Hamburg, July 2018
As part of my vacation trip this summer, I was invited to Hamburg by the project Come to Hamburg. I had never been to Hamburg before, and really didn’t know what to expect, but it really ended up being a highlight of my summer vacation. Hamburg is such a lively city, with lots of grafitti and street art, museums (with the Kunstmeile pass you get access to five renowned art institutions), as well as super nice restaurants, bars and cafés. If you’re into culture and nice friendly people, I must say that Hamburg is the place to visit.
Murals by left: Andreas Preis, right: Low Bros
Nice installation at Museum Für Kunst und Gewerbe
Our stay in Hamburg got off to a fantastic start when we checked into the Renaissance Hamburg Hotel. I didn’t know what they had prepared for me, but it turned out that they were fully intended on spoiling me rotten by giving us a huge suite on the 5th floor. The suite was insane, including a grand piano and everything. They even had fluid art wallpaper, with my favorite colors! Apparently the wallpaper had been there for ages, and they had kept it when they took over the building and renovated it for the hotel business. The Renaissance Hamburg Hotel call themselves a design hotel, with every right. It feels modern, but also has a lot of interior details connected to Hamburg and its history of being an important harbour city. All within an historic, beautiful expressionistic building (very German indeed). And the location was great for getting to and from the airport and train station, and it was also very easy to get to the two areas we loved the most; St. Pauli and Sternschanze.
The Renaissance Hamburg Hotel
Sternschanze as well as St. Pauli are filled with street art and graffiti, and there were enough great restaurants and cafés to last us at least a month. Unfortunately though we only had two days, so we had to be a bit picky… Both areas had their distinct charm, and cruising the streets in this summer’s heatwave was truly inspirational for me as an artist, but also just perfect for some good old vacation fun. Reeperbahn was of course a must-see, however, if you’re like me and aren’t really that into crazy night clubs etc, I’d suggest you head just north of Reeperbahn where you’ll find it a bit more calm and quiet. But there are still plenty of nice places to eat, drink and enjoy yourself. Here, on Paul-Roosen-Straße, you’ll also find Affenfaust Galerie. Unfortunately our timing was a bit off, they were just in the process of installing a new group show when we went there, so it was closed. The artworks we saw from the outside looked amazing though. And they represent awesome artists like 1010, Doppeldenk and Push, so it’s well worth a visit next time we go to Hamburg.
More murals! Left: artist unknown, right: 1010
All in all, we had a fantastic stay in Hamburg, and our only regret is that we couldn’t stay longer. But, we’ll be back soon for sure!
