I'd heard about the Reeperbahn before, but we didn't manage to make it out last time we were in Hamburg. Basically, the street (or area, really) - which is lined with restaurants, bars, and clubs - is famous for going out. So when we drove up to Hamburg for one night in April, going out to the Reeperbahn seemed like the perfect way to feier rein two birthdays...
Oh right, back story. Katharina had her birthday in April, and it just so happens to be the same day as her sister's boyfriend. So quite spontaneously we decided to head up to Hamburg for a 24 hour birthday celebration. We would leave Saturday afternoon and come back Sunday night. Just enough time to go out Saturday night and then do the family thing (you know, plus me) for the actual day on Sunday.
By the way, to feier rein literally means "celebrate into" and is one of my favorite German concepts. See, over here, it's bad luck to celebrate/congratulate a birthday before the actual day. As one of my students told me last week: "I'd rather celebrate 2 weeks after my birthday than 2 days before." This also explains why there is a way to say "happy belated birthday" in German, but really no way to say "happy early birthday." If you do that, you might as well just say "I spit on the day you were born and curse your family" (ok, maybe not that extreme, but just don't do it!). But, with the ability to feier rein, you can get away with celebrating one night early and waiting till midnight to literally celebrate into the birthday! Just make sure you only wish a happy birthday on your way out the door, and not when you arrive. Genius.
But I digress...
The Reeperbahn makes for a great night out and a wonderful way to feier a birthday or two rein. For someone that generally does not like to bar hop or go dancing (or so I say in the daylight), I had a fabulous time trying out as many new places as possible and rocking out to the Backstreet Boys (yes, that really happened) till the wee hours of the morning.
1 comment:
hoop,hoop, what a night...
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