I love the kaleidoscope of colors in fireworks, and last evening thrilled to an exceptional display in Basel, from a friend’s terrace overlooking the Rhine. New Year’s Eve was beautifully clear, ideal for the show.
From moonrise until shortly after midnight, people set off their own fireworks along the banks of the river, and across the Rhine in Kleinbasel. All the individual displays set the stage for the official Basel fireworks after midnight.
Right at 00:30, a barge positioned in the center of the Rhine went into action, sending up barrage after barrage of explosive color. A slight breeze blew the smoke away, clearing the air for each successive launch of lanterns, rockets and other fireworks.
Sprays of color framed a still-hovering moon, and seemed to be dancing to keep pace as the moon moved higher.
When the pyrotechnics finished after 25 minutes or so, a cheer went up along the river promenade below. After a pause that echoed with the fusillades of booms we’d just heard, three boats from the Basel harbor played a melody of sorts, a chorus of foghorns. Then all was quiet, and we were left with the paper shards that had fluttered to ground during the show.
All in all, this year’s fireworks were the best I’ve seen in a long time. For more images like these, please stop by my website.
These photographs are absolutely stunning!! Thanks so much for the lovely (as usual) post!
Thanks Kate for your comment. Tom is going to be submitting photo posts regularly from now on, so there will be lots more like these!