This is pretty hilarious: after oodles of meetings and debates, Germany's largest cities have conceded to allow Google Maps street-views ... sort of ... almost ... kinda. For example, here you can just see the window of my old home on Gryphiusstrasse, Hamburg - Google Maps[googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps?q=6+gryphiusstrasse,+hamburg&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Gryphiusstra%C3%9Fe+6,+Winterhude+22299+Hamburg,+Germany&ei=yDvlTKKoJ5SgngfKt4CoDQ&oi=geocode_result&ved=0CBMQ8gEwAA&t=h&layer=c&cbll=53.590973,10.00057&panoid=KmaOYjwPt0cH2CctXxVVTw&cbp=13,213.01,,0,-6.72&ll=53.584519,10.00391&spn=0.015999,0.048237&z=14&source=embed&output=svembed&w=562&h=314]
That's it, iirc, on the 3rd floor up, that would be Derek's bedroom window and to the left of that, midst the blur, the balcony where we'd launch our rockets for the New Years fireworks. Back down the other direction it seems things haven't changed in 45 years, the block across the street is still under reconstruction, although here it looks no less blocky and blurry than our staid old apartment block.
I can't wait to explore back down the bookending mainstreets to see if the businesses at least let Google map their facades. I wonder if the old 45rpm record vending machine is still there ...
For those interested (and who either read German or don't mind a google translation) Daniel Schwerd offers some explanation as to why the streets of those fair cities should be so, well, grossly pixelated. Oh and before you waste the time to bother with it, you should know that the entire core of the Reeperbahn has been completely blacked out.