.

Mayhem on the Dusseldorf promenade
As midnight looms, New Year’s Eve, crowds stream onto the promenade on the banks of the Rhein, for fireworks to see in the new year. We are expecting a Christchurch City Council-type controlled public extravaganza, off one of the local bridges, but this is not to be. It’s a BYO fireworks free-for-all with people bringing their own and simply letting rip. Skyrockets are set off like hand-held mortars, only the lame requiring a bottle or safe launching pad. This means fireworks going everywhere, any number in any direction and we fail to escape shrapnel on several occasions. Sheer mayhem but no-one seems to mind the odd loss of life and limb as police and paramedics are on hand to deal with the maimed.
None of this no-drinking-in-public here either; the alcohol serves only to lessen accuracy and any sense of caution or safety of those setting off the fireworks. The ground is absolutely littered with rubbish, spent fireworks and empty bottles. The latter is something of a bonanza for the homeless who are picking up as many empties as they can possibly load on stolen supermarket trolleys, presumably for the refund money which is quite high. Naturally Kaelene is concerned about cleaning those cobblestones.
Looking to escape the mayhem, and the Turks fighting each other in the streets, we head to the relative sanity of an Irish pub (yes, a contradiction, we know) and have a second New Year celebration as they countdown to midnight in Dublin.
Whoever was it said that Europeans have a sophisticated approach to drinking? We Germans sure know how to party.