New Year's the Viennese Way

Much like the rest of the city, I feel like I'm just now pulling myself out of vacation mode.  It has been well over a week since New Year's and I'm just starting to pull my head out of the fog. A few weeks ago, our friends (also known as "Tiana's parent's") generously offered to take our girls so we could experience a Viennese New Year's Celebration.  They've been here for three years and were keen to spend the night in...so they bravely hosted a sleepover for four girls under the age of five.  I dropped the girls off around 4pm (although I stuck around for an hour "trying to leave"...I'm such a wuss) before heading home.

Cheers!

Obviously, there were no festivities starting yet...well, there were plenty of people around the city setting off fireworks...but compared to what happened at midnight, these piddly things did not denote an actual celebration.  John and I sat around in the apartment for a few minutes...mostly in shock that there were no children running around and that we could leave the house if we wanted to...so we did.  We wandered around the first district and basked in how wonderful it is to be able to walk at one's own pace.  For me, this is a big thing.  The main streets and walkways downtown were already starting to overflow.  There were booths selling glueckschwein (lucky pig) paraphernalia all over the city, waltzing lessons in the middle of Graben and more than a few bottles of champagne that had already been opened.  The two of us had entertained grabbing a coffee at one of my favorite hole-in-the-walls, but even they were filled to the brim. So, we wandered back to our home turf--to Chang's (a restaurant literally around the corner from our place) where we leisurely ate gyoza and drank prosecco with specks of confetti flitting along with the bubbles.  It was really lovely and it could've been enough...but the night was still young!  These were just the preliminaries.

Outside the Rathaus

We spent most of the evening with friends, eating great pizza and nasching on olives...making toasts to Winston Churchill (doesn't everyone?) before winding our way downtown.  Where, Holy-Dear-God-In-Heaven I've never seen such masses.  Never in my life have I seen that many people (and I'm not claiming innocence here) all drunk and celebrating the new year.  We were outside City Hall where a DJ serenaded us with that old-school pop that only the Germans and Austrians still seem able to appreciate.  (I'm just glad David Hasselhoff didn't make an appearance...)  John supplied us with Cuban cigars and we hollered and smooched with the booming crowds as the clock struck midnight.

Nothing but people...as far as the eye can see

Our subsequent 'walk' to the U-bahn was possibly the most enlightening experience, though. The great hoard of bodies between us and public transportation was overwhelming...not to mention the distraction of one last mug of punsch before the stands disappeared or the opportunity to stop and dance to one of the many cheesy songs being blasted from stages throughout the city...it was madness.  Eventually, John and I broke ranks with the rest of our group and booked it to the train.  Along the way, we encountered so much broken glass that a person with open shoes wouldn't have stood a chance of escaping unscathed.  there were mounds of discarded champagne bottles and beer cans.  I cannot possibly paint an accurate picture to do the scene justice.  Mostly, I was glad to have my six-foot-seven body guard with me to barrel through crowds...to hold hands on the train and to help me wake up our sweet sleeping babes to bring them home.

In our last days of vacation

New Year's Day was just another day of vacation for us.  We did a little more organizing and purging than usual, but it was mostly just a day to relax--to be thankful that even though I hadn't made it to the stores before they closed for the holiday, I at least know how to make bread and scrape together something out of nothing when my kitchen shelves are looking bare.

And that was it; eventually, it came: the routine.  We're finally back in it.  Work, preschool, playgrounds, grocery shopping, play dates...we're back into that old rhythm again.  It feels a little different, though.  I feel better rested...not spread too thin, as mama's so often tend to be.  Outside of that first day of the year, we're eating a lot better and most of us are already seeing the benefits of a diet focused on lots of  nourishing foods.

John just received confirmation that he has been approved for a second year in his position, so we're heading into 2013 knowing most of it will be spent in Vienna.  We're looking forward to the promise of home leave, but until John's other two coworkers are replaced (they're both leaving in the next few months), we won't have any input about possible travel dates.  I do feel confident, however, promising we'll be stateside sometime in the next 12 months.

Who says I don't have this bureaucracy thing figured out?