Happy New Year!

  So New Year's Eve found us in the village of Heiligenhaus celebrating with a large group of British and American expats and a few Germans thrown in for flavor!  The women were glitzy and glamorous in their formal dresses and their men were dashing in their suits and ties.  We did our best to blend, but the hosts were gracious in spite of our lack of fashion sense.  We are from Iowa, afterall. :)
  At the stroke of midnight the Brits struck up "Auld Lang Seine"- and of course they knew the lyrics!  Probably all of them, but they were drowned  out by the millions of fireworks going off in the neighborhood.  Yes, in Germany, the country of safety and rules, everyone is allowed to buy large cartons of huge fireworks and everyone sets them off at midnight.  It made every 4th of July celebration I've ever attended pale in comparison.  I wish I had better pictures, but it was raining, and clearly, my photography skills are on par with my fashion sense.  But, you get the idea....