From ringing bells and making noise to special foods and fireworks, see how places around the world celebrate New Year’s Eve.

Taipei

Like many other Asian countries, the festivities in Taiwan follow the lunisolar Chinese calendar. Thus Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, being the most important festivity in Chinese culture, takes place between January 21 and February 21. However, day to day activities marked by the Gregorian calendar and Western influence have made the Gregorian New Year festival very popular, especially in the capital.

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As in the big cities of Europe and America, the night of December 31 to January 1st in Taipei means many New Year’s Eve parties in bars, restaurants and discos to welcome the New Year. But, since its construction in 2004, the Taipei 101 Tower has become the real center of the party: attracting millions of people to take part in the collective countdown and enjoy the performances by local pop stars and the astonishing lights and fireworks show, in which the sponsor in turn invests more and more money each year to make it more spectacular than the year before. For this year’s show 22,000 fireworks in all have been prepared; 1,700 of which will go off simultaneously from 101 Tower.

Madrid

Puerta del Sol is where all eyes turn as Midnight of December 31st approaches.

The clock mounted in the roof of the offices of the City Hall is broadcast across the country as its chimes mark the end of the old and the beginning of the New Year.

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The most curious tradition in Spain is that as each chime rings out you eat a grape before the next chime peals. The intention being that by the time the final chime rings you have eaten twelve whole grapes!

Supposedly if you are able to eat the 12 grapes you will have really good luck for the upcoming year.

This tradition comes from the new year of 1909. It was an excessive grape harvest and the harvesters made up the lucky 12 grape tradition J

From ringing bells and making noise to special foods and fireworks, see how places around the world celebrate New Year’s Eve.

New Mexico

When I was growing up we used to spend New Year’s Eve at home, making hot apple cider and watching the festivities on television around the world. As midnight approached my mother would hand out large wooden spoons and pots and we’d go outside and bang the heck out of the pots for as long as we could before our little hands froze. Since we were in a really rural area all you’d hear besides the noises we made were a few gun shots and people hollering “wooooooooo” and “yeeeeeeeaaaaaa.” After all the fun with the spoons and pots we’d warm ourselves by the fire again and get ready for bed and the New Year.

Germany

How do most Germans celebrate New Year’s Eve (called Silvester)?

At midnight, many church bells start ringing, and neighbors come outside to wish each other well and toast each other by saying, “Prosit Neujahr!”

Many German families buy their own fireworks and go outside into the night to set them off at twelve o’clock. While waiting for the clock to strike midnight, they may typically eat party foods like sausages or pretzel sticks and they still call for oracle traditions, which often take the form of a party game. Bleigießen (lead pouring) is the most popular Silvester fortune-telling tradition. Party-goers melt small lead forms with a candle in an old spoon and pour them into cold water. The lead hardens into a shape that supposedly bears a certain meaning for the New Year. An eagle, for example, indicates career success, while a flower foretells that new friendships will develop.

In any case, Frohes Neujahr! Happy New Year!

From ringing bells and making noise to special foods and fireworks, see how places around the world celebrate New Year’s Eve.

Japan

In Japan there are three main events that people enjoy on New Year’s Eve.

One is the so-called “toshikoshi-soba,” which literally means “year-bridging noodles.” The dark, thin “soba” noodles made of buckwheat are eaten in their typical soup while the old year changes into the New Year. There are many meanings for this custom, but the main is to pray or hope for a New Year full of lengthy and good health and happiness, represented by the long noodles.

Then, there is the 108 bell tones struck in the Buddhist temples; slowly sounding the solemn bells 108 times starting in the last hour of the year, continuing about one hour into the New Year. These refer to the 108 weaknesses and sins of the human being. People reflect on their sins during the year that ends while hearing the bells sound, and prepare themselves to be better people in the New Year.

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Finally, there is television. There is a particularly popular program, the “Kouhaku Uta Gassen,” which literally means “Red and White Song Battle.” Singers of all styles elected by popular vote sing their songs competing for the red (women) or white (men) teams. It runs the last hours of the year until midnight, and the winning team is selected by the listeners. Performing on Kouhaku is said to be a huge honor, and all artists prepare special surprises for this unique event.

San Francisco

New Year’s in San Francisco, like in the rest of the big cities in the US, is a night for being with friends. You can pay for a big event, like going to eat at a nice restaurant where the price tag can be big, but it includes a constant flow of food and drinks, or the same with concerts, the prices are usually a bit more than other nights but they tend to offer food and do a countdown at midnight.

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The city pays for a big fireworks display at the Embarcadero. All that being said, I think the best New Year’s Eve I ever had in San Francisco included a quiet and delicious dinner in the always-affordable Chinatown, and then a long walk with friends over to Alamo Square, a nice little park that overlooks downtown and the bay. We shared some snacks and drinks and watched the fireworks down at the Embarcadero, and across the bay in Oakland.

View from above was taken by Robot Plays Guitar in Berlin.

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Be like Phileas Fogg and try to circle the world in 80 days by car, plane, train, boat, bird, balloon or just on foot.
You only need a few bucks, a sense of adventure to discover the world and this travel guide – your journey can start today!

The Beach! in Oslo posted by bambas

After 80 days around the world, our last destination is Oslo where it all began. Just take your time to remind all the nice places we have visited in the last 79 days. In the Oslo metropolitan area, try Oslo’s Bygdøy peninsula to find a nice place to relax.

A couple of weeks ago we asked you for your opinion on what we could improve on iwannagothere, your impressions of the site, things you like and things you don’t. We received lots of helpful responses… this is what you’ve told us :)

What are your general impressions of the site? 1 (really bad) up to 5 (excellent)

The majority of respondents have a positive general impression.

From people who used the site on their last trip, was it helpful?

The majority of respondents found the site helpful.

How could we improve your experience on iwannagothere.com?

User interface:

• The home page currently looks like aggregated information.
• Make it “less blog.”

Organization:

• Need to clearly communicate the site’s purpose.
• Steps and calls to action need to be clear.
• Thematic categories would help.
• Include top ten lists for cities and/or surrounding areas where people can vote for their favorite places.

Process:

• Clearly show what you can do and how to use the information you save.
• Recommendations should be made after user preferences are known. Before, these might be called “most recent.”

Features:

• Mobile web application with locations near my places.
• Improved browse that doesn’t require including “place.”
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• Check if my friends are already in iwannagothere (in addition to invites feature).
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Strategy:

• Ensure there is reasoning for users to sign up. For example, tease with examples of best inside tips before signing up.

Is there anything you really love on iwannagothere.com?

Content:

• Lots of useful information that can’t be found in travel guides.
• Love the information from real people who aren’t paid to say a place is good.
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User interface:

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Do you have any new ideas for us?

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• Invest in a site architecture review.  All of your content is hidden and needs to be brought to the surface.  Also this is such an interesting subject; the site could be gorgeous!  Obviously it has a ‘community’ feel to it, but there must literally be a mountain of content you could have to whet people’s appetites and bring them into the site, rather than encouraging them to sign up for something they know nothing about.

We appreciate that you took time to share your feedback with us! All of your opinions help make iwannagothere better. We’re excited to begin working on improvements soon!

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Be like Phileas Fogg and try to circle the world in 80 days by car, plane, train, boat, bird, balloon or just on foot.
You only need a few bucks, a sense of adventure to discover the world and this travel guide – your journey can start today!

Gedimino 9 Shopping Centre in Vilnius posted by mimoa

On April 18th, the new shopping centre Gedimino 9 opened in Vilnius. The shopping centre was opened after renovations that took one and half years. The building located on the city’s central artery has been adapted for trade, business and citizens’ leisure purposes. More than 60 retail outlets have already opened or are due to open in the near future at the Gedimino 9 shopping centre.

Fang is from China. She is fan of Beijing, Tokyo, Madrid, Sevilla, San Sebastián , mountains, and cold weather.

What she likes most about traveling is you can just look and think into deep silence, without any noise and what fang likes least about traveling is sometimes the weather just doesn’t back you up.

People say that the Chinese people work so hard but that they never enjoy themselves, always saving their money for a rainy day. This is wrong! The Chinese people don’t save money for rainy days; instead they save it for the Chinese Shopping Festival at the end of the year! Why? Let’s see…

We don’t have many festivals or summer vacation in China, but from December to February starting with Christmas Day and the New Year through the Spring Festival is the best time for us, and also for the shopping mall bosses.

Almost every commercial center begins to push tempting promotions at Christmas, like ‘buy 100RMB return 50RMB coupons’. Early in the season people are a little shy yet so they don’t spend too much; you can just see the right color in their eyes. Christmas Day is a foreign festival and not a holiday in China. We just like to peruse the fashions of the world, 3 or 4 friends get together to have dinner in Mr. Pizza or Maxim, then go to the Happy Valley Amusement Park spending the night screaming.

5 days later is the New Year. We have 3 days holiday starting January 1st. People usually spend the first day with their family, going to visit parents or grandparents. In the morning many people choose to go mountain climbing indicating a higher starting point in the New Year. Then we have dinner together, sitting around a round table talking about how to celebrate the Spring Festival, whether we should eat out or at home. Large families usually choose to eat at home because it’s hard to reserve a large room or it’s not convenient to move the grandparents. The last two days the young people always have activities with friends; shopping, skiing or singing, they never stop! And the parents choose to relax at home quietly to saving energy for the New Year.

We have a 7 day holiday during the Spring Festival. During this time is Spring Festical Day which is the Chinese equivalent of Thanksgiving Day. It’s a holiday to communicate with the whole family as well as the time to express the gratitude to all who have ever helped you. That means you have to spend at least 3 days going shopping, buying gifts and red envelopes. However, honestly speaking, before you step into the shopping mall you’d better buy a personal insurance policy first for you just can’t imagine how many dear sisters and brothers will be there if “buy 100RMB return 100RMB coupons” is going on!

Actually the shopping day has already begun before the Spring Festival. People begin to buy all kinds of food like snacks, candies, meat, etc, and decorations for the house two weeks beforehand. Everyone seems to be worker bees immersing themselves in the gaiety of shopping.

Generally speaking, we have a fixed schedule to celebrate the Spring Festival. It begins in the evening of the Spring Festival Eve. Everyone sits in the front of the television waiting for the central channel’s evening party around 8 o’clock. During the TV party, mothers prepare the New Year dumplings; once the New Year bell rings we begin to eat dumplings and that indicates good luck in this year. Meanwhile, everyone is busy calling each other sending and receiving good wishes. Then we go outside to launch firecrackers. The sound and the light can bring you a successful year.

Undoubtedly this is the happiest time for the children, not only for the delicious food and the chance of playing with firecrackers, but also for the red envelopes! They receive them from parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, other relatives, friends of parents… After this, children dream beautiful dreams the night of the Spring Festival Eve with plenty of money under their pillows.

The next morning people usually get up early to prepare the meal. For you know we have a saying that “people regard food as their prime want”; eating is the most important part of our life. After 10 people’s hard work, you can see more than 20 dishes on the table. You’re smiling because you just don’t know what to eat first. After the meal, the whole family sits around playing Mahjong, which makes the old men happy.

The following days of the vacation we visit friends, teachers, relatives, etc. When you look into your pocket and there is no money left, get prepared to go to work tomorrow!

People may wonder why Chinese people don’t travel during the holiday, I have to say it’s because we get tired just thinking about how many people there are on the road… On the other hand, we prefer to stay with our family to enjoy the happiness of reunion because family is everything to us.

Be like Phileas Fogg and try to circle the world in 80 days by car, plane, train, boat, bird, balloon or just on foot.
You only need a few bucks, a sense of adventure to discover the world and this travel guide – your journey can start today!

Jurmala Gymnasium in Jurmala posted by mimoa

When the seaside resort city of Jurmala commissioned this sports hall, they expected a modest addition to the simple 2-storey school building constructed some 30 years ago of prefabricated concrete slabs. The architects looked at the historical setting and proposed a radically different solution. Instead of the standard metal-framed box, they designed a warm, 2-storey timber box with a glulam timber frame and narrow, full-height windows which reflect the trunks of the surrounding pine trees.