New Year's Eve Run 2018/19

My son asks with appropriate irony in his What's App message on New Year's Day, "How was Germany's biggest New Year's party at the Brandenburg Gate?" We can't say. We didn't get closer than 500 meters. But let me start from the beginning.

In the morning we still have to get something in the city. "The city" is the area around the subway station "Rathaus Neukölln" for us. The hustle and bustle around the town hall and the Neukölln Arcaden is as usual enormous, but actually only the usual. The atmosphere even seems more relaxed to us. Everyone knows that the shops close at 2pm, but they don't take it too seriously. We only need a few small things and we have time for a second breakfast at "Zimt und Mehl" directly on the Weigandufer of the Landwehr Canal in Wildenbruchstraße. Two years ago, we fell in love with the city again here. It was summer and we could sit directly by the canal and look over to Treptow. Now it's winter, but you can still have a very good breakfast inside.

The shops are closed by now and we are thinking about what we can do. For example, go to the cinema. The Yorck Group cinemas offer a full program on New Year's Eve just like on Christmas Eve, and the screenings are well attended. The average age of the audience is 50 years. The hardcore party-goers are not here.

It's 8 pm when we leave the cinema. Opposite the Delphi Lux, there are the back exits of some pubs and a supermarket in the S-Bahn arches. Obviously, the after-work New Year's party of the sales and service staff took place here. The pavement is full of fireworks batteries dissolving in drizzling rain, some of which are still burning and smoking heavily. We go to Zoologischer Garten U-Bahn station and take the U9 to Westhafen to transfer to the S-Bahn 41 clockwise. The train is crowded and English is spoken exclusively in our entire carriage. Every group has at least one bag of Aldi-Lidl rockets. Yes, alcohol and other fireworks are incredibly cheap if you come from Great Britain, the USA or Sweden. We will experience this in abundance.

Der Starke August trägt Reizunterwäsche

We get off at Schönhauser Allee S-Bahn station along with most of the other passengers and walk down Prenzlauer Berg. There are few people on the street at 9 pm. However, we have to go around a nest of already heavily drunk fireworks enthusiasts every 100 meters. Sometimes we stop for 10 minutes and hear a complete Ohhh and Ahhh. So it's easy to voluntarily refrain from buying fireworks and boast about it on Facebook.

We get thirsty and our legs hurt. "Zum starken August" looks cozy and there is still space by the window. But the two bar stools are on the stage of the burlesque show. We realize it in time and can just make it to the bar. It's nice here, also because it's not crowded yet and the bar guys are just nice. They serve craft beer from Neukölln and Edinburgh. At the big table, there are 10 pitchers drinkers from out of town, at the small tables, there are burlesque fans from the neighborhood. We skip the burlesque show. We don't have proper lingerie with us and we want to keep going. We make a mental note of the place.

We hop on the tram and head towards Berlin-Mitte. We walk through Monbijou Park to the Spree, where the open-air dance classes take place in the summer. It's already 10 pm and there are private fireworks of epic proportions on every corner. Even at Kupfergraben, very close to Merkel's apartment. The Chancellor and her husband have obviously disappeared.

We're getting closer

We approach the barrier in the Tiergarten. A group of Spaniards ask about the Brandenburg Gate and if it's possible to go there. We give the wrong information and say yes. Wrong, because all entrances are already closed due to overcrowding. We only find out later. By that time, we are already in the middle of a mass migration around the Brandenburg Gate. We want to reach the "Linden" boulevard. What's funny is that there is also a similar stream of people moving towards the Tiergarten to get a better view. That's good. If they knew that nothing is possible there either, they would push even more towards our direction.

We only reach "Unter den Linden" boulevard at the height of Friedrichstraße and see the Brandenburg Gate in the size of a snow globe. The view is not bad, especially since there are already continuous fireworks around us anyway. But it's only 11:00 pm and we have to pass the waiting time.

What the hell is Club Mate?

We go to Friedrichstraße train station to a Vietnamese snack bar. The place has 12 sqm and half of it is taken up by the fridge. There are some tables and chairs in the corner and we drink something for 2 Euros per bottle and eat something for 3.50 Euros per serving. The snack bar staff don't mind us being here and we sit somewhere in Vietnam for 45 minutes, listening to a language that we don't understand at all. The takings are counted, the staff from the neighboring Eden restaurant change behind the fridge. English-speaking tourists constantly come in from the train station and clear out the "Tiger" beer from the fridge. Two girls don't know what "Club Mate" is. What? Ice tea with bubbles? No beer? Weird!

It's time. Back to "Unter den Linden". The countdown is on in the form of increasingly strong private fireworks all around. Then the official fireworks come, but they disappear in smoke after only a few minutes. Already 30 seconds past midnight, huge crowds form, ready to board buses away from the action. Of course, some are still going home to Amstelveen. We move a little further forward because there is space now.

At the Komische Oper, there is a pretty large square. It seems that all the amateur fireworks enthusiasts within a five-kilometer radius have gathered here. Batteries are ignited from the edges and firecrackers are thrown into the middle. The noise and the stench are indescribable. A giant, muddy pile of papier-mâché and more or less destroyed bottles has formed.

Heading home

We go to Gendarmenmarkt and see more fireworks everywhere and tourists rushing by. At Französische Straße U-Bahn station, Gudrun meets two girls from Hamburg who ask for directions. One of them has a terrible backache and the other says that New Year's Eve is actually more beautiful in her neighborhood in Hamburg. We can understand that because this is not a neighborhood New Year's Eve, but the "biggest New Year's Party in Germany at the Brandenburg Gate." If you live in Hamburg, Berlin is probably much less attractive than if you come from Selters in the Westerwald region.

The two are nice and funny, so I repay them by putting them on the wrong train. But since we are also inside, we can still correct it.

Hummel Hummel! Mors Mors!