Why You Should Stay in Berlin This Winter

Berliners get extra ungemütlichkeit in winter as the days grow short and ice freezes in your/Ian's beard. Many try to flee the city, but I am making the case for celebrating the darkest season in the capitol. This is partly because we are poorer than ever and condemned to have no escape from the brutal Berlin winter. And since we gotta stay, we are trying to make the most of it and you should too.

NYE (Almost) Disaster

This year, we found out why they call it a bottle rocket.

Remember the first time you lit a firework? I don't. We've never really bought them and while there are a few notable holidays where we did light up the street (hi Yakma & Santa Barabara 4th of Julys), I have extremely limited experience. And it showed.

This year we bought fireworks. Even though this is our 4th New Years Eve in Berlin, this was our first time hosting a small party and I guess we wanted a piece of the madness. We were excited. In Ian's case, very excited.

"Germans sure know how to Blow Shit Up"

My dad recently joined Facebook (which is all kinds of funny) and the title of this post is the comment he left on this video of Berlin's New Years. Well played Daddio.

It's true, Berlin's Silvester celebration is not only like nothing I've ever seen before, but like nothing I've ever even seen in my dreams. It's madness. It's excitement incarnate. It's magic. I've written about it 1, 2, 3 times before, but this year was the best of them all.

This year we hurried back from Paris on December 31st to enjoy our 3rd New Years in Berlin, this time with our Berlin friends that actually stayed in town. We ended up on a rooftop for midnight and I can say - without hesitation - this was the best New Years celebration I have ever enjoyed.

Silvester in Berlin

Today we are flying back to Berlin from Paris - our glamorous Christmas gift to each other (glamorous in name only - we flew for less than 200 euro, stayed in a tiny studio, and subsisted on croissant). Glorious nonetheless.

It may seem odd that we flew in after Christmas and are retuning before New Years, but we just couldn't tear ourselves away from Berlin. Christmas in Germany is magic. When we went to London in December 2007 we expected their Christmas markets to be English. Nope - just crummy imitation German.

Instead, we prefer to spend Christmas in Germany. Midnight mass in the Berliner Dom, friends, & Weihnachtsmarkt held us hostage.  We've heard that neighboring European countries offer trips for people to visit Germany & the markets. Everyone should be lucky enough to experience the markets once.

New Year, New Place

New Years was awesome. Really, really fun. We celebrated in front of the Reichstag as fireworks, professional and otherwise, shot into the sky. The Hof apparently was performing just off to the right on Unter den Linden. Awesome.

After this we rode the wrong way on the regional Bahn- whoopsy!- and made our way back to Kreuzberg with an older couple who didn't speak English. We all trooped through the ice to a bar, CAKE, and danced and laughed until our legs fell off. Ian ate a doener. Each us us fell on the ice. It was awesome.

And now to officially enter 2011 we have had to find a new place. And we did! It is a lovely little temporary in Prenzlauerberg, just around the corner from our first place. Pics will soon be up, as well as a video walk through of our current place. We celebrated with a meal at Tiergartenquelle which was super tasty and wandered through a Sunday market.

2011- AWESOME

Guten Rutsch!

The Germans say the equivalent of "Good slide" to wish each other a happy New Year. This seems indicitave of the festivities, not to arrive in the new year safe & sound, but to say good-bye to the last year with a bang and barely make into the next alive.

Tonight should be great. Guten Rutsch!

This is a video from someone else during the 2007/2008 New Years, but is a pretty good depiction of what new Years in Berlin is like.



For more on the crazy Germs and how they do: http://m.thelocal.de/society/20091231-16425.html

UPDATE:

We've now celebrated several New Years in Berlin, with last year possibly the most fun and dangerous. Read some of our blog and want to watch us almost die?

NYE (Almost) Disaster

Prague & A Happy New Years

 A beautiful Christmas in Berlin .....

Berliner Dom