New Years in Berlin

I'm always a fan of New Year's Eve.  Most folks think there is a lot of hype around the holiday, but I think it is an important one to observe.  Luckily, everyone and their brother in Berlin agrees with me and I was treated to one of my most memorable nights in the city.  I had been warned of the citywide celebrations on Silvester (or New Year's Eve) on many occasions during the time "between the years".  (A common German phrase regarding the period between Christmas and New Years).  Apparently, the local residents spend millions of Euros stockpiling powerful fireworks and then fire them off from every conceivable location at the stroke of midnight.

And so on the big night, Karen and I made our way through the city.  First we strolled down Unter den Linden to see the massive crowd partying at Brandenburger Tor, but the police barricades were a kilometer deep.  Fortunately, we were able to join some artist friends in the Northern part of the city called Wedding.  After a lovely meal where we wished each other einen guten Rutsch (a good slide) into the new year, our host rose to beat a large gong and ushered us, champagne in hand, to the balcony.  And as the church bells rang, the sky lit up with hundreds of huge explosions.  For over twenty minutes we stood in the cold, toasting each other and cheering on the colorful pyrotechnics launched in every direction including underneath us.  It was like a dozen 4th of July firework displays all at the same time.  We were amazed.

Like all good things, the celebrations slowly came to an end in the wee hours of the night and Karen and I tromped back through the bottles and burnt paper casing to eat our Berliner Pfannkuchen and get some rest.

~Kyle

Unter den Linden all lit up.

Ich bin ein Berliner.