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Anyone catch this little aside before?
........ Q. What about simpler days, like in Hamburg?
John: You know what I have written — carved — on a church in Hamburg? "John loves Cyn." That was my first going out with her at that time. A church that overlooks ... just outside the Reeperbahn. But out right in town, and it's got a big green tower, that you can walk up in. And we all carved our names on there. You can have a look. There will be John + Cyn, Stu [Stuart Sutcliffe] + Astrid, Paul + ... what the hell was the girl at that time?
(*The girl was Dot Rhone. And unfortunately, I heard the carved names are now long gone- Johnandcynthialennon. blogspot.com/2018/02/ )
Q. Were they all English girls?
John: Except for Astrid with Stu. I think Stu and Astrid is up there ... but I know John + Cyn is. We stuck our names up there with whoever we were hanging on then. I didn't go out with a German girl. I ended up with an American, I never saw her again.
From: This exclusive, in-depth interview, conducted in 1975, first appeared in our October 1988 issue. We've re-posted it to celebrate what would've been John Lennon's 79th birthday. Read through and experience Lennon talking about his marriage, his finances, the Beatles' legacy, meeting Elvis, and much, much more.
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Or I wonder if the church with the carving is Die Friedenskirche...it has a tall green tower and also is between the Indira and Kino Studios! Just a thought.
https://tayloronatrip.com/beatles-in-hamburg-germany says- Despite a thorough google search, I came up totally short with finding the name of the church on the internet. So, I asked my personal Hamburg historian, Ralph, if he had ever heard of the carving. He hadn't.
Thankfully, as an ever-curious spirit in all things Beatles, Ralph wanted to know the answer to my question as well. So he called up his good friend and Beatles Historian Stefanie Hempel. Stefanie is the originator of the one and only Hempel's Beatles Tour in Hamburg. If anyone knew where to find this carving, surely it would be her, right?
Only... she had never heard of it either. But she and Ralph agreed that the only church that fit the bill was St. Michael's, so off I went.
I must have scoured every corner of that church. I started by walking the grounds and canvassing the outside, and slowly worked my way in and up, up, up. My fellow tourists and the church's staff must have branded me a lunatic, I'm sure. Because while everyone else was admiring the fascinating architecture and incredible views the sky-high church offered, I was nose to the grindstone – literally – checking every effing inch of that building for the simplest of carvings.
Spoiler alert: I never found it.
After what seemed like forever, a 10 euro fee to get me to the top, and acquiring a massive headache, I never found it. Whether John was referring to a different church, or whether the carving has been lost to time and renovations, I never found it.
Calling all Beatle-freaks: If you know where find this carving, let me know. I can't say I'm ever going to go back to St. Michael's, but like, just for my peace of mind, you know?
