| Hamburg - Binz - Prora 7.03 | ||
 |
||
|
SIDE
Hotel, Hamburg
I saw this ridiculously over-designed hotel in a magazine and knew that I had to stay there. The idea of square sand-blasted glass fittings plus blobby furniture and "lighting design by Robert Wilson" sounded good to me. In reality it's a bit 'Wallpaper*' 2000, these ultra-modern designer luxury hotels already seem a bit dated, but hey, where else are we going to stay? I'd much rather be here than in some over-flounced trouser-press hell-hole. Anyway, the room is pretty fabulous with big glossy wardrobes, fancy-schmancy toiletries, a glass-walled bathroom with humungous tub and square loo, and architecture books for us to browse. Downstairs there's a beautiful spa and a restaurant that serves the most delicious breakfast I've ever eaten (fresh strawberry and mango juice - yum, yoghurt made with milk from alpine herds - yum, dainty little pancakes - yum, incredible breads - yum, miniature pastries - yum, all yum). SIDE Hamburg The Reeperbahn Yeah, whatever. Rich people and junkies We go on a tacky bus tour of the city and the operator takes us through one of the richest neighbourhoods, pointing out the consulates, stopping to take in people's gardens and lush apartments that overlook the Alster. I like the idea of treating the rich folk like themepark attractions. On the other side of town we are treated to views of junkies and prostitutes hustling for work and skag. This is my kind of tour. Swimming Pools Hamburg is home to many fabulous swimming pools. We check out two of them: Bartholomaus Therme In the winter this renovated Jugendstil pool complex hosts candlelight spa evenings but because it's summer the nights don't get dark enough for such frivolity. Nevertheless we make ourselves at home floating around the pool on foam tubes, letting the water jets that line the perimeter create a giant whirlpool in which we drift and catch reflections of ourselves in the amazing mirrored ceiling. This is possibly the most tranquil moment of my life. Kaifu-Bad It's our last day in Hamburg so we head to the outdoor pools at Kaifu. The diving pool, 50m lane pool, kiddie's paddling pool, splashing around pool and indoor pool are all glittering in the sunlight. We take some underwater photos. Aaah, heaven. Random things I like about Hamburg The profusion of excellent medicinal bath products for sale, the graceful spires that overlook the city, Café Gnosa, which serves excellent cake, people feeding massive flocks of swans by the canalside, gay bars called 'Tolerance,' 'Black and Zips' and 'Strictly'. Rügen/Binz We take a four-hour train ride, past field after field, wind farms and forests, and eventually arrive in Binz, a small nineteenth century resort town on the Baltic island of Rügen. The place is CUTE in a totally clean Disney/Portmeirion way. It's all whitewashed wooden villas, manicured boulevards and relaxed-looking people. There's a beautiful tranquil lake on the other side of town where we watch swallows skimming the water's surface at dusk. Wow. Strandkörbe You can hire these big, double-seater, wicker beach chairs for about £5 per day. They are lockable, they have a little fold-out table and foot rests and the whole thing can be adjusted depending on how horizontal you want to be. We felt very Some Like it Hot. Prora At four and a half kilometres, Prora is the longest building in the world, I think. It was built in the 1930s and intended as a holiday camp for 20,000 aryan families under the Nazi Strength Through Joy programme. This never happened because the war broke out during which parts of the building were bombed. Between 1945 and 1990 the East German army took over the building and used it as a secret training base (Read this excellent article for more information about its past). Today much of Prora lies derelict, although parts of it house a couple of museums, some cafés and hippie artist studios. Tomorrow, who knows? 
I can't explain why I wanted to see this place. I'm not a Nazi, neither did I want to go simply to be shocked by a fascist relic. I wanted to see something unbelievable before it became sanitised, and Prora didn't disappoint. Yes, the building is massive, we only managed to cycle round half of it. It's terrifying to imagine what it might have been like had the holiday camp thing worked out, and grim to think of its East German history too. But what spooks me most is the fact that it's pretty much hidden by forest from the railway, only 500 metres away. Unless you were looking for it you wouldn't have known it was there. It's also bizarre to think that this colossus exists so close to the chintzy wonderland that is Binz. And yes, the beach, the ruins, the trees and the holidaymakers of today make it all oddly appealing. Some of the strange exhibits at the National Volks Army Museum in Prora Because the building is so huge there's enough space to display whatever weird collections the museum might have. We saw rooms dedicated to: • Every kind of military uniform you can imagine • Crockery • Wetsuits • Stuffed birds and animals • Sewing machines (two rooms worth, and some in the corridors too) • Miscellaneous pre-computer age computery things • Telephones • Kid's art • The Catholic church in Poland, including a giant icon and a full-on cross-stitched portrait of the Pope. • At the top of the building was a faux Viennese café complete with chandeliers, classical music and displays of vintage postcards. It was, uh, kind of surreal. |
            |
|
|
||