Hamburg on the horizon

It's almost time to begin the search for the famous currywurst. I leave for Hamburg early on Friday morning not really knowing what I will find. To be honest I'm viewing this trip as a bit of a random encounter, granted I'll be staying with an old mate and that in itself is well worth the trip but what about the sausage? I visited Hamburg many years ago when I was the Cumberland. We were invited to a reception with the burgermeisters of the city and were guests of honour at a very grand dinner. I felt tremendously out of place and was glad when the speeches were over and it was time to hit the pub, a choice I would avoid these days, The London Pub. With all of the beer Kellars in the region to choose from I, and in fact 90% of the ships company, chose a carbon copy of the ex-pats haunt from any one a thousand locations around the globe. Almost every night of our stay saw dozens of my ship mates drinking in the same establishment. One night in particular stuck out.

At that time, must have been 1991/1992, there were protests and demonstrations throughout Germany primarily against immigrants but generally against all non-Germans notably in Rostock. We were, as usual in the bar drinking heavily, I was standing in the rear section with a few mates talking bollocks. Suddenly the lights went out, the music stopped, the doors were shut and bolted and the staff urged us to keep quiet. There was more chance of getting Barry White to eat salad, almost to a man we crowded towards the windows to see what was happening outside. There seemed to be a great of shouting and chanting, through the gaps in the crowd I could sees large mob carrying banners and placards, some carried lumps of wood. Part of that mob stopped and gathered outside the pub, our crowd stared at them through the window, then someone waved at them and gave them a thumbs up. Then they were gone. It's only now, I mean just now, that I've ever looked into that riot, there seems to be a lot of violent activity in the area and I realise now how lucky we were.

This time, my visit will be in the spirit of sausagey solidarity, no book on sausages would be complete without a visit to Germany. Matt knows of at least one place that excels in the currywurst and I will carry out some research tonight and tomorrow.

Off to Gatwick tomorrow night, this will give me a chance to finish the Serbia chapter.