Racy Reeperbahn

Most people think that St. Pauli is a beer, and they're not entirely wrong. St. Pauli Girl is brewed in the port city of Bremen, but the Saint I had in mind is a little further to the East. Cruise up the Elbe until you reach Hamburg, Germany's main port and second largest city. And right down there by seaport you can find St. Pauli, Hamburg's naughty red light district, claimed to have the raciest night life in all of Europe.

St. Pauli and its main drag, the Reeperbahn, have welcomed sailors for centuries. It's reputation as an area of ill repute, hot and sleazy nightlife, and basically a place where a sailor could rollick the night away was well deserved. In fact, as the story goes, young Brahms made money to put himself through music school by playing in the bordellos up on the Reeperbahn. Up and down the side streets, ladies of the night still ply their trade (legal in Germany), and there are rows of peep shows and sex shops. But intertwined, you'll also find cabarets, cabarets, restaurants, rock cafes and theatres. It was here, on the Reeperbahn during the early 1960s, that an unknown rock group with the strange name of the Beatles, played to an enthusiastic audience at the Kaiserkeller club.

It is fun just to walk the Reeperbahn and mingle with the thousands who come here to party, but if you want to be a good tourist, here are some points of interest:

Claus Becker's Erotic Art Museum

This is not your run of the mill erotic museum. Housed in a 1869 warehouse that stands five stories tall, it holds over 1800 works of art, ranging from classics such as Bernaert van Orley's Neptune And Nymph, painted in 1520, to 20th century Picassos. But be forewarned, most of the text describing the art is in German only. Located at 69 Bernhard-Nocht-Straße.

Operettenhaus

The famous Operettenhaus, where the musical "Cats" has had a continuous run since 1986. Located at 1 Spielbudenplatz

Panoptikum (Waxworks Museum)

For those of you who are wax museum fans, this one is a more modest version of the ones you'll find in London and Paris. Nearly 300 of the wax figures were destroyed during WW II, and only about a third have been replaced. Located at 3 Spielbudenplatz

Along the Spielbudenplatz, you'll find a number of discos, bars and music clubs. At No. 7 is the rock music discotheque "aftershave", at No. 9 the entertainment pub "Das Herz von St. Pauli", at No. 19 the cinema and rock concert venue "Docks" and at No. 24 "Schmidt," which has diverse offerings of musical theater and a bar.

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