Booking it to Hamburg: Oktoberfest 2012 -- Hamburg style

Saturday was a night I had been looking forward to for quite some time now. As is any excuse to wear my Dirndl!

I'm very lucky that I've been able to celebrate at the "real" Oktoberfest in München on a couple of different occasions, but last weekend was fun in a whole new way. The Fischauktionshalle was (wonderfully) transformed into a giant beer hall with long rows of tables and blue and while Baverian flags at every turn.

We purchased our tickets early, but apparently this didn't make much of a difference at the doors - which opened at 18:00. We arrived at 18:45, got a prime parking spot, and eyed the 100m+ line. Surely we could skip ahead, right? Not so much.

Buying a ticket early saved you a couple of Euros, but it still didn't guarantee you a spot inside. We kind of huddled in with a group (ok...we cut, but it's so German...no one even said anything!) and got right in, successfully passed through security, and landed four seats at a table.

It was almost too good to be true.

We immediately grabbed some food, pork knuckle to be exact, and some beer, 1 liter Alsterwassers, and started having fun. Sorina and I shared a half of a pork knuckle, but we saw some women (smaller than us!) putting away a whole one. Wow.

Multitasking after dinner -- braid time!

The atmosphere was fantastic. I'd say 90% of people were dressed in Tracht aka Dirndls and Lederhosen or as close as they could get. There was a live band and they knew exactly what to play. I'd say most of the songs were quite predictable -- but that's what makes it fun! I have so many favorite songs and it's fun when I don't have to listen to them in secrecy but can belt them out while standing on benches along with hundreds of my closest, new friends.

Some of my favorites?

So ein schöner Tag (complete with dance moves)
Einen Stern (Der Deinen Namen trägt)
Skandal im Sperrbezirk
Viva Colonia
Schatzi schenk mir ein Foto
Tage wie diesen

And some new favorites:

Moskau
Hamburg, meine Perle

In addition, we danced to many current and semi-recent popular songs. We also did the twist and sang along to Dirty Dancing songs. And I have to admit, breaks to the ladies room were timed perfectly so that we didn't miss any of the reallllly good songs. Another note about the ladies room, the line was mega long as expected, but once you reached the front, there was a really great view of the harbor which is not something you'd be privy to at the Wiesen in München.

Let's see, what else? Oh yeah, Kleiner Feigling. It's a fig vodka that comes in little bottles. If you've spent time in Germany you are probably well-versed. These bad boys cost 2€ -- the exact same as the Pfand (refund/deposit) on the beer glasses. Each time Andreas returned with new beer, he also returned with pockets full of little green and purple bottles. Every now and then a bottle or cap went flying through the air, I think one even hit me at one point. I then learned that people were throwing them after finishing. It wasn't until my last Kleiner Feigling that I worked up the courage to toss my own bottle behind me without looking around. Quite fun.

Last, but not least, Dirndls. I have been a big fan of these traditional costumes ever since I sang in the Kinderchor as a child. OK, it was only one year, but it started my obsession. I'll have to see if I can track down photographic evidence. I now have a couple in my possession -- either from my Austrian travels or from family members as we tend to pass them around according to who fits in them at the moment. I chose my Tirolean Dirndl which is a bit more modern and rustic with neutral colors. I kind of wish I had a more fun and costumy one with fun, bright colors.

The thing is that they can be quite expensive. BUT because we are in Germany, you can actually pick up very decently priced mass-market Dirndls at many popular stores. Some for as low as 50€! I think you know where I'm going with this...if all goes according to my plan, I will be rocking a different Dirndl next year :) Not only can you pick up great Dirndls, but also jewelry. It's different each year and it's only available starting in early/mid September for a few weeks. I was mesmerized. I ended up settling on a gold-colored pretzel ring since most of the accessories didn't really match my Dirndl look.

Fun fact: bows on the aprons are tied to the woman's left if she is single and to the right if she is married or taken. (I may or may not have done a report on Dirndls at some point in my German studies...) Sorina had a lot of men come up to her and tell that her bow was on the wrong side. I mean look at her, gorgeous :)