Sylvester is what Germans call New Years Eve. There are parties all over Germany and everybody counts down to midnight, toasts with champagne, and the parties start. They are rarely over before 3 or 4 in the morning (here it seems everybody waits for midnight and then goes home). Midnight is when it all starts. Kids of all ages go outside after they toasted each other with champagne and we light up fireworks. In front of houses, behind houses, on top of the buildings – fireworks everywhere. An entire city glowing, deafening sounds, and the smell of gunpowder. Yeah, that’s how New Years is supposed to be. You have to see it to believe it. It is midnight over there in twenty-some minutes. You may be able to get a glimpse of the fireworks at one of the web cams, not sure though. One is here:
Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training. (Anna Freud)
