I arrived in Germany on New Year's Eve (Sylvester, as it's known here). I was dead tired from the 24 hour flight and was actually extremely relieved that no-one was here to meet me, as that meant I could just wander off to bed for a bit. As it turned out I fell dead asleep at 5:30pm and woke up to the sound of fireworks at about 11pm. Fireworks sounds constantly blasted through the window until about 2am, at which point they became sporadic until about 4.
Germany and the Germans have an idiosyncratic tradition on New Year's Eve. Every year, on almost every television station in the country, Germans watch a comedy called 'Dinner for One' (See it here on YouTube). It's odd for a number of reasons; it is in English for a start, it's not got anything to do with New Year's, almost everyone watches it every year, and it just gets funnier every time you see it. For decades it has also been screened on Austrian and Swiss TV (also on New Year's Eve) and in the last few years it has been screened throughout Scandinavia and in parts of Asia and Oceania. It has become the most repeated show in the history of television. But the all-time weirdest thing about Dinner for One is that, despite it being an English production (although filmed in Germany), starring quite famous English comedians, it was screened in England for the very first time just this New Year's Eve. Barely anyone in England has ever heard of it. Krass! (as the Germans might say). Anyway, I woke up quite early on New Year's Day and everything was silent. I waited for the sun to come up and decided to find the Goethe Institute and do a practice run, see how long it would take to walk there from home. This is what I found ... it's lucky it's not my first time in Germany or I would have really wondered what I had gotten myself in for. Even as a reasonably experienced traveler I found it quite unnerving. My suggestion for NYE in Germany, forget the jetlag, join in the party, watch Dinner for One and sleep in like everyone else.
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