Happy German New Year!

Today, we woke up early for Chris’ “big surprise,” when we find out that we were going to go to a castle but it is closed for New Years Eve. That was kind of a set back, but we took out the map of Landsberg and planned to go to a castle-like building that we could walk to. We went into town to recycle some bottles; you get a quarter for like each bottle you return here, and eat and go to the bank. Then, we climbed some stairs until we were at this tall castle tower. We took a lot of pictures at the top of the hill and went around to little shops. Tiff was getting cold so we stopped at a bakery for hot tea. It was hard to find a place to go into because a lot of shops were closing early for the holiday. We went home to wait to go out to a restaurant to eat, but the Bavarian ones were closed too. I guess a lot of places are closed for New Years Eve. Instead of going out, Chris invited 4 of his friends over and made us all dinner. We had cheese tortellinis with tomato sauce and pizza. I really like their pizza here, the sauce is sweet, not salty. Then, we went over another one of Chris’ friend’s house. At the house, the kid covered all the walls and ceiling with metallic wrapping paper and then put on a strobe light so it would bounce off all the walls. They played music called “electro,” which to me sounded the same as techno, but they insisted it was different. A few minutes before midnight, everyone goes outside and brings fireworks with them. Then, at midnight, everyone begins to set them off. They don’t just set off little fireworks that you would buy at Walmart, they set off real professional fireworks right in the middle of the streets. It’s kind of scary to be really close to them and it’s really loud. While we were walking, a firework set off and something flew into Tiffany’s eye. She rubbed it a little bit and she was fine but it was kind of scary. After all the fireworks were done, we went home. On the way, a lot of fire trucks and ambulances were going through the streets. People must have gotten hurt. The fireworks are really close to everyone and to houses. It was crazy over here, but I couldn’t imagine if people in the US were aloud to set off professional fireworks in the streets. It would probably be a mess!