Since arriving in Berlin there has been fireworks for sale in many supermarkets and corner stores in preparation for New Years Eve (Silvester)
I had read that Germany's biggest New Years Eve celebration was to take place along the Strasse des 17 Juni - a several kilometre stretch between the Brandenburg Gate and the Victory Column. They were reporting that an expected 1 million people would turn out. Sounded like a lot of people to me.
We left our apartment after 9pm and walked amongst people in the local area setting off fireworks in the street and going to their various parties.
We got the U-Bahn to Potsdamer Platz. I was expecting the trains to be packed but it was relatively quiet. A million people...sure.
It was quite funny as we rode the train to see and hear fireworks popping off in every direction outside.
At Potsdamer Platz there was already a big crowd formed. I had thought we could walk to the festival area directly from here to the Brandenburg Gate, but this entrance was blocked off.
We walked along with the crowds through the Tiergaten for a few kilometres before we could all get to an entry that was open.
Once inside it was busy but didn't seem too bad. We queued up at the first beer tent we found and paid 3.50 Euros for a 400ml beer. Extortion given the usual Berlin prices. Took ages to get served.
With beer in hand we walked further into the 'festival mile'.
The crowd soon bunched up and it became extremely difficult to progress to the festival stages.
Eventually we found ourselves stuck amidst the huge crowd. Not really able to go in any direction. We were stuck. People were starting to climb on the food wagons and this looked to me to be an ideal vantage point, although a little dangerous as you could see the roof of each van buckle with the weight.
We soon got ourselves well and truly stuck. It now felt like we were part of a million strong. There wasn't much we could do and honestly it wasn't that much fun. We couldn't see much other than half a million people ahead of us and half a million behind. The only festivities we could see was the large video screen about a hundred metres in front of us. We just stood there with the other million wondering if this really was the best place to be.
Standing like this (on top of a bush) for about 10 minutes was enough and felt futile so we soon made out way to an exit point and found ourselves back in the Tiergarten. We now had lots of space, but couldn't see anything.
We walked back to our original point at Potsdamer Platz. Here we were part of a huge street crowd and could still see the Brandenburg Gate. The only thing was that we couldn't see the festival stages. Apparently the Pet Shop Boys were going to be playing to bring in the New Year and unfortunately we were going to miss this. Still, we were happier being part of the street crowd.
Out on the street, people were setting off their fireworks like crazy.
At midnight everyone that had fireworks seemed to set them off. This was in conjunction with the official fireworks show and was wild!
VIDEO - Midnight Strikes in Berlin
We hung around for a bit and there was no let up in the mini-explosions around us. Most people were still on the street so it seemed a good time to make a dash for the train home before everyone else clogged the system.
The short walk to the U-Bahn was quite funny, with a war zone of fireworks going off around us. Maybe its a bit dangerous, but its a fun and unique experience!
VIDEO - Berlin after 12.15 New Years Eve and walking to the U-Bahn
Back on the train it was getting quite busy, especially at our changeover station Friedrichstrasse. I can only image how bad it got later on.
Back on home turf the party was on the street and centred around the S-Bahn station. There is a big bridge that connects the station to the main street and this was heaving with people going nowhere. Still fireworks were being set off non-stop.
VIDEO - Berlins new years eve 2013 party continues
We even saw our first graffiti in action with some girl spray painting something on the bridge. This is to be expected given how much graffiti there is in Berlin.
What a wild night. Lots of fun, jostling, danger and what an experience. Reports later said there was actually over a million there!
No comments:
Post a Comment