Wow!!! Paris was fun to be in for New Years! We have just returned from a 10 day road trip through Switzerland and France so we didn’t have big plans for New Years until the day before.  It all came together quickly, just by luck.

Breezy got a call from a fellow Canadian friend here (parents work at the embassy) and they were going to a big house party with other Canadian families and wanted her to go. The theme was ‘Great Gatsby’ for formal wear and it was a ‘swanky’, big deal; so she started watching the movie on the 30th to get some dress ideas. Then Greg got a text that his friend had put his name on “the list” to get into this high profile Paris club at 11pm (when it opened) on the Champs Elysees!  So he started arranging when he would meet these 2 other guys down in Paris and how he would get in, (technically a bar so he should be 18), because his friend just turned 18 and he is the one with connections with someone at the club, (and has the money to reserve a table for hundreds of dollars etc… ) It really is like another life here entirely, because of the families that the kids are hanging around (and their parent’s incredible wealth). So very different, but fun while it lasts!

So Chris and I found availability online for a boat cruise down the Siene at 8pm, leaving under the Eiffel Tower to see Paris by night. We booked tickets for us and Greg and then made reservations at a restaurant near the Eiffel Tower so we could walk there easily after the boat cruise. Then we figured, Greg would take the train at about 10:15 to meet up with the boys to go to the club.

So, on the 31st, Brianna left at 4:00pm to go to her friend’s house with all of her dress clothes and a sleepover bag. Then Chris and I and Greg left with a bottle of champagne in my purse (for midnight of course!) to go on the boat cruise. It was very cold out while walking past the Eiffel tower (-2 cold 🙂 and so we were happy when we finally got on the boat after 20 minutes in line with our tickets. It was a covered cruise boat glowing with Christmas lights and once you were seated you could go to the bar and each get a champagne (plastic flute glasses which I saved for later 🙂 and a plate of snacks. So while we cruised we had traditional French quiche, duck pate, fruit and macaroons desserts.  Click here, to see the boat information and tour.

New Years Eve under Eiffel Tower

Before boat cruise

After that we walked to our restaurant and had a drink and some frog legs and French Onion soup – thought we’d keep up with the traditional “French Fare’.  After the restaurant we  walked to the Trocedero Metro stop, took the subway to St. Michel in the Latin Quarter where Greg’s friends said they were, and we all got out there to look around until we knew he had met up with them.  A few minutes after we knew he was with them, Chris and I took the train to Champs Elysees which was an adventure in itself. It was sightly nerve wracking if you consider a jam packed subway station on New Years Eve in Paris to be a risk, but nonetheless, the quickest way we could get to where we were going before the light show began on the Arc de Triomphe. So we were crunched body to body on the subway-metro for 5 stops until we could get out. There were announcements on the metro that the 4 main stops were closed and unavailable for better security control, so we had to get out further from the Arc.  But that’s what we had wanted to do anyway, so it was perfect for us because most people got off at the ‘Concord’ stop and then we got off 4 stops later.  We ended up at the Arc about 11:45pm, just in time to pop our champagne on the street (like many others were) and wait for the fireworks!

After boat cruise

Midnight! Happy New Year!

It was a spectacular sight and we were able to enjoy it, knowing the kids were safe and having fun too. Greg also saw the fireworks from a different viewpoint (he was right in the centre of the Champs Eylsees) and video taped some of it. Then he got into the club right after that and we kept in touch by texting, while we went to a bar up the street from the Arc. It was a quiet outdoor (glass covered) bar with fire and heating lamps…(very cozy). We had a drink and enjoyed the ambiance with all the people walking by filtering away from the lightshow. At 1:00am Greg told us all was well and he would be there until at least 2:30am (clubs open 11:00pm-4:00am here, so we knew it would be a later night…). So, we took a train to La Defense which is where we always change trains to go home. We found out in La Defense that no more trains were running to our train station (too late) and the next one was 2:30 to the station 2km from our house. Still not easy having no control over your own transportation…

We headed back outside to order an Uber, but my phone died when the Uber was calling to confirm and was parked somewhere underneath our overpass!! So, with a dead phone, we couldn’t get any Uber, and we talked to taxis but they said it was double the rate for New Years and would be $100.- Can.. We’d already spent enough so we decided to take the 2:30am train and then walk home. We did that and got home at 3:15am and called Greg who was about to leave the club. Greg took an Uber home and got in at 4:00am. He was sober (of course:) and safe, so we couldn’t ask for more, and he’d had a great night too! There had been free drinks for his table all night so he used good sense and had been very reasonable. We are happy that we all made it out and back for a LONG night of events, with so many fun memories of the evening. Normally we have quiet New Years Eves, so it was very different!

Let’s hope that 2017 follows with good health, happiness and many more great memories for everyone!