This is a bit old and out of sequence, but I managed to salvage a couple shots off of my camera phone from "Die Blaue Nacht," The Blue Night in English. Every May all of downtown Nuremberg has the public streetlight bulbs replaced or covered with illumination that bathes the city an eerie blue glow. Beyond the public displays of art everywhere, all city museums, churches, art galleries, pubs and some stores are open until the wee hours (in some cases 4:00 or 5:00am), and everyone basically lets their hair down. You see, it's been my observation that Germans really don't go completely bonkers unless it's been cleared and OK'd by some official (city, state, countrywide) decree. Talk about your pent-up emotions! The crowds at Blue Night made the annual downtown Christmas celebration (which draws upwards of 2 million visitors over the course of a month) look like a kiddie parade-- I've NEVER seen the city this packed, and it comes about as close to population density as Times square at New Year's Eve-- the city itself predicted a crowd size of 125,000-- more than 25% of the entire city population-- in attendance. Plus, everybody was roaring drunk. Funny at times sure, but occasionally uncomfortable too. Anyways, B was in China on her business trip so I walked around with our German friend, and we had ourselves a look. Overall, it was certainly impressive but I've never been a fan of mobs and I'm glad we found ourselves a couple of quiet rest stops along the way. Would I do it again? Ask me next May.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Blue Night: High Art Meets Public Drunkeness
This is a bit old and out of sequence, but I managed to salvage a couple shots off of my camera phone from "Die Blaue Nacht," The Blue Night in English. Every May all of downtown Nuremberg has the public streetlight bulbs replaced or covered with illumination that bathes the city an eerie blue glow. Beyond the public displays of art everywhere, all city museums, churches, art galleries, pubs and some stores are open until the wee hours (in some cases 4:00 or 5:00am), and everyone basically lets their hair down. You see, it's been my observation that Germans really don't go completely bonkers unless it's been cleared and OK'd by some official (city, state, countrywide) decree. Talk about your pent-up emotions! The crowds at Blue Night made the annual downtown Christmas celebration (which draws upwards of 2 million visitors over the course of a month) look like a kiddie parade-- I've NEVER seen the city this packed, and it comes about as close to population density as Times square at New Year's Eve-- the city itself predicted a crowd size of 125,000-- more than 25% of the entire city population-- in attendance. Plus, everybody was roaring drunk. Funny at times sure, but occasionally uncomfortable too. Anyways, B was in China on her business trip so I walked around with our German friend, and we had ourselves a look. Overall, it was certainly impressive but I've never been a fan of mobs and I'm glad we found ourselves a couple of quiet rest stops along the way. Would I do it again? Ask me next May.
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The most popular countries in terms of expatriate experience are Germany, followed by Canada and Spain. In these countries, expatriates tend to make local friends, learn the local language, join a community group or even buy a property.
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