We decided to go downtown for New Year's this year--it was nice to be in the middle of things, despite the fact that I'd heard going downtown on New Year's was dangerous. There were all sorts of drinks sold on the street, fireworks, performers on a multitude of different stages set up all over downtown, and tons of happy, partying people. Ourselves included, of course!
We walked around downtown and enjoyed a few mugs of hot wine while pondering the new year, and then arrived on St. Stephan's square about 45 minutes until midnight to watch everybody light their fireworks. No official person does it; everybody just brings their own and sets them off as they please. It was really pretty awesome...lots of different fireworks that kept going and going. The whole place smelled like excitement, like gunpowder, or whatever they put in fireworks. In the space you can see above where there are no people standing, people set off the little popping things and doodads that go off on the street. It's like a spontaneous people-free zone where you can just throw anything in and watch it explode. It was pretty neat. One of my best and most exciting New Year's celebrations.
Woo!
These people were standing next to us; they were cute. They brought their own sparklers, champagne glasses, and champagne (or some other kind of bubbly), and when it was midnight they set everything into action. It was a great little celebration so I took pictures of them. I think they were having too much fun to notice! Georg and I wish we would have brought our own champagne, though. By the time you buy a glass on the street and lug it through the crowds you've spilled half of it on yourself, so we didn't do that. Instead we settled on getting some at a bar afterwards.
After it turned midnight we decided to go to a bar we like nearby, Santo Spirito. They serve wines and play opera music, and there are usually many gay men clustered around the bar. We got some Prosecco and toasted the New Year, but we were pretty tired from fighting the dense crowds all night. On our way we saw some performers singing Abba songs, and Georg got really excited since he loves Abba, so I took the above picture for him.
On the way home, it was snowing pretty violently, but it was nice. I guess if you can't have a White Christmas, it's nice to have a White New Year's Eve/Day.
On New Years Day, we got up relatively early and watched the Vienna New Year's Day concert that is broadcast live every year on TV. It is really fun to watch. Georg's mom made some food and shared with us these mini Sacher tortes from the famed Sacher hotel in Vienna. Afterwards, we looked into the future to see what 2008 has to store for us!
Here's our super New Year's fortune telling activity. You use the unique shapes that the metal pieces, melted and thrown into cold water, produce. There is a little guide to see what your fortune is based on what shape your reformed metal takes.
To make the figures, all you do is put one of the metal pieces in a special spoon, hold it over flame, melt it, and throw the liquid metal into a pot of water.
See! It takes a second, but the metal piece starts to melt down right in the spoon! It's quite amazing if you've never seen metal melting before.
My little creation turned out looking like a dinosaur, or, the Venus of Willendorf with a tail. The fortune for a dinosaur was in our guide book so we decided my figure was a dinosaur. My fortune? I'm going to beat my enemies this year. Haha! At first I thought of enemies as people, and thought, "What enemies?" But now I realize my enemies can be anything, and that is a much more inspiring thought for the new year. Now every time I encounter adversity I will just think of the malformed little dinosaur I made on New Year's.
Happy 2008 everybody!!!
We decided to go downtown for New Year's this year--it was nice to be in the middle of things, despite the fact that I'd heard going downtown on New Year's was dangerous. There were all sorts of drinks sold on the street, fireworks, performers on a multitude of different stages set up all over downtown, and tons of happy, partying people. Ourselves included, of course!
We walked around downtown and enjoyed a few mugs of hot wine while pondering the new year, and then arrived on St. Stephan's square about 45 minutes until midnight to watch everybody light their fireworks. No official person does it; everybody just brings their own and sets them off as they please. It was really pretty awesome...lots of different fireworks that kept going and going. The whole place smelled like excitement, like gunpowder, or whatever they put in fireworks. In the space you can see above where there are no people standing, people set off the little popping things and doodads that go off on the street. It's like a spontaneous people-free zone where you can just throw anything in and watch it explode. It was pretty neat. One of my best and most exciting New Year's celebrations.
Woo!
These people were standing next to us; they were cute. They brought their own sparklers, champagne glasses, and champagne (or some other kind of bubbly), and when it was midnight they set everything into action. It was a great little celebration so I took pictures of them. I think they were having too much fun to notice! Georg and I wish we would have brought our own champagne, though. By the time you buy a glass on the street and lug it through the crowds you've spilled half of it on yourself, so we didn't do that. Instead we settled on getting some at a bar afterwards.
After it turned midnight we decided to go to a bar we like nearby, Santo Spirito. They serve wines and play opera music, and there are usually many gay men clustered around the bar. We got some Prosecco and toasted the New Year, but we were pretty tired from fighting the dense crowds all night. On our way we saw some performers singing Abba songs, and Georg got really excited since he loves Abba, so I took the above picture for him.
On the way home, it was snowing pretty violently, but it was nice. I guess if you can't have a White Christmas, it's nice to have a White New Year's Eve/Day.
On New Years Day, we got up relatively early and watched the Vienna New Year's Day concert that is broadcast live every year on TV. It is really fun to watch. Georg's mom made some food and shared with us these mini Sacher tortes from the famed Sacher hotel in Vienna. Afterwards, we looked into the future to see what 2008 has to store for us!
Here's our super New Year's fortune telling activity. You use the unique shapes that the metal pieces, melted and thrown into cold water, produce. There is a little guide to see what your fortune is based on what shape your reformed metal takes.
To make the figures, all you do is put one of the metal pieces in a special spoon, hold it over flame, melt it, and throw the liquid metal into a pot of water.
See! It takes a second, but the metal piece starts to melt down right in the spoon! It's quite amazing if you've never seen metal melting before.
My little creation turned out looking like a dinosaur, or, the Venus of Willendorf with a tail. The fortune for a dinosaur was in our guide book so we decided my figure was a dinosaur. My fortune? I'm going to beat my enemies this year. Haha! At first I thought of enemies as people, and thought, "What enemies?" But now I realize my enemies can be anything, and that is a much more inspiring thought for the new year. Now every time I encounter adversity I will just think of the malformed little dinosaur I made on New Year's.
Happy 2008 everybody!!!
3 comments:
Happy New Year! A new year, new beginnings! We had a small party with a few friends. We had appetizers and cocktails. It was a good time, and we watched the ball drop at midnight.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I didn't have any cabbage or black eyed peas today...I hope I didn't screw up 2008 for myself! hah!
I love your pictures...I wish I could have been there!
Priscilla, I know!!! I really wanted to find corned beef and black eyed peas here, but I didn't have enough time and they probably don't have that here anyway. What a shame. Yeah, I hope I am not cursed. I wish you could have been there too. You really would have liked it. I thought about you the whole time! :)
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