Paris: New Years Extravaganza
Written by: Russell East
The final days of our European Adventure were spent in Paris! A wonderful way to end a trip of sight seeing and excursions. We splurged on a hotel admittedly as it was the last few days Holly and I had together before going back to our separate continents. I wanted to wrap up our engagement trip with a comfortable and relaxing stay.
We booked a room in a Novotel Hotel in Paris. It was expensive for the time of year, however the area we were in did not have major Paris landmarks nearby. One could see the Eiffel Tower but it was at least a thirty minute walk away.
Although we were in Paris a few days preceding new years, almost everything was open and the city was buzzing. We first went to the tower and checked out some of the Christmas markets that were nearby. There is a way to go up into the tower, however the line was too long for us. We did hear the restaurant in the tower was fantastic.
After taking in the tower and capturing as many photos as we wanted, we headed to the Louvre. It is massive. We admit along with most of the tourists we wanted to see the more popular spots… aka The Mona Lisa…
We wanted to get a guided audio tour however they weren’t available. The descriptions were in French, and guided tours were hard to come by so we did not spend as much time there as we would have liked to. You could plan a day or two entirely in the Louvre. Worth a visit, in both of our opinions, but we wish we would have planned more.
Most of the days surrounding New Years Eve were filled with one of Holly’s favorite things to do – shopping. It was a good way to take in other areas of Paris, aside from the major attractions.
On the evening of New Years Eve, we booked a river cruise. We got in our fancy outfits and marched through the cold to the dock. The boat ended up being an hour late, so we boarded close to 11 PM.
The most interesting part of the night was an older British couple we ran into. The man, a gregarious former diamond miner in Africa, was a riot. He was cracking jokes, buying everyone drinks and full of stories. At one point, he pulled Holly away for a dance and rubbed it in my face. You never know who you’re going to meet while traveling!
As midnight approached, Holly and I ran to the roof of the boat, champaign in hand, and watched the tower light up as the clock struck midnight. People cheers’d all around and yelled to other folks on the bridges above as we passed. We would recommend the river boat cruise for New Years!
On New Years Day we walked around to other spots like Notre Dame and the famous Love Lock Bridge!
Paris will definitely be a city we will go back to in the future to do some more exploring, and hopefully explore more of France!
