A Berlin New Year's Eve

The fireworks began early in the day.  A Boom! here and a Bang! there.  We didn't see anything until the sun went down, which was at about 4pm.  Then every once in a while we would see a firework light up the sky.

Later we went to a party at the apartment of two friends of ours.  There we learned that it is tradition in Germany to watch "Dinner for One," a 16 minute skit.  No one knew exactly how it started, but it is played on the TV stations throughout the day.  The odd thing about this skit is that it is all in English except for the introduction.  Friends told us that even people who don't really speak English will watch this every year.  It is better to watch the skit than for me to explain it.  I found it here:

http://www.archive.org/details/DinnerForOne_559

As midnight approached the fireworks became more and more frequent.  At midnight the streets were full of fireworks being set off in every direction.  It was almost dangerous to be outside as fireworks whizzed by trees, cars, and people outside.  Some of the fireworks were huge and went pretty high.  Others were more loud than anything.  It lasted for almost an hour before dying back down to the more occasional fireworks.  Growing up in a state where it was illegal to set off fireworks made this German tradition seem more foreign perhaps than people would think from other places in the US.

There is also a fun German tradition of telling your fortune for the new year.  First you melt down a piece of metal over a candle and then to drop it in cold water to re-solidify.  Then you decide what the shape most looks like.  The kit you can buy today then tells you your fortune based on the shape that it became.  It is very hard to tell what most of the metal shapes are, so it is a nice way for you to help your fortune a bit (and for your friends to make it worse)!

A fun night for sure!  I hope you enjoyed yours as well!