New Year in Paris

We have had some issues with our internet here over the past week or so.  It has meant we have been without internet and more importantly phone, several times since getting back from Paris and when we have had service it has been extremely slow.  It is working at the moment, fingers crossed it will continue to do so!

My last couple of days in Paris were as delightful as the first few.  Richard arrived there on New Year's Eve, so by the time I got back to the hotel from the last day of my art retreat he was waiting for me.  After settling in he ducked out to get a bottle of Champagne for us to welcome the New Year in with.   He returned it to our room and put it in the 'fridge' to chill!

......yes our 'fridge' was the window sill!

We  relaxed in our room for a while and then at about 8:00pm went to the area we had stayed in when we went to Paris together in 2007.  We decided to go there to have dinner as we had loved it on that visit.  It was lovely to return to the Ternes area and have a look around again.  At about 11:00 we then made our way with with many, many other people to the Trocadero to welcome the New Year with a back drop of the Eiffel Tower.  We were not sure whether or not to expect fireworks because we had seen some webs sites saying there would be and others saying there would not! We were hopeful when we arrived as there must have been hundreds of thousands of people gathered.  But alas, there were none.  It seems they all gathered for the comraderie and the lights twinkling on the Tower.

We did pop our Champagne, which was well chilled and toasted in 2011!

Our first attempt at a 'long arm' shot......oops it was zoomed in, but I love it anyway!



Our next attampt......that's a bit better.  You can see the champagne glass (well plastic cup) and those lights on the top of the photo just left of centre are the lights twinkling on the Eiffel Tower.  (Note my knitted hat and scarf....hand made by moi!)

We finished our champange and waited for the crowd to clear a little and walked from the Trocadero down to the tower.  On the lower level of the Trocadero we stopped to take some more photos.

By 1:00am we had made it down to near the base of the Tower and it all started again!  New Year Greenwich Mean Time!

After we had walked under the tower we started to try to find a train home.  We crossed the Seine only for Richard to see a very drunk girl fall down some stairs and me being me, had to check she was OK.  She was not, so then the problem of language and getting help!  Some dramas and some time later we got a paramedic and left him to it!  OK we continued to walk to discover that the Metro being open all night did not mean all stations were open all night!  There was nothing so sensible as a sign at the closed stations saying the nearest open station is at.....  Oh no!  We walked and walked.  Saw many VERY drunk people.  Saw fights!  Saw many people vomiting, but still enjoyed our walking and chatting through Paris!  We eventually made it back to our hotel room at about 3:00am!  Poor Richard, not a night person, was snoring before his head hit the pillow.  I then had a chat to Ash online! 

New Year's Day was wonderful, but I might post this now and will try to get a post up about the Rodin gallery tomorrow!  See you all later.....dinner time here and it smells delicious!