I've been trying to finish off my description of the holiday festivities for a while, but have been distracted by the kick-off of tax season. Sigh! That will have to be another posting. Anyway, we spent a lovely few days between Christmas and New Year with our friends Ed and Elizabeth in Munich but returned to Burghausen for the New Year's Eve celebrations. We weren't really sure what to expect and really had no plans in mind for the evening. It's a bit hard to get out for the night with a 7-year old. As it was, the weather was wet and rainy and we saw no signs for fireworks or any major community events. Being so close to Salzburg and in close vicinity to Munich, perhaps Burghausen opts out of major Silvester or New Year's Eve's events, so we spent the evening Skyping with James' family and enjoying time at home.
Though the city of Burghausen had no festivities planned, its citizens had other ideas. Shortly before Midnight, people all over the city began setting off their own fireworks, but the show to top it all was put on by the Chinese restaurant across the street. It set up its own firework canons on the sidewalk and put on an elaborate 20-minute firework show, all of which we could see from our living room window. It sounded like a battlefield out there, but there was a great atmosphere, lot's of folks out and about and other fireworks going off everywhere, and us with a view of it all from our 4th floor window. James got most of the show on video, which you can see on my Facebook page. Unfortunately, it's too long to download here.
The fireworks certainly brought back memories of many a New Year spent on the Steinerne Bruecke (stone bridge) in Regensburg, where the entire town would gather, everyone with a bottle of Champagne in hand, to ring in the New Year and watch the fireworks. Always a crazy night that ended up with us staggering home and sleeping off a hangover the next day. Well no hangovers this year, we rang in 2012 with clear heads.
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