Happy New Year 2006!

We wish you all the best in 2006!

It was a white New Year for us - lot's of snow! An above average amount of snow for Hamburg, really - about 5 inches or more.

We had a nice, small party in our apartment with Christian, Christina and Robert. Together, we cooked a six-course meal that was delicious. Different pâtés, carrot-champagne soup, chard quiche, monkfish with zucchini chips, blueberry pancakes and finally a huge French cheese platter. It was a lot of fun. After dinner we enjoyed watching the fireworks from our top roof terrace, as well as setting off a few rockets of our own.

The night was finished off with "Bleigießen", a German New Year's Eve tradition where everyone melts little lead figures in a spoon and throws it in a bowl of water. The resulting figure tells you what the year ahead will bring...a form of fortune telling.

Niles had no fun with all the firework and stayed hidden for most of the night. On New Years Day he came out and relaxed a bit.

Here are just some random pics from this evening without further explanation: