Happy New Year!

2013 has arrived and Brenda and I are at home enjoying a quiet first day of the new year. After Brenda's performance last night we were invited up to her boss's seventh floor office to ring in the New Year. Germans love celebrating New Years, and every year Frankfurt erupts in fireworks around midnight. Someone said that the city doesn't organize a fireworks display but rather people just buy them and set them off themselves. We saw fireworks coming from all over the city, and they lasted for at least half an hour. We have, of course, been in Frankfurt for New Years Eve before, but this was the first time we got to see the festivities from the seventh floor of a building.

Brenda has an almost two week break from performances before her next Guilio Cesare, although she will have rehearsals next week due to a couple changes in the cast. We've decided to go to Düsseldorf this weekend to explore a new German city and visit a friend who sings at the opera house there. We will get to hear him in Don Giovanni on Friday night.


It's hard to believe but I will be leaving Germany in a little over a week. With the exception of a few weeks over the summer, I've been living in Germany since May. I think there may be an adjustment period. For example, from what my sources tell me, it's freezing cold in Iowa at the moment and there is snow all over the place. Also, apparently people in Iowa don't usually speak German, which means I won't have an excuse for making grammar mistakes when talking to people. On the plus side, I will have an easier time finding Mexican food.

Well, I had better get back to easing into the New Year on the couch. Brenda and I wish all of you the very best for 2013, and we'll talk to you next week!

 A picture we took last weekend while walking in the woods near our apartment.

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the walk home.