Cool in Hamburg

I should be giving you an idea of some of the many things I've been up to lately.  It hasn't all been moping around and feeling ill, but I realise this blog might have rather given the impression that it has.  Rest assured I have done some great things which I have enjoyed a lot.

For instance, after Rhodes,  I went to the German city of Hamburg.   In a way it was my first visit.  I say "in a way" because actually, I spent 18 months living really near Hamburg as a kid.  I learned to sing  "Auf der Lüneburger Heide"  (although not exactly the same as this bloke - different hat, for a start))  I ate Makronen at Christmas and I went to the Domfest in the Spring.  But I don't remember the city itself - which would have been very different in my childhood from what it is now, anyhow.

So it was all new to me, really, and I'd like to tell you about the place where I stayed, which was unlike anywhere I'd been before.  It was called Superbude St Pauli and it calls itself a hotel-hostel.  I had no idea what a hotel-hostel is, but it turned out (predictably perhaps) to be a bit of hotel and a bit of hostel.

At first I thought it was pure hostel, and a grotty one at that, right in the middle of Hamburg's Graffitiville

and a grim looking exterior  it had (below) - I think it used to be a factory. 

and the entrance isn't exactly prepossessing. You either take that slow red lift, or climb up some tatty concrete stairs.

Then you get inside and it starts to make more sense. The walls are bright yellow, and there's a big lobby where you can hang out, get snacks and drinks, play on the computer or read the magazines provided - mostly about trainers or skateboarding fashion, it's true, and also in German - but it's bright and spacious with room to socialise and it's really very welcoming....

The decor suggests that the place has all been put together on a shoestring, using recycled materials, but take a closer look and it quickly becomes obvious that lots of money has gone into it. Sure, some of the armchairs below appear to be made out of old wheelbarrows ...

They are even as uncomfortable as sitting in real wheelbarrows would be, since there is no room for a normal human rear end in them. But look again and try to imagine them as real wheelbarrows, you'll see that no real wheelbarrow was ever that shape.  No, these hard, uncomfortable chairs were specially made. They're Art. .

So were the magazine racks thoughtfully placed next to the toilets - that's not a real flip flop nailed to the wall. It's a bit of interior decor.  

And the furnishings in the room isn't really made of recycled wood. And the phrase written in large letters opposite our bed was rather elegantly spread over the grey wall, and when I followed it up I learned about some interesting music  I hadn't encountered before.(click to hear)

The washbasins and taps in the bathrooms are expensive and elegant.  There are beautiful fresh flowers on the long tables at breakfast.

And organic juices. And everything very, very clean.

I was puzzling about what it all meant when in a flash of inspiration, I realised that the Superbude St. Pauli is very, very cool.   Trust me not to recognise coolness when I see it!    

I decided I really liked it, and not just because the more I looked the cooler it seemed.  .Actually, when I went out to explore, I realised the area around was very cool too.  True, it was graffiti-covered and scruffy but it too was full of organic shops and music and interesting restaurants, grand old buildings painted up crazy, and home made constructions catching the eye...

I notice that Tripadvisor and booking.com give Superbude St. Pauli top marks. It costs about the same as a regular Ibis or Holiday Inn, but I'd choose it any time.    Take a look at its entertaining website here.

I will probably write more about Hamburg, but next post, I hope to tell you about some of the things I've been doing closer to home.