I hadn't been to Hamburg for a few years until the latest musical production made me drive north in early December - a jukebox musical recycling the hits of Udo Jürgens which opened at the Operettenhaus, a theatre that will always hold a special place in my heart because it was here I saw "Cats" more times than I care to count years ago. I took my digital camera along to capture some impressions of Hamburg in the christmas season.
 

We had forked out to stay at the Hotel Atlantic, Hamburg's most prestigious hotel which has been the "first address" for celebrities and other VIPs for more than a century now. Like the good hard-working journalist I am, I set up my little office in our hotel room :)  And here's a photo of the Atlantic's great entrance lobby in full christmassy glory.

From the hotel we walked towards the city along the Alster, which is usually thought of as a lake but is actually a river. Here's a nice view across the Binnenalster towards the Jungfernstieg where Hamburg is in it's best Hanseatic glory.

A large christmas tree has been set up in the middle of the lake while a christmas market has been set up on the Jungfernstieg (you can see all the tiny white domes above that are the stalls)

There were also christmas markets on virtually every square of the city, the shopping arcades were decked out as well as the trees lining the main shopping street, Mönckebergstraße. Well, it's Germany's third-biggest city in full christmas shopping mode. We walked around them all and I took some pictures of the christmas markets and the main sights as well, so here they are: 
 

The busy christmas market at the Jungfernstieg with plenty of German kitsch on offer.

 

	A replica of the Queen Mary 2 made entirely of amber!

 

No christmas market is complete with the typical drinks: Glühwein (hot mulled wine) or cocoa with added "spice" (usually Baileys or Amaretto, but some people also enjoy some hardcore booze like Jägermeister)

Hamburg by day mostly means the posh Hanseatic area around the Binnenalster with the Rathaus (town hall), the elegant shopping arcades of the Hanseviertel and the main shopping drag Mönckebergstraße. But come night, the city's heart beats in St.Pauli near the port with the world-famous red light district along the Reeperbahn with its clubs, bars, brothels and a row of theatres along the Spielbudenplatz, the "cleaner" end of the Reeperbahn. The Spielbudenplatz now also played host to "Germany's most sinful christmas market", Santa Pauli.

When I first went to see "Cats" at the Operettenhaus (which is part of the row of theatres on Spielbudenplatz) I was shit-scared of the red-light district and the whole area, hopping from the theatre into a taxi and away in a hurry, but by now I enjoy a walk down there since it's become more of a tourist attraction than anything, and the "Große Freiheit", where once the Beatles had their first public appearance in the early 60's is now THE club mile for young Hamburgians to go out and party in the weekend.

 

 

The less I say about the musical, the better. Udo Jürgens has written many immortal songs, but I'm not fond of these jukebox musicals anyway and it doesn't help that the songs were squeezed into a hackneyed plot with lame jokes that can only please the +50 generation that also enjoys German TV series written in the same vein. What was worse for me is that this was the press night and I was there on press tickets. But unlike most decent producers, tight-fisted Stage Entertainment doesn't even offer a buffet or some snacks for the press and other invited guests anymore. Since we didn't feel like eating a hot sausage or something on the cold christmas market, we dashed along the Reeperbahn and ended up in Kentucky Fried Chicken in all our evening gown glory, right next to the local punks and Korean backpackers. Ah well - at least I didn't have to bear the show on an empty stomach :)

Hamburg is still one of my favourite towns in Germany, but definitely not a town I'd like to live in - the extremes are too obvious here between the rich posh inner city and the shoddyness of the St.Pauli area with nothing in-between. Nor do I think I could bear the coastal weather all the time with lots of rain and stiff breezes. And after this jukebox musical and the "Dirty Dancing" rehash last year, I hope to see a really good musical opening there again!

 

 

 

 

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