that it will be
available in English within the next year.
He has my email and will let me know when it is out. So I will keep you all informed. His stories were so great that he told,
that I am anxious to read his whole book!
What a great way to end a great Beatles Pilgrimage tour!
Day 10: Hamburg
Germany to Alton, Illinois
Well my time abroad came to an end. It was up at 5:00a.m. and a long flight
from Hamburg to New Jersey. Then a
long layover and a three hour flight from New Jersey to St. Louis and a van
ride that took 30 minutes to my home in Alton, Illinois.
I hope you all enjoyed hearing about my trip. And I sincerely hope that you all get the
opportunity to go on a similar trip of your own. It is well worth it!
Hi Sara! I'm happy that you had such a good experience with Hamburg, Peter and Horst! Too bad you couldn't come while the Beatles museum was in operation. I believe that the Reeperbahn district was much seedier in the early sixties than in present times. These days, it's more of a tourist district, back then it was sailors, gangsters and much drunkenness.
ReplyDeleteSara your travel diaries are so intersting and passionate! I hope one day to travel in these exciting beatles places... For now I've been only in London, but not for an organized Beatles tour. Bye ;-)
ReplyDeleteMan, that is too cool! I would love to see the Beatle sites in Hamburg too! And meeting Horst is really cool!
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