Despite being the grumpy very-nearly-old people that we are, Andy and I managed to haul ourselves into Berlin for New Years Eve 2012

We stumbled off at the Haubtbahnhof, and after fueling up on some coffees (which included Andy drinking a double expresso and snubbing his nose at my Lebkuchen= gingerbread flavoured coffee), headed towards Strasse des 17. Juni... which runs down through the Tiergarten from the Brandenburg Gate.

The platz outside the Hauptbahnhof was a dedicated area for small scale fireworks.. some of which were amazingly cool and others, like one that popped and then split into twenty smaller parts that all whizzed chaotically in different directions at nearly-ground level, were terrifying.
Honestly, the ones that went off into the air in a spray of lights like this made me think of Harry Potter and the Dark Mark. This one is even Green!

The view was pretty spectacular:

There were a great number of people out collecting bottles- more commonly the plastic ones. They can be handed in for recycling and you get the Pfand (deposit) back.

On to the party.




This is the smaller stage at the end near the station.

Not really where the important stuff was going on.. but still nice and loud








The streets between the smaller stage and the massive Brandenburg gate stage were filled with Christmas-market-style stalls.. selling silly new year hats and more practical beanies as well as shiny things and wurst and pommes and gluwein and... everything... including hot chestnuts..






                                                                                                                     Reminds me of Italy..

There were lots of people from all different countries and of all different sizes:
and by lots, I mean LOTS:
 These photos I managed by standing on a table.. which had been claimed by a group of Australian medical students from Sydney. They were pretty happy to embrace us as fellow Aussies, but rather protective of their table! They had pretty diverse Asian and Indian and Middle Eastern backgrounds.. so I think a lot of people did a double take when they said they were Aussie.. which was pretty funny because some of them had the most definitely Australian accents ever...
I'm pretty convinced that one of the guys was the reincarnation of Felicia Jollygoodfellow (Guy Pearce) from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
 Here is Andy from my Tabletop Queendom, with his new BFF, whose grandfather was apparently amazingly famous in our field.
There was a live music form a host of people including Bonnie Tyler (Total Eclipse of the Heart), Blue (singing All Rise) and Pet Shop Boys. Also: Kate Ryan, Ewig, Jurgen Drews, Adoro, Oceana, Stanfour, Loona, R.I.O feat. U-Jean, THe Hermes House Band, Glasperlenspiel, Jonas Myrin, Tacabro, The Hot Banditoz.

They kept teasing us with the idea of Gangam style, which was finally covered 20 minutes before midnight. There was a stage full of dancers all wearing the pale blue suit. Quite cute.

I was trying to work out what was coming next- still 15 minutes to fill before the countdown... and it was.......

 Loreen from Eurovision!!!:

SQUEEE!! Of course she did Euphoria. I think I may have annoyed Andy by jumping up and down like a small child and trying to do the crab dance move in a very packed crowd.


(with appropriate sized fireworks- although the Sydney-ers were complaining that they weren't as good as home)




 We rewarded ourselves for not being Old, and managing to stay awake until midnight, with a plate of Currywurst mit Pommes....