New Year's Eve

We had a hard time staying up for New Year's Eve.  Kelly saw online that there would be fireworks at the Eiffel Tower.  He also read that owning your own fireworks is legal in France and to expect many people setting them off--even in the Métro.  About 10:45 we decided to head over to the Eiffel Tower and see what was going on.  Of course it started raining again.  It has rained off and on since we arrived (but I actually see some blue sky today!).

There were lots of people drinking and celebrating.  The usual immigrants were there selling mini Eiffel Towers and light up crowns.  They were also weaving through the crowd selling bottles of wine and other liquor.  Soon we saw three gendarmes on horses and they disappeared into the crowd to escape.  Even selling the trinkets is illegal around the Eiffel Tower and when the gendarmes show up, the immigrants run off, diving over bushes and fences.

Selling Trinkets

Many people were setting off their own fireworks.  We walked around for an hour and then found a spot to watch the countdown.

At midnight, people started cheering and the Eiffel Tower started sparkling, as usual, but there were no official fireworks.  It turns out the official fireworks were at the Arc de Triomphe.

The Sparkling Tour Eiffel

Pretty Lame Fireworks at the Eiffel Tower

We thought the Eiffel Tower would at least sparkle for longer than the usual 5 minutes.  But it didn't.  Kate was quite disappointed with the show.  By this time, she was getting pretty hungry so for a treat we stopped at the café, La Terasse, across the street from the apartment for a little dinner.  The place was hopping and the waiter was harried but very nice.  We did get to witness a little spat between a drunk American who said she was not being served real vodka and the waiter who assured her, with all the seriousness a French waiter could muster, that she was indeed being served vodka.  And we wonder why Americans have a reputation.  Anyway, Kate was happy with her Croque Monsieur and frites.  Kelly said the French onion soup was really good.  We trundled home about 1:30 and fell in bed exhausted.  It had been a long day.  Bonne Année tout le monde!