You guys, Heidelberg on New Year's Eve is insane. Imagine a country, a beautiful, ornate country. Filled with castles, palaces, ancient churches, and also, rules. Germany is one thing: very orderly. Except for one night: New Year's Eve. You know the movie The Purge? Imagine that but for fireworks.
People of all ages pour out of their homes, onto the streets, and blast fireworks into the sky, and sometimes, right into in people's faces.
The day started out quiet enough. My Mom is in town to visit and we walked around the Alstadst, toured the castle, and took in the views.
That night, we came home and drank copious amounts of wine, had even more cheese, and watched some 2016 wrap up specials on our T.V., aka a large computer monitor.
Then the popping started. I was told to go outside, just walk on out, and people would be blasting fireworks. Having no idea what this would be like, I was totally game.
We live just a few houses down from the river so we walked out and up the bridge to what I can only describe as utter madness. These weren't your average sparklers. NO. People had real, blasting, crazy fireworks. The whole time I was freaking out. This video I took below is the best description.
Some fireworks went awry, spewing onto the bridge or into restaurants. I thought for sure someone would lose an eye. There were ambulances and firetrucks nearby, ready for action. There were people drinking champagne, blasting pyrotechnics, kissing at midnight, and just going crazy.
The thing you have to understand is that Germany is so rule based. They don't even cross the street unless a little green man at the stoplight tells them to. But not on New Year's. All hell (and fire) break lose.
It was awesome and a little bit scary. But so much fun. Oh Germany, I love you.
P.S. Tomorrow I'm hosting a link up for your end of the year recap posts! Feel free to link up posts you've already hit publish on too. Details here.
You might also like:
