John Lennon: "I might have been born in Liverpool - but I grew up in Hamburg"
Hamburg: Where it all happens is the district of St. Pauli, with the Reeperbahn ( Rope Walk) as it's focal point. The Reeperbahn, a 1 km strech, is referring to the hempen ropes produced here during the 18th and 19th centuries for the ships in Hamburg's harbor.
In the 19th century, most forms of entertainment were plainly forbidden in Hamburg's better neighbourhoods. So Reeperbahn developed entertainment and recreational options of its own, and the sailors from around the world were safely channeled into a neighbourhood which is now also known as St Pauli.
The city's official line is that the Reeperbahn is Hamburg's second-greatest attraction and asset after the port. The authorities make frequent references to their requirement that every officially sanctioned working girl submit to a medical examination every 2 weeks -- and pay income tax on her profits.
Mornings in St. Pauli are burned-out, everybody is recovering from the night before. But from 20:00 the district's bars and theaters are roaring away. Between midnight and 5am, you'll find thousands of women and men in drag pushing through the St. Pauli district.
The most exclusive! area is Herbertstrasse, where you can go window-shopping for sex, when you're 18y or above. Less-expensive deals you find in the streets around Herbertstrasse. Women here are from all continents, cross-dressers, transsexuals, and ladyboys offer their services.
Grosse Freiheit, a street which translates as Great Freedom offers various sex-shows with any act of sexual expression, except those which involve animals, bestiality or children. Joyful, or disgusting, it's all here, and if not embarrassing, it seems surreal.
Municipal regulations forbid prostitution, inside erotic theaters. But there's nothing to prevent a member of the audience from suddenly deciding to be a performer. And there's nothing that prevents performers setting up a later rendezvous.
Anyway basicly it's entertainment for the masses, for people who escape from their villages over the weekend and are looking fafter booze, sex and trouble. It can be great fun, as long as you keep cool and don't take it serious.
