Frohes Neues!

New Year’s is called “Sylvester” in Germany. No idea where that comes from.

An interesting word in German is “Zweisamkeit”. “Eins” is one, and “zwei” is two, and “Einsamkeit” is loneliness, the state of being one, alone. Not a very positive word really. Exchange the “ein” for a “zwei” and you have “Zweisamkeit”, the state of being two alone with each other. Much more plesant. Cozy even. That’s a trick you can’t manage in English.

Barbara and I spent new year’s eve in cozy Zweisamkeit in the charming little flat of one of her best friends, who was out of town. The place is extravagantly decorated with large candles, genuine fox and leopard furs and a fireplace, which gave us the feeling of spending the night in a little luxury hotel room. I cooked some kick-ass chicken with a buffalo mozzarella salad and we drank excellent red wine. Just before midnight we wandered down to the Alster (the large lake in the middle of downtown Hamburg) with a bottle of champagne and watched thousands of people let off their fireworks all around the banks of the lake. Perfect.

Frohes Neues (happy new year) everybody!