Waltzing into the New Year

Jennifer went wild with energy this morning and did the Vienna New Year’s fun run – the Silvesterlauf. She even got a medal which we decided was for the first Australian woman finisher. The rest of us were not even close to being so energetic but we did watch the race go by on the street beneath the apartment.

Gluwein at the Rathaus.

Vienna makes a big thing of New Years. Almost all of the centre of town is closed down to traffic and the huge pedestrian area created links a series of events – different stages, places to eat, and so on. It’s great fun to wander around.

We had lunch at the Rathaus. Lunch for most us was pizza in a cone – which is a type of food that there simply should be more of in the world. Then kaiserschmarren for desert. All with music in the background and the stunning Rathaus building as a backdrop.

Waltzing on the Graben.

The boys went home after that and the rest of us took the girls on to see the children’s show. That proved to be a weird germanic show involving a man and a dog that we gave up on after a while.

Much more fun for everyone was learning to Waltz on the Graben. We’re not certain we were understanding the instructions in German but joining the several hundred other dancers made things easy and immensely entertaining. Although as Bob and I had kids on our shoulders it made for some awkward moves when the time came to twirl your partner.

Ana cooked a great dinner and we’ve watched fireworks pop with increasing frequency over the roofs of Vienna. In theory it’s illegal for people to set off their own fireworks, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping anyone – it sounds like we’re in a war-zone. Now we’re approaching the midnight official fireworks while preparing the traditional Spanish grapes for the countdown. Happy New Year!

Grapes for midnight countdown.

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