Contrasting New Years

I'm very thankful that last year we did the full holiday shebang. New Year's Eve, 2019 involved dressing up, going out to a club, dancing, and piling into the main square for the midnight countdown. Cameron likes to recount the wild atmosphere of being smooshed into the crowded city center as people let off their brought-from-home fireworks while drinking their brought-from-home booze. When he talks about it, there is both a sense of pride in his voice but also glimmer of head-shaking disbelief in his eyes.

As you might imagine, this year was quite different. The 7pm-6am lockdown that surrounded the transition from 2020 to 2021 was not legally enforceable, but I think most people already made plans to stay mostly inside for this New Year's Eve. I'd like to think that I would have been ok effectively ignoring this holiday. Wrapping up the year with a movie, some games, and a reasonable bed time sounded quite amicable to me, however I can never say no to the slightest hint of fun, so when introduced to the prospect of having a sleepover that evening I had to say "yes!"

Despite having two friends over, the evening was not too dissimilar from my initial expectations. We made pierogi, played the Czech rendition of Codenames (the picture version), and watched a few episodes of a new Netflix show while snacking on leftover Christmas candy. About five minutes before midnight, we decided to throw coats over our pajamas and head down to the river to ring in the new year. Thanks to a poorly timed joke on my part ("hopefully we don't get caught for breaking the curfew!") Cameron did not shuffle downstairs with us.

There were a few groups along the riverside. Most were like ours: fairly small (3-6 people), keeping distance from the other cliques, and bundled up. Some of the groups had their own fireworks that they were setting off, some had handheld sparklers, and others had bottles of champagne they were shaking up, but most were just gazing around at the sporadic splashes of light. It was a smoggy night with a low cloud layer, so we didn't see many fireworks other than those that were quite close to our standing point, and judging by the muffled sound, there weren't all that many that we weren't seeing either. In addition, the observation balloon across the river was lit up and flashing fun colors. Although he missed the main event (midnight was rightfully the most flashy), Cameron did talk himself to coming down to the river's edge for the ongoing encore. 

I think it was good to have a fairly modest New Year's celebration. Having a big hoopla like last year would have felt disingenuous (and unsafe) since I am approaching 2021 with much more caution, but it was still good to start the year off with a little bit of fun and optimism. 

New Year's Eve 2020

This was the most exciting it got all evening. It was still very beautiful, but much more subdued compared to the previous New Year's Eve. 

Looking over at one of the other groups next to us along the river. 

We made three pierogi fillings: mushroom and onion, ruskie (potatoes and cheese), and spinach, leek, and cheese. 

I like to eat mine with some unconventional toppings: dill, sour cream, sriracha, rice vinegar, and curry powder. 

New Year's Eve 2019

Looking back at the number of people in this photo bewilders me!

Being in Old Town was somewhat dangerous- you can kind of see that the firework smoke is directly over the crowd of people. 

Again, it's not a great photo, but you can sort of tell that fireworks were being released from the mob into the space right above peoples' heads.