New Years Eve madness in Munich

A little background - Logan had the week off between Christmas & New Years. He was going to rent a car but was not able to as he's in progress to get his German license, and the clerk wouldn't accept the paper saying that at the rental desk. (The previous clerk did.) So we spent time exploring the city.

On Dec 27th, the stores reopened here and we went shopping. Got me a pair of ski gloves, which I have been using every day, and got Logan a couple winter coats (good sale prices). And the next day, we went shoe shopping. He got a nicer pair of waterproof shoes and I got a great pair of warm boots.

Good thing we did that shopping, too. On Dec 30th, it was -5 Celsius here. I think that translates to about 10 degrees F. Freaking COLD!!

Fortunately, on the 31st, we had a warm spell. It was +10, which is low 40s. Everything was melting, and we wandered around during daylight exploring a part of town we hadn't really seen yet.

On New Year's Eve we stayed home for dinner, then prepped a bit for going to a friend's dinner the next day - I made a gingerbread & an appetizer. (Did this mostly to stay awake!) Then at 11:00 we left the house & went to the river Isar, east of us.

We got off the train and above ground about 11:50, and followed the crowd to the river. Well, let me tell you, it was a celebration like I've never seen. First of all, everyone carries a bottle or two of bubbly. Most people had glass champagne flutes too. (We saw a few people using disposable cups, and some drinking out of the bottles, but they were the minority.)

Second, from Dec 27th through store closing on New Year's Eve, in Munich, you can buy fireworks. So everyone loads up, heads outdoors and starts setting them off. We heard a few bangs going off all night. And heard a few in the subway stations - people do set them off there.

We ended up at at the Maximillians bridge over the river which was lined with people 4 to 5 deep both sides. Lots were setting up bottle rockets. A few were lit beforehand. Sometimes guys were lighting small bangers that they'd toss in the crowd, down low. At midnight, things really started exploding. You are literally in the middle of a fireworks display. They're going off in all directions, mostly overhead. But you gotta keep alert, because people (and it was by far mostly boy-type people) don't particularly care who's nearby when it goes off so they just light 'em and step back themselves a couple steps. Plus, some people are pretty wasted by this time. Some of the bottle rockets were going a bit more horizontally that I would have liked.

Some people had sparklers, and there were thousands of bottle rockets, some were ground displays that sprayed up like a fountain of colored light. We made our way to the edge of the crowd at the bridge, where it seemed safer, and watched for a bit. Then we walked along a river path to the Luitpold bridge and the Freedom Angel monument. This area has multiple levels, the east bank of the river is much higher than the west bank. The monument is high on the west bank, and the street curves down to bridge level. There are stairs down from the monument to a fountain plaza at bridge level. There, the street over the bridge and up to the monument was closed off. Some people were shooting off very elaborate displays and some that looked like "real" fireworks - very high cascades of golden sparks, with stage 2 and sometimes 3 extra explosions and more sparks. This area is one of the best known, and hence most crowded areas.


Took this picture of the monument back in March. The picture below is a view from the base of the monument looking down to the fountains (covered to prevent freezing) and the street and bridge. This the the area that was blocked off and covered with people setting off the fireworks.







It was still warm, the fog was rising off the river. All the smoke from the fireworks collected, making things very misty and blurry. The barrage lasted for at least 30 minutes. We could see other places in the city where the fireworks were going off, too. There are some bridges over the river where you can see a ways up & down stream, to other bridges. I'd like to be there next year.

We started making our way home, and walked a mile or so back to a train station. Passed some more displays on the way, trying to stop & watch the overhead ones while avoiding the ground-level explosions. We got off the train at Munchner Freiheit, the big plaza near our house. Just littered with spent fireworks and bottles. And this is an area surrounded by buildings. My head was ringing from all the percussion where we had been, I was glad we had gone to the river because I think being among buildings with all the bangs and echoes might have been too much for my poor ears! Got home a little after one. We could still hear random bursts from different directions, pretty much all night.