Schloß Hünnefeld – Sept 14, 2014

One day a year private castles (normally closed to the public) open up their gardens for free so you can look around. We went with our friends Jan, Katrin and their little son Jasper to Schloß Hünnefeld which is in a little village near Bad Essen. The modern castle was built in the early 1600’s, but there was a castle here as early as the 13th century. Since 1592 it has belonged to the Bussche- Hünnefeld family who still live there today. They have a little café, a B&B, a gift shop, and a small registry room where you can have your civil ceremony. We had a really nice time walking around the gardens (they have lots of exotic trees on the grounds) and checking out the pigeon tower.

http://www.schloss-huennefeld.de/index.php/schloss-huennefeld.html

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Bad Iburg Oktoberfest – Sept 13, 2014

For the second year in a row we went to the Bad Iburg Oktoberfest celebration with a group of friends.  You’ll notice we put Morgan’s Austrian hat to use!  Once again they had a German Oompah band – De Stürzlhamer.  They played a wide range of songs, from traditional German brass band (sometimes cracking whips to play the song!) and Schlager songs to covers of American songs (ie. Hey Baby, Country Roads, Sweet Caroline, YMCA) and current hits (ie.  “Atemlos durch die Nacht” by Helene Fischer). Below are some of our favorite songs you’ll hear no matter what Oktoberfest you go to! I got the descriptions below from BigBoyTravel.com (I also used their free walking tour when we were in Hallstatt!).. they have videos of each song if you want to check them out: http://www.bigboytravel.com/europe/germany/munich/oktoberfest/most-popular-songs/

Ein Prosit: This is THE song of Oktoberfest as it is played like clockwork every 15 minutes or so.  The song start out repeating Ein Prosit (Eyn Pro-zit) Der Gemütlichkeit (Dare Gay-mute-lich-kite) meaning I Salute To Our Cozy Friendship & Good Times We’re Having Together. The next part of the song is a countdown to G’suffa (zuffa) meaning take a big drink.  It is said that the beer tents started play the song 4 times an hour to get people to take more drinks so they could sell more beer, and boy does it work!   Ein Prosit ends with the band asking you if you are having fun with either “Ziggy Zocky Ziggy Zocky” or “Ticky Tocky Ticky Tocky” and you respond “Oi Oi Oi”.

Fliegerlied:   It’s a children’s song about animals.  The full name of the song is actually Today Is Such A Beautiful Day, but because of the crazy dance involved the nickname Flyer Song has stuck.  You do a lot of singing “La La La La La” & “Schwimm, Schwimm, Schwimm”, it’s the dance that really makes the Fyler Song fun.  The song has you flying like a plane, then acting strong like a tiger, being tall like a giraffe, hopping like a kangaroo, and of course swimming.

Hände zum Himmel:  Hands to Heaven is one of the idealistic songs that should come to your mid when you picture Oktoberfest.  This lively song asks for you to put your beers down raise your hands and clap along.  Basically the song asks to you cast aside your worries for the day and be merry.