Saturday Night Feverish ( now incorporating Manic Monday's to Therapeutic Thursday's )

And maybe Hurricane Higgins for the drinking training?

Let me guess, Tim. You didn't have a camera with you, again.

And i am glad i am not the only one who will be burned to death if his girlfriend decides to start reading maintitles

I had a blast in Berlin. I was only there for three days, but what a very interesting city it is. I certainly need to go back again! Historical it is so rich, but also sad and horrifying, cold but lively, dark but coulourful too.

We celebrated NYE in Viktoriapark, Kreuzberg, a couple of km's south of Brandenburger Tor. We didn't go to that place because it seems to be crowded like hell (1 million people) and quite touristy. So we joined the locals in this hilly park, overviewing the city, and found out Berliners are crazy.

Fireworks start on December 30th, with trying out the fireworks.

The real fireworks then start on December 31st around 10PM, gradually leading to a climax on midnight, with everyone shooting their tons of freshly bought fireworks (Aldi, Lidl) into the air. IT WAS MASSIVE. I've never seen anything like this, and I can't describe how it was. There's fireworks everywhere. At the end, around 1.30 AM it started to get silent. We then joined the locals and started burning the empty firework boxes and bags. Obviously, this lead to some surprise still-not-gone-off-firework. Fucking madness!

After that, the park was still full of people (and smoke), and one guy put up a party tent, opened up his car, started playing music, and we all started dancing on an icy floor. This with gloves, lots of warm clothing, a scarf and a hat. I then, with two empty bottles of champagne in my backpack, started sliding and rolling in the snow, running as hard as I could, falling, joining other snow events with the visitors, ...

IT WAS AWESOME. Best new year I had. Surreal because of the fireworks, but so cool and exciting. I wasn't really drunk or so, but the fun in the park was amazing. I also called to my friends at home, who were having a party with costumes etc (how is that called? a ball?) and one wished he was with us because apparently it was just regular fun.

We ended the night around 4AM with drinking one last Berliner Pilsner in the hostel.

That sounds great Bregt!

This was my New Year.

(Yes, that is a flower vase.)

And that tiny thingy next to it is a normal-sized whisky glass? Damned! You drank all that?

BEST.NEW.YEAR'S.EVER.

Never been there myself yet, but no wonder people adore holidays in Germany.

Thanks for the report, Bregt. I have a former colleague who also celebrated New Year's in Berlin this year, and he said many of the same things you did. Sounded awesome!

I haven't had a drink since - ?????

I'm off to the pub.....laterz!

It was really good too, I sat with a small group of people, some of whom I knew, and we had a great conversation and drank a few beers, it was quiet though. I could really feel the cold walking home and there were still some people in the park at 12.30 sledging.

At that point I just wanted to be at home. It surprises me how many people own sledges? I mean, they only get usage once every 5 - 10 years!?

p.s. I forgot to mention that the pub had a big roaring open fire, it was blissfully cosy

Right, I'm back in the 'deen and expecting quite a few of my uni friends to be returning throughout the day, which can mean only one thing...

< (lots of that)

Cheers Thor I'm off out too!

Anyone else?

That's the reason you're baby's off, right?

Ohhhhh, I was just kidding!
There there! ( <- stroking head)

I have been to a few screenings though with women friends. My experience is that they revert to 16 year olds whenever a bit of beefcake comes on screen. WAY more so than men!

(It is a little demoralizing when you're not exactly Ah-nold yourself. Although I do a mean Austrian accent. And I can tap the Terminator theme on my teeth. Oddly though that has failed to impress anyone to date. )