New Year's Eve on ice...

We decided to stay home on New Year's Eve this year and I'm glad we did. Although it was freezing cold, it rained all afternoon. That evening, all the streets and sidewalks in our area were a sheet of ice. We had the traditional (for B's family anyway) dinner of lentils, made by my father-in-law. They were off the charts. We stuck closer to the traditional time this year, eating at around 23:00.
I mentioned this last year, but Germans love shooting off fireworks on New Year's. You hear random smatterings of smaller munitions all day. At midnight, Walldorf sounded like it was under siege. In Rio, most people enjoy the organized fireworks displays on the beaches so my father-in-law was most impressed by the broad participation in the festivities by our neighbors. For my money, the best New Year's celebration in the world is still Rio. This year, 2 million people once again crowded onto Copacabana beach to welcome 2009.
We went out on the veranda off Robert's room to watch our neighbors light up the sky. The evening was low key but enjoyable nonetheless. We drank our share of wine, Champaign and Hefeweizen, thankful for our second year in Germany and looking forward to our third.We contained our festivities to sparklers. As you can see from the long exposure below, the girls had a ball!