Our original plan for New Year's was to somehow host in our tiny apartment four or five families from our school. Unfortunately, however, Erin developed a bad cold so those plans were canceled.
Instead, we joined another family for dinner near their apartment close to Trocadéro, which has a wonderful view of the Eiffel Tower. The new plan was to have dinner, then, if everybody was up to it, head to their apartment for a glass of champagne and, if we were all still awake, go to Trocadéro for midnight.
Paris usually has a fireworks show at the Eiffel Tower for New Year's but it wasn't clear whether they would do it this year or whether it would be cut as an austerity measure. I suspected the latter (which ended up being the case) but still figured overlooking the Eiffel Tower at midnight would be fun.
But it wasn't to be. In the middle of dinner, Clay really wanted to lay down. At first we thought he was tired but we soon saw that he wasn't feeling very well. So, we quickly paid and grabbed a taxi home -- instead of taking the metro as we normally would have done.
About half-way through the taxi ride he threw up. Fortunately Erin was able to do some nifty positioning of his coat to limit the mess. The taxi driver was also very understanding.
That ended the night for Clay. Paige wanted to stay up though and I wanted to get more out of my New Year's experience in Paris. So, with Erin's blessing, I made my way back out at about 11:30 after helping with the various Clay clean-up projects and getting him into bed.
As I didn't have much time, I jumped on the metro towards the Arc de Triomphe. The metro was crowded but not much more than the morning rush hour. Everybody jumped off at the Charles de Gaulle – Étoile station under the Arc de Triomphe so I joined the crowd.
The station was unbelievably packed full of a joyous, singing crowd. I was glad it was just me and didn't have Erin -- who hates crowds -- or the kids along. The crowds continued out of the station and onto the Champs-Élysées and neighboring streets. I made my way out onto the Champs-Élysées until I literally couldn't move any further. There I waited in the rain for some sign of midnight.
A few minutes later a young woman near me started to count down "sept! six! cinq! quatre! trois! deux! un!" and the crowd erupted in cheers with champagne shooting from bottles all around.
I then made my way down the Champs-Élysées, enjoying the exceedingly rare opportunity to walk down the middle of the closed avenue, to its end at the Place de la Concorde. The entire 1.2 miles was full of people, many in small groups sharing a bottle of champagne, with everybody wishing each other "bonne année!" and many couples in prolonged embraces.
I walked back home through the rain and some much quieter streets. Paige made it to midnight but was asleep when I got home. Erin was awake, aided by our ever-partying neighbors.
Earlier on New Year's Eve I saw a poll that had two-thirds of the participants saying that 2012 was a bad year for them. While the year will be one that many will want to forgot for a number of reasons, I'll always remember it as the year we took the leap and moved to Paris. I wouldn't trade this opportunity for anything and look forward to the almost eight months in 2013 that we'll have here.
Instead, we joined another family for dinner near their apartment close to Trocadéro, which has a wonderful view of the Eiffel Tower. The new plan was to have dinner, then, if everybody was up to it, head to their apartment for a glass of champagne and, if we were all still awake, go to Trocadéro for midnight.
Paris usually has a fireworks show at the Eiffel Tower for New Year's but it wasn't clear whether they would do it this year or whether it would be cut as an austerity measure. I suspected the latter (which ended up being the case) but still figured overlooking the Eiffel Tower at midnight would be fun.
But it wasn't to be. In the middle of dinner, Clay really wanted to lay down. At first we thought he was tired but we soon saw that he wasn't feeling very well. So, we quickly paid and grabbed a taxi home -- instead of taking the metro as we normally would have done.
About half-way through the taxi ride he threw up. Fortunately Erin was able to do some nifty positioning of his coat to limit the mess. The taxi driver was also very understanding.
That ended the night for Clay. Paige wanted to stay up though and I wanted to get more out of my New Year's experience in Paris. So, with Erin's blessing, I made my way back out at about 11:30 after helping with the various Clay clean-up projects and getting him into bed.
As I didn't have much time, I jumped on the metro towards the Arc de Triomphe. The metro was crowded but not much more than the morning rush hour. Everybody jumped off at the Charles de Gaulle – Étoile station under the Arc de Triomphe so I joined the crowd.
The station was unbelievably packed full of a joyous, singing crowd. I was glad it was just me and didn't have Erin -- who hates crowds -- or the kids along. The crowds continued out of the station and onto the Champs-Élysées and neighboring streets. I made my way out onto the Champs-Élysées until I literally couldn't move any further. There I waited in the rain for some sign of midnight.
A few minutes later a young woman near me started to count down "sept! six! cinq! quatre! trois! deux! un!" and the crowd erupted in cheers with champagne shooting from bottles all around.
I then made my way down the Champs-Élysées, enjoying the exceedingly rare opportunity to walk down the middle of the closed avenue, to its end at the Place de la Concorde. The entire 1.2 miles was full of people, many in small groups sharing a bottle of champagne, with everybody wishing each other "bonne année!" and many couples in prolonged embraces.
I walked back home through the rain and some much quieter streets. Paige made it to midnight but was asleep when I got home. Erin was awake, aided by our ever-partying neighbors.
Earlier on New Year's Eve I saw a poll that had two-thirds of the participants saying that 2012 was a bad year for them. While the year will be one that many will want to forgot for a number of reasons, I'll always remember it as the year we took the leap and moved to Paris. I wouldn't trade this opportunity for anything and look forward to the almost eight months in 2013 that we'll have here.
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