I went to Hamburg last weekend. Most of the pictures I took from Hamburg were in Miniatur Wunderland, which will be Monday’s post because it’s amazing and because I took a bazillion pictures that I haven’t sorted through yet. There were a few other reasons to go to Hamburg besides the wonderment that is Miniatur Wunderland, though
1) I wanted a chance to visit with Sarah Stäbler and her husband Tobias before their baby is born. I probably won’t get another chance to hang out with them before I leave Germany.
2) I wanted to find Beatles-Platz. It’s a tiny section of the Reeperbahn adjacent to where the Beatles played. I couldn’t find it last time I was in Hamburg, but I went this time armed with more information and more time to look for it. More importantly, I had looked at pictures of it this time, so I knew what the heck I was looking for.
3) Another Category One station, the Hamburg-Altona station. Then there were five…
I’d like to begin the show and tell portion of this post by commenting that I had forgotten just how strange the Hamburg main train station is. It’s set up a little bit like an Oreo cookie- the restaurants and shops are on the upper levels at either end, and the creamy center of train platforms is down a flight of stairs. The two ends are connected on the inside of the building only by way of the train platforms.
Beatles-Platz is right at the intersection of Große Freiheit and the Reeperbahn. The “statues” aren’t really anything of the sort, they’re actually just metal outlines of the Beatles. The three in front are John, Paul, and George, and the drummer is supposed to look a little like Ringo and a little like Pete Best.
Standing a little way off to the right is one more guitarist. The Internet says the fifth Beatle is supposed to represent Stuart Sutcliffe, the original Bass player for the band. You can’t see it clearly in these photos, but the Beatles-Platz is circular, and is paved black to look like a vinyl record. It’s fairly striking.
On Saturday morning, I had brunch with Sarah and Tobias. As is my custom, I completely misjudged my travel time and arrived ridiculously early. This gave me some time to look at the artwork on the buildings nearby.
This was a giant door leading into a tattoo and piercing shop.
An apartment building. The bird was striking. The graffiti over top of the artwork was really unfortunate.
I’m not sure what to make of this one. It reminds me of someone I know, though…
People in this town make art with biiiiig ladders.
This one was totally my favorite. The girl on the purple scooter is awesome. It also reminds me of someone I know.
Brunch with Sarah and Tobi was pretty great- good food, and good company. It’s not completely visible in this picture, but Sarah is wearing a How I Met Your Mother maternity shirt. It says “I’m going to be Legen…wait for it…”
After brunch, we walked around the neighborhood a tiny bit until we reached the U-Bahn station I needed to move on to the next part of the day. Next up, Miniatur Wunderland!
It took me two visits to find Beatles-Platz. Are there any sights that you haven’t been able to find on the first try?
Whimsy. Tacos. The DMV. 
Will be there Monday! Got my tickets to TEDx in my hot little hand. Oh how I love the Miniatur Wunderland. Now imagine me and 64 6th graders there. I will hold back comments until next post.
Absolute favorite Hamburg thing to do is lunch at Landungsbrücken. Sitting harborside, watching the big and little boats go by, feels like home in Seattle. Then walk off lunch through the Elb tunnel or take a 10 minute ferry down river to Övelgönne. Ah…the sweet life.
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I saw all the TEDx posters around town while I was there. Are you going to post about that once you return?
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Yes! Absolutely!
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Ah… I hope your Miniatur Wunderland photos includes photos of all the naughty bits. Those are the best parts.
And, btw, with respect to the Hamburg Hbf, I’m fairly certain that you can get between the two ends along the east side of the building — without having to descend to platform level.
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I actually only spotted two of the naughty bits, and my photos of those were uninspiring. I found a lot of other neat stuff though.
For the Hamburg HBF, you can get from one end to the other easily by walking outside of the building. I don’t think there’s an entirely indoor path without dropping to the platforms though.
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I had no idea that Beatles Platz existed, otherwsie I would have looked for it in Hamburg. I’m not much of a Beatles fan, but the Platz looks pretty cool.
It took me three tries to find the Statue of Liberty in Luxembourg Gardens, Paris. The first time we just didn’t find it, and Jan was convinced I’d misread and it wasn’t actually there. The second time, we found where it was supposed to be… with a sign saying it was on loan to some art exhibition. Aaargh! Finally found it the third time we visited Paris, and I had my photo taken with it to prove that I am NOT crazy!
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I had a similar situation in Edinburgh- I went looking for the Sherlock Holmes statue, only to learn later that it had been relocated during road work. D’oh!
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That’s a funny (and very accurate) description of the Hamburger Hauptbahnhof!
I think I may have told you this story already, possibly even at our brunch on Saturday…but… we climbed to the top of a hill somewhere in Frankfurt to find a “castle” that wasn’t there. Not sure if maybe the adults on our school trip played a trick on us…
I also never noticed that about the Beatles Platz that the pavement is black to look like a record! Makes so much sense!
Can’t wait to see your post on Miniatur Wunderland!!!
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Did you eat hamburgers in Hamburg? I’m looking forward to the next installment 🙂
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Actually, I did eat a hamburger in Hamburg. Tobias recommended Hesburger as being pretty tasty, and since there’s one more or less right next to Beatles-Platz, I grabbed a burger there in the evening. It was pretty tasty.
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I love all that graffiti! Germany sure has a lot of it, but I don’t mine when it’s 1. not done on something really old and 2. artful.
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