The Christmas markets were replaced right before New Year’s Eve with little booths selling fireworks, and various pigs and mushrooms. Pigs and mushrooms are lucky in German-speaking cultures for reasons I don’t understand. We had plans to meet our friend Gretchen in Munich on New Years Eve, so I got her some lucky pigs. They’re in a pose that is a bit cheeky and not entirely appropriate for a family blog. If you want to see it, click this link:
I also got a little pig for myself:
We left the train station for Munich at about 2:00 and got to the place we were meeting Gretchen and Beni at 6:00. Then we took the subway a few more stops to some apartments near Olympia Park, which was the site of the 1972 Olympics. We went up to their friends’ apartment, where we had some food and some things to drink and we talked a bunch. When it got closer to midnight, we went to the park, where many people had gathered to set off fireworks. It was really strange for someone coming from Minnesota, where these sorts of rockets are illegal. I must admit, I didn’t feel entirely safe, but it was still pretty neat.
It was also a bit foggy and really smokey from all the fireworks. Afterward, the groups split up. Gretchen, Beni, Will, and I went to some bar, accompanied by some guy named Jakob. We each had a certain kind of beer mixed with Coca-Cola. It sounds weird, but it was alright. After we were done in the bar, we went to McDonald’s to get some food. Then we went back to the subway station to say our goodbyes. Gretchen and Beni went back to Beni’s. Will and I went back to the train station. We got there around 4:00 and waited for the train at 6:30. We had to sit on the floor because all of the chairs in the waiting room were taken. Will played a game on his tablet computer and I slept. We got on our train at 6:30 and got home around 11:00. We slept for a good part of the day, and talked to my family with Skype later in the evening. Then we went to bed again around 2:00 am.
I really enjoyed the fireworks. There were some people there that were a little stupid though. They would just stick rockets in the ground, then the rocket would explode in the ground because it couldn’t take off. That seems like common knowledge to me.
Also, just a reminder that you can click any picture presented on the blog to get a larger version. I particularly like the first fireworks picture Mary Jo took.
That was pretty sweet how there were fireworks all around you. Those lanterns must be new. I saw those for the first time this 4th of July. I wonder if anyone tried to go anti-air on that lantern and try to shoot it down.