Topless tour bus adds spice to Berlin
Apparently, going to Berlin to see do some sight-seeing isn't nearly interesting enough anymore....
BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- A tour bus filled with beer-drinking passengers and a handful of strippers is plying the night-time streets of Berlin, giving the German capital a hot new tourist attraction.
The double-decker bus cruises past the city's main tourist spots, including the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag parliament building, the chancellery, the state opera house, Tiergarten park and the Victory Column on a three-hour tour.
But the crowd on board seem less interested in Berlin's cultural offerings than they are in the tour guide, who slowly disrobes during her commentary, and her two "assistants" who keep spirits high with a series of strip shows.
"It's a terrific way to see Berlin, but the windows are a bit too steamed up to see much outside," said a construction worker called Sascha, cooling off with a beer after a stripper named Jenny, 20, sat down on his leg at the end of her dance.
This is not exactly a new concept. A couple of years ago, Naked News (based in Toronto) came up with the idea of a webcast where a female newsreader would disrobe as she read the news. By the time her segment was finished, she would be discussing affairs in the Middle East au naturel. I know, it's not exactly Nightline, but does anyone really want to see Ted Koppel naked??
The tour guide named Kati earnestly describes some of Berlin's political and cultural high points along the way, but the party-minded passengers, most of them middle-aged men sipping beer and other drinks, were more absorbed in the gyrating women dancing in the aisles.
"It's a great idea," said a retired man named Heinrich, drinking a rum and Coke.
"But I didn't have any time to look out the windows and see the sights. I was too busy following what was happening on the inside."
His friend Siegbert, from Brandenburg outside Berlin, was still recovering from the experience of having a dark-haired stripper named Nicole remove his glasses, rub them over her body and then gently put them back on his face.
"This is a fantastic way to get to know Berlin," Siegbert said. But he admitted he hadn't see much of the city. "It's kind of dark outside."
Somehow, this isn't something I can see Susan and I doing on our next European vacation, but I suppose one has to do what one can to make money. Many places that have historically had a large tourist trade have experienced a slump in revenues since 9.11. Berlin just happens to be more accepting of a "creative" approach to solving this problem than some other places.
Berlin has a long tradition for decadence, hedonism and tolerance. During the Weimar Republic after World War I, its infamous and racy cabarets were hugely popular.
In the 1970s its western half was the center of the European hippie counter-culture. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall the city's night-clubs have once again won it a reputation as one of Europe's top party capitals....
"There isn't anyone who doesn't enjoy an erotic show," said Richard Heidenreich, the 38-year-old operator of the Malibu disco where the stripper bus tour starts and ends. "The bus is always full. Banks, insurance companies, car dealerships and stag parties all want to go for the ride."
Borges, Heidenreich's partner, said even a senior citizens home had booked the bus for a private tour, which costs about $800 for an extended trip of six hours.
This seems an an interesting way of dealing with a difficult situation, and it's not as if the uniform budget is very large. I applaud Mr. Heidenreich for his creativity, if not his exploitation of women. While this might go over well in Berlin, I have a difficult time seeing a naked tour bus going over well in a place like Houston's Galleria area. Of course, it's not as if there is much to see there, anyway....
