Happy New Year....Frankfurt-Style!

We just got back from a nine-day vacation in Germany. It was my first time and it was amazing, and sometimes, life-threatening. What is a "vacay" without a little excitement??? Tiff's family and ours wanted to take a trip together over Christmas Break, after much debate, we settled on Germany. We decided to spend New Year's Eve in Frankfurt am Main, enjoying the fireworks on the Main (pronounced "mine") River, then going our separate ways and meeting up a few days later in the Garmisch, nestled in the German Alps. I will be publishing posts over the next several days about our entire trip, but today post will focus on our exciting, and sometimes harrowing, New Year's Eve in Frankfurt...

We flew into Frankfurt on New Year's Eve afternoon, linked up with Tiff's family and headed out for the Romer Platz to see what was going on in the square for New Year's Eve. The Romer Platz is just a block off of the Main River. The square was completely destroyed during World War II and has been reconstructed to look as it did before the war. Apparently, Frankfurt is well-known for its New Year's Eve fireworks. Tiff's husband had heard about it and they found some youtube videos taken from inside the Romer Platz and it looked amazing. The Lufthansa in-flight magazine even touted Frankfurt as an "lively and exciting" place in which to countdown to the New Year.

Once we got down to the Romer Platz, we took in the beautiful buildings, the church holding Christmas Eve mass, and of course, the lighted "Tannenbaum" glowing in the square. We walked around the square reading the menus posted outside the restaurants and finally chose to eat at the Braustub'l Haus because of it's good looking eats and the fact that they had a children's menu. It was great choice. Our first German meal was outstanding, and Seven discovered he liked German food, just like Miss Tiff said he would.

The only bad thing was we had to be done with dinner by 7pm because someone else had a reservation for our table. At about 6:50, we left the restaurant and tried to figure out how we were going to spend the next 4 hours. It wasn't too cold, so we thought we'd walk around the city a bit. We killed about 20 minutes letting the kids pose as statues on what looked to be a podium for that purpose in the Romer Platz.

Against the Mommies wishes, the Daddies bought the kids these light-up flying spinners (and yes, that is the official name of the toy, hmmp). It actually tunred out to be a good purchase as the kids spent a good 40 minutes with the vendor figuring out how to shoot them up as high in the sky as possible. He even replaced one of the toys for free when it broke...bonus!

We had been surprised the Romer Platz and the riverbanks weren't more crowded when we came downtown. If this had been the United States, people would have been staking their claims since early that morning. Our waiter told us people wouldn't start coming out until about 11pm. It had been drizzling most of the evening, and a fog had settled over the city. We were worried we may not be able to see the show. Then the rain really started coming down and we worried there may not be a show at all. We looked for a restaurant to take refuge in, but by then they were all closed for private parties. The kids started complaining, then we adults started complaining, and without knowing for sure whether or not the show was going to be a go, we thought about packing it in. With no German restaurants available, we headed to Starbucks to regroup. After some hot drinks and snacks, the rain had stopped. With our spirits lifted, we headed out into the dark night once more and headed for the river. The streets were starting to get lively, more beer and gluwein stands had been set up, and people were walking around with fireworks poking out of the tops of their backpacks. As we found a place at the railing along the riverbank, we noticed that people were starting to set off some of those fireworks...onesies and twosies, here and there. These weren't the kinds of fireworks you buy at roadside stands in the states. Well, some of them were, but most were more like those you'd expect to see at professional fireworks display. We couldn't believe it was legal to shoot off fireworks like that in the city limits, but there were no police out telling people to stop. In fact, it was hard to find a cop anywhere.

It was around 11:15 by this time. We were debating whether or not the spot we had chosen was going to be good or not. Originally, we wanted to be up on one of the bridges, but we were afraid our view would be obstructed by the steel spans overhead. Now that we were down, by the river, we worried the bridge might obstruct our view of the show. So we asked a local...Was this a good place to watch the fireworks from? When would they start? Could we see the big ones from this side of the bridge? She assured us that we had picked a great location, people would continue shooting off their fireworks and then we'd really see a show at midnight. Great!

More and more people were gathering on the bridges and along both banks of the Main. It was 11:30 and it was hoppin'! People were setting off fireworks and they were doing it closer and closer to us. Tiff's daughter, M was getting really nervous. It was getting loud, and her gut was telling her flight, not fight, was the best option. With just 15 minutes to go until midnight, M was ready to leave and her Dad was ready to take her back to the Starbucks. It was starting to get pretty crazy. Popping firecrackers were going off all around us. Big "boomers" that sounded like military artillery simulators, as well as twisting and twirling fireworks shot off from empty beer, gluwein and wine bottles were all a part of the mix. Dining and dancing riverboat cruises were sailing up and down the Main and people were shooting off fireworks directly AT the boats. It was insane. M had her face buried in Tiff's coat and Tiff was covering both of M's ears with her hands. We all wanted to stayed together and we assured M and her Dad, that once the show started, everyone would quit shooting off there own fireworks and watch the "real" show. There was just one problem with that...This WAS the "show" and it was just getting started...

There WERE tons of fireworks going off, but there wasn't a professional one in the bunch! It never occurred to us the New Year's Eve fireworks that travel books, Lufthansa, and youtube raved about would be anything BUT professional. This, however, was the closest thing to anarchy that I've ever experienced. The boys, Seven, Twelve, and Tiff's son, B, were having a great time...the louder the better! Woo hoo! We rang in the New Year, whooping it up, while constantly looking over our shoulders. Drunken fireworks firers were starting to get sloppy on the launching pad. Some of those glass bottles they used to launch from were tipping over and fireworks meant to go vertical were going horizontal and firing into the crowd. The back of Seven's coat was punctured by a falling stick used to launch one of the fireworks. Luckily it wasn't on fire, but it still hurt. It was definitely time to go back to the hotel...and fast.

Tiff's hubby suggested we walk down river, away from the Romer area to catch a cab, passed all the gridlock. It was a good idea in theory, but as we heading along the street that was now a parking lot, people decided it would be fun to set off fireworks right next to the trapped cars. I saw Husband and Seven head around the side of a car where someone had just lit a device. I tried to scream at them to stop, but they couldn't hear me. I heard Husband yell to Seven, "Run!!" He grabbed Seven's hand and pulled him along just before the firework exploded. Then one of those horizontal side-winders whizzed right by our heads and right into someone's face. M's screamed, we all screamed and Tiff's hubby yelled that we needed to get across the street and away from the river. Tiff's hubby had M, Husband had Seven in his arms, I grabbed Twelve and B by their coats and we took off across the street, dodging cars and fireworks. It was like running through a warzone, like Call of Duty on the xbox 360, said the boys. When we regrouped on the other side of the street, we'd lost Tiff. Luckily, at the beginning of the night, Tiff's family did what they always do them they go out to crowded public places, they set up a rally point. If the kids became separated from us, they were to meet us at the Christmas tree in the Romer Platz. Now that we had been separated from Tiff, we headed to the rally point, ourselves, to wait for her. Getting to the Romer Platz provided yet another challenge. We were definitely going against the flow of human traffic. I warned the Twelve and B not to keep their footing as we pushed through the crowd because broken bottles littered the streets. Once we made our way through the crowd, I apologized to the boys for having to manhandle them, but they said they were just fine with it. Once inside the Romer Platz, we were still a little nervous. People were still shooting off fireworks, and the tall buildings surrounding the square made it feel a bit claustrophobic. Thankfully, people still had sense enough not to set off fireworks next to potential "firewood," so we felt pretty safe waiting by the tree. After a few minutes, Tiff showed up at the tree. She told us someone lit an explosive right in front of her, and she crouched and turned her back on it. When it exploded it was so hot that she felt her hair to see if it was singed. Thankfully, it was not! But when she stood back up, we were gone. Reunited again, we headed out the other side of the Romer Platz searching for a taxi stand. We saw taxis in line on the next square over. Just before we hopped in the taxi, someone shot off another firework that ricocheted off a tree into a young couple. The girl was hurt, crouched down and holding her hands to her face. We hope she was okay, but we'll never know. On the way back to the hotel, the kids were going on about all that happened that evening. M said, "Daddy saved my life. If it weren't for Daddy, I wouldn't be here right now." Dramatic? Yes...but probably not far from the truth. Not wanting them to be scarred for life, we talked to the kids about how it was really exciting and fun, right up until it wasn't and then we got the heck out of there. Lesson of the day...Alcohol and fireworks don't mix...Happy New Year and hasta luego...