I’ll admit it: I was nervous to go out for New Years Eve in a city I’ve never been to, on a bone-chillingly cold night. We’d booked tickets to meet our friends at Silvester Meile, and I was looking forward to hanging out with them, so I put my put my big girl pants on.
Actually, I put two pairs of pants on (fleece-lined leggings under jeans) and two coats.
I shouldn’t have worried! It was a festive evening and nobody froze to death. Also, the kids got tired, so we all had an excuse to head back home at 10:30pm.
The event took place in an enormous blocked off area. There were multiple music stages, lighting displays lit up all of the surrounding buildings, and there were dozens of food trucks and drink tents. We left as it was getting more crowded, but it wasn’t jam-packed the way Times Square in NY looks on TV (which is truly nightmare fuel). Everyone was dancing around and singing, and there were a lot of 90’s and early 2000’s covers played.
When we first walked in (after they made me dump out my water bottle, the monsters), one of the bands was playing a cover of “Firework.” Lilian turned to me and said, “that’s not Katy Perry, is it?”
(No, Lilian. Not Katy Perry).
The other adults got beers, but I went for glühwein, aka vin chaud, aka mulled wine. Nothing will warm you up and get you dancing like a cute little cup of hot wine. Lilian went with non-alcoholic version, aka juice.
The plaza was all decked out with lighting installations. They’d projection mapped the buildings, and there were lasers shooting up from the stages.
We did a little dancing, a little bit of drinking, and a little bit of eating. Basically in that order.
When in Germany, you have to get…. crêpes? French residents ordering crêpes in Germany sounds like the punchline to a terrible joke… but they were delicious. We all at empanadas later in the evening. Truly, a multi-cultural experience.
They had several stages with DJs, but we mostly hung out at the stage where there was live music. And by live music, I mean German bands playing covers of American pop songs. It was, and I cannot stress this enough, delightful. So many bangers. So much German accent. I was dissapointed by the lack of David Hasselhoff covers, but maybe that’s because we left early.
There was also a smaller stage that featured an act where a DJ alternated between dropping techno beats and… playing an alpine horn. He also played the hell out of the spoons. His name is Loisach Marci, and he was just amazing. Kristian found him on YouTube if you want to see for yourself.
Mr. Marci attracted a huge crowd, including a large group of men who were all wearing lederhosen. I was out there in two pairs of pants and two jackets and these dudes were out there in shorts.
Germans, man. They’re just built different.
At this point, the kids were bouncing off of the invisible walls. I think they were in awe of the fact that they were out so late, that their parents were consuming beer, and that there was so much music being played. Of course, we all know what happens next, right?
Please don’t worry, no children were harmed in the making of this blog post. I made sure they didn’t freeze to death on that bench as we gathered everyone together. And then, we headed home at the very middle-aged friendly time of 10:30pm. The security guards were all “Ummm you know you can’t come back in, right? Are you sure you’re ready for the fun to be over?” We just pointed at the kids and laughed.
Honestly, I think I could have spent the whole evening riding around in the Munich subway. It was one big happy party, with people having drinks and singing songs.
Lilian rallied just long enough to take one last photo with me.
(Why, yes, we do have matching coats).
We got back to our AirBNB with plenty of time to change into our PJs and do our own little countdown to midnight. As soon as the clock rolled over, our entire neighborhood just about exploded with fireworks. All day long, I’d seen displays in stores that were 1. chockablock full of fireworks and b. included a sign that said it’s illegal to set off fireworks within the city limits.
Well, I’m here to tell you: whoever said Germans are incapable of breaking the rules has never been in Munich on New Years Eve. The fireworks were going off every which way.
I’m attempting to teach myself how to edit web videos, so please enjoy my first attempt at a little movie. I literally learned video editing on Super8, so please be patient with me. I have since taught myself how to use CapCut, so future videos should be a whole lot better.
Joyeux 2026, Everyone!
