What’s it like to watch the fireworks on New Years Eve in Bergisches Land, a western German region of which Wuppertal (with its famous suspension monorail) is a part?
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This is the first time my almost 6-year-old was not asleep but managed to stay awake to greet the new year!!! We had an excellent lookout from the attic windows and saw the skyline–if you can speak about one in this rather country-like farmland region with its horse meadows and half-timbered and slate houses–and were able to watch from the safety and the warmth of our place.
It had been a rather rainy day, but luckily, around midnight, there was not even a drizzle. Since it was very windy and quite cold, we wore our bathrobes and a cap (we didn’t really get a lot of New Year’s Eve party supplies, but Leander had bought a black-and-gold party hat at ALDI’s) and watched from the window. It was still better than to be on the streets and get shot at by rowdies, which the police feared for some regions, such as Berlin, where there were attacks on firemen and the police last year. This year, the government was prepared and secured the first-aid responders by a huge police force. Although there were several arrests and at least 30 hurt police force members, a huge chaos could be avoided. The government had received intelligence warnings about a planned terrorist attack on Cologne cathedral, so they stepped up security massively and made some arrests, and nothing happened to the gothic cathedral.
There was not much going on in our street, where mostly seniors or people with very young children live. Some people were standing in the streets just watching. So we quickly shifted from the window to the street to the window to the garden side, with a great view over the fields and meadows. All along the horizon, we could see fireworks emerge. It was quite loud and smelly, and I used the teachable moment to explain to Lyons Cub that the Chinese invented the fireworks. He also learned that animals are afraid of fireworks, and that you take your pets inside and close the windows to protect them from the noise and light. My son was already afraid for the hamster that he’ll be getting soon for his 6th birthday (shhh–it’s still a secret for the rest of the family! We already ordered the cage and supplies).
Of course, we ourselves save our money for other things, such as travels and toys, instead of shooting it in the air. As a child, I never had fireworks in my family, either. Yet, we enjoy watch others using their money this way 😉 Who knows, there might be a ban on private fireworks in the future.