We knew that we would need some assistance from nature, so we chose the last weekend in June to take advantage of the short night. It also happened to be Schlagermove which also paved the way for many drunk partiers to already be well-passed out before we even started our evening.
In preparation for the evening: I vegged all day long, shopped for Sunday food, took a run to tire myself out, napped, and ate a substantial dinner.
While our group of girls wasn't set to meet until 23:00, I first met up with some other friends at 21:00. As I emerged from the U-bahn, I saw the Reeperbahn like I had never seen it before. You couldn't take a step without avoiding broken glass or stickiness. Nearly every person was clad in flowers and neon and bell bottoms and crazy wigs. The parade was long gone but the aftermath was still very much around. Including a man who decided to pee in the middle of the street. It was nothing I wanted to see, so thankfully I turned around at just the right time.
My friends arrived wearing afro wigs they had just purchased on the street. It made me wish I had gotten into the colorful 70s love fest mood. But I went the traditional route and wore dark colors.
Sipping on my Alsterwasser, we slipped back and forth between English, German, Spanish, and Romanian (just German and English for me...) as our crew grew more and more international. Before I knew it, I had to run across the street (unplanned coincidence that both meeting points were so close!) to meet the Mädels.
We decided to start our long evening off at the low-key Café May. As luck would have it, we scored a sofa area upon walking in that comfortably sat all six of us - four Americans, a Canadian, and a Norwegian. I was happy with my €4,00 Wodka Cranberry (I'm single-handedly trying to make this drink popular for both men and women here; I would later pay €8,00 for the same drink) and would have been content to keep chatting away, but we knew we had to get out there and start partying like Germans.
Our next stop was to Lucky Star. The big thing to do here is order 3-4 rounds of 0,50¢ Mexikaner shots. We settled on three each. We elected our spokewoman and she ran in to order while the rest of counted our change. Our 18 "shots" (I maintain 2-3 = one actual shot) were quickly drained on the street.
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| Despite jackets and scarves, yes, this was taken June 29. |
Next stop: karaoke. At Thai Oase we walked in as a group was walking out, so we scored their table. {The importance of seats at bars isn't a sign of aging, right?} There is something very special about drunk Germans (and other foreign non-native English speakers) singing English songs. This place was extra packed, or maybe I just haven't been there that late before, and we quickly realized we wouldn't last long. Plus, there was no way any of us would be able to sing -- the line was too long. But, before we left, we witness a very amazing German free-style rap.
On our way to finding dancing, we made a detour in a sex shop. We had to. All I will say is that I saw things I can't unsee. Oh, and this is when I finally drank the Redbull I'd been carrying around in my purse.
By the time we made it to the clubs, we had a slight divide in the group. Two gals went dancing, one went home, and three of us went to quiet, no-so-smokey sit-down bar. I was in the last group. Here I enjoyed another Wodka Cranberry as the sun started to rise.
Thankfully one of my friends had some almonds to snack on through out the evening, but it wouldn't be an evening out with a food stop. We chose Burger King. What did we have? Hot chocolate and fries. Yes, hot chocolate in June. It was necessary. {I almost started the evening with a hot-chocoalte and Baily's.}
And then, at 5:00, we headed over to the Fischmarkt. Since my previous trips to the fish market have entailed getting up early, I usually arrived between 7-7:30 while things were fully in motion. This time around, we were so early they were still in set-up mode. The merchants were still setting up and warming up their voices to try and sell there eels and bananas and spaghetti and chocolates.
We poked around, found some pastries, and sat in the Fischauktionshalle under a giant disco ball watching others drink beer and eat fish for what seemed like a mandatory hour or so. One of my friends also bought a very pretty scarf.
After unsuccessfully tried to hook back up with our fallen comrades (I think they actually experienced a much more typical night out on the Reeperbahn!) we headed to the Ubahn around 6.
So, here I was, wide awake, wearing a pink trench coat, carrying a Coach purse (I hardly ever use it, it's too American), with still-perfectly-applied makeup, and riding the Ubahn home with people who looked like death.
A translated conversation:
Guy: Where are you coming from?
Me: Fischmarkt.
Guy: Oh. Really? (makes a face)
Me: Yep.
Guy: You didn't drink a lot?
Me: Nope, not so much.
Guy: Do you think you could wake me up if I fall asleep?
Me: Sure, but I'm getting off at the next stop.
Guy: Oh, OK. Thanks.
Me: Sleep well!
I made it home by 6:30 still convinced I wouldn't be able to fall asleep. After watching some TV, I hit a wall at 7:15 and slept until 12:30. I survived a lazy Sunday and went to bed at 19:30...only to wake up at 23:00. Finally at 1:00 I was snoozing again.
Never again.
Check.
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