We packed up and said goodbye to Viktoria. This is the living room put back in place after our invasion.
Another one of those cool lamps
We had three missions to accomplish today before we left Germany. Get to a DM (an inexpensive drug store for toiletries and cosmetics), do a self-guided tour of the Reeperbahn (where the Beatles played extensively in their early days), and use the last of our euros (since this was our last country who uses them).
Mission #1: We passed a mall that had a DM. We stopped, we shopped, we left.
Mission #2: Cristina's phone navigation got us to the Reeperbahn and we easily found a free parking spot. In case you don't know your hardcore Beatles history, the Reeperbahn was the Hamburg red light district. Yes, the Beatles cut their performing teeth in German bars and strip clubs in the early 60's. And parts of it still are a red light district today. But if you tour it during the day time, it's not quite as seedy and inappropriate for children.
The intersection of Reeperbahn and Grosse Freiheit has been renamed Beatles-Platz.
From Beatles-Platz, this is looking down Grosse Freiheit, perpendicular to Reeperbahn. Susi's Show Bar has IKEA colors!
Beatles-Platz has some Beatle-shaped artworks. I think the homeless guy sleeping just out of frame had hung his jacket on Paul's bass. Alex didn't understand why there were five figures, so we had to educate him that there were five Beatles when they played Hamburg: John, Paul, George, Pete, and Stu. Stu left the band for a career in art and Pete was replaced by Ringo.
Sofia broke a glass. At first I thought it was a beer bottle, but we now think it might have been a glass for coins for the homeless guy behind her. Oops. This was the first of three broken glasses this day.
During the day, you get to see such interesting things as beer trucks unloading. Because I'm a big Beatles geek, I knew of three clubs that the Beatles played at. They played at more than three, but the three I knew by name were Indra, Kaiserkeller, and the Star-Club.
The Indra has the distinction of being the first place the Beatles played in Hamburg. They played six hours a night, seven days a week, and were each paid £2.50 per day. They had pretty dismal accommodations. McCartney said, "We lived backstage in the Bambi Kino, next to the toilets, and you could always smell them. The room had been an old storeroom, and there were just concrete walls and nothing else. No heat, no wallpaper, not a lick of paint; and two sets of bunk beds, with not very much covers—Union Jack flags—we were frozen."
After the Beatles played the Indra for about two months, it was closed due to noise complaints. The owner of the Indra, Bruno Koschmider, also owned the Kaiserkeller. The Beatles switched to this bigger club and worked the same hours.
This was a copy of the contract for the Beatles to play the Kaiserkeller. Obviously it was partially burned in a fire at some point in the past fifty years. When the Beatles broke their contract to work at the Top Ten club for more money and a better sound system, Koschmider angrily had George deported for being underage (he was 17).
The Star-Club was a step up from the Indra and the Kaiserkeller. When it opened in 1962, the Beatles were the opening act. It sat 2000 people in cinema-style seating. Unfortunately, the club was destroyed by fire in 1987. This memorial marks the spot where the club used to be.
The last thing we wanted to do in the Reeperbahn area was find the "Lennon doorway." It's thus called because there was a picture taken of John Lennon leaning in a doorway during the Beatles' stay in Hamburg. He used the photo for the cover of a solo album in 1975. Here's the album cover:
And here's the same photo, not as cropped:
I had read that you could easily find this doorway. A quick look-up on my phone and I got directions to it. And here it is:
While we were taking pictures, a guy who lives in the building approached and asked in soft-spoken broken English, "Are you here for John?" We said yes. He showed us how we knew we were at the right place by pointing out the bullet holes from WWII that are still in the wall. If you look at the original photo of John Lennon, you can see those same holes.
He pointed out how to be mindful of the doorbells as you pose like Lennon. You can't fully lean against the side like Lennon did, or you'll ring someone's doorbell. And then he went inside. It was cool. He was very sweet. I can only imagine how often he encounters tourists like us.
This was my attempt at the Lennon pose with Alex being one of the passing people.
The alley that led to the Lennon doorway was plastered with many old posters
Bella wanted her picture taken with this famous drag queen.
Alex's favorite is the one on the left. He said he was going to marry her one day. I liked the one on the right.
We got to Mette's for a late dinner. As we were getting settled, Alex felt an urge to organize the entertainment room he'd be sleeping in. He cleaned and organized the bar, and then got to work on the DVDs and video games. I guess it's his way of nesting. He is the most organized of my three kids.
Sofia slept upstairs in Ida's room. The rest of us slept here in the pool table room.
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