New Year New Year

And then the heavens opened up and down came the rain...

It's almost 1pm as I sit here in Luzern on New Years Day. The trees are blowing in the wind as I watch them. Autumn leaves are raining down all around. It's raining. I don't remember the weather being like this for quite some time.

I hear it is also raining in Sydney, so I guess in that sense I'm not missing out on anything :-) It's nice to hear of rain in Sydney. I hope it stays for a while. Despite its inconveniences, it is desperately needed!

We had three friends over for a New Years Eve dinner. We had so much food - it was fantastic!!! Then we partied the year away with our party hats and silly eye masks, fake noses and lips :-) We also had a few drinks of course in New Year cheer :-) Then the five of us hit the town, saying very friendly hellos to everyone who hopped on the bus :-)

In Luzern, it was not that crowded. I'm not sure what the usual crowds are like as this is my first (and probably only) New Years in Switzerland! There were a lot of people on the famous bridge, but the rest were spread around the lake (and it's a huge lake!). There was no countdown to New Years, some people just cheered and then some lights went up on a building which said "Happy New Year!". So that was that!

It was a bit strange as fireworks were scheduled to go off at 12.07am...but then was delayed until 12.10am. Don't ask me why about the times as I do not know...must be a Swiss thing?!!! Fireworks were pretty good and went on for a good 25 minutes. As I stood there watching the fireworks it brought me to New Years memories in Sydney. It made me feel a bit homesick and a bit sad that I wasn't with my buddies. Don't get me wrong, I had great company, but it just wasn't the same. For the past four New Years celebrations I was always with the same core group of friends in Sydney. And this year we all did different things. I hope next year we will come together again :-)

The fireworks in Luzern were pretty good. I cannot compare them to Sydney though as that would just not be fair :-) I can't really compare anything to Sydney as the standards are just too high in my books as I'm probably just a teeny bit biased?!! :-) And if you don't agree with me, then maybe it's time you got away from Sydney for a little while :-)

After the fireworks we headed to the place where everybody goes...to the Roadhouse...which is open until 4am every day!!! Everybody in Luzern knows the Roadhouse! And no, it's not a truckie stop by the highway :-) They played some good songs...all extremely retro though...which suits me fine :-) But I was a bit bored because I just wanted to go home! Yeh I know, I am getting old :-) We left close to 4am and tried to hail a cab but without much luck. Eventually we got one about half an hour later! So I was very happy that I was on my way home! If you think Sydney cabs are expensive, how about a ten-minute ride for about 20 bucks?!

My head hit my pillow at around 5.30am. Another year over...

Happy New Year!