When someone said: “New Year’s Eve in Paris“, the first thing that came to my mind is the vision of a wonderful Eifell tower in front of a great firework which would symbolize the beginning of an upcoming year, enriched by the image of streets still emballished with the Christmas decorations, little markets selling hot wine and roasted chestnuts..all of which would even increase the charm of one of the most romantic cities in the world. What a better time can possibly exist to meet Paris for the first time? With this idea in our heads, my family and I booked a hotel in Paris, bought the airtickets and then impatiently waited for the day ‘D‘.
We have spent two days in Paris before the December 31st. We were absolutely amazed. Paris was everything we had expected. So far..
At 10 pm, we took the bottles of champaigne and begun to wander towards the ' Tour Eiffel'. Soon, we realized, that we were notably not the only ones with the same idea. The streets by the tower were closed so it was safe for people to cross and get to their destination on time. How exciting! Such a great arrangement from the Paris City Hall even intensified our foresights.
There were little chases to find the best spots caused by people's thinking what a great show was coming up. Without looking at the clock, we were waiting together with other thousands of people to welcome the New Year, from under the Eiffel Tower!
The moment came, all of us were full of expectations, and voila! The tower ligthened up. It lightened up the same way as it did every hour since seven o'clock, every night. Another regular lightining. We were still waiting. What else will happen? Well, few tourists brought their own fire works rackets and they blew them. It was so small and fast that we could not even catch the moment by taking a photo.
We could not believe that nothing else would come. After paying overprized airtickets and rooms, caused by the occasion of the New Year, we did not give up waiting. Later, when we have already drank the four bottles of champaigne, looked at the clock which showed half past twelve, we realized that there is nothing else to be seen. Apparantely, we were not the only dissapointed ones, because a group of Italians standing next to us started to scream. They were followed by some other people. All of the sudden, we hear the ambulance and found out that some drunk person fell down and hit his head. In few minutes, there were around fifteen cops circling around the person. This mess and noise finally made us leave- with our heads down.
No firework on New Year's Eve? How is that possible? After seeing all these wonderful pictures of fireworks shot on Bastille Day (which lasted 30 minutes), one would think that welcoming a new year is even a better sensation! Apparently not. 14th of July is much more important for French than New Year's Eve. Despite the fact that thousands of tourists come to Paris to celebrate the beginning of a new year, it does not occur to the competent people responsible for the program that they could make it more pleasant for them by investing to the program. Even a simple count down would enrich the moment under the Eifell Tower. Instead, these people, people spending their money in Paris, supporting the French economy were standing there and waiting..sadly, nothing came up.
The most irritating thing was when we turned on the TV the next day and we saw how the French channels showed the wonderull fireworks around the world: New York, London, Benjing. Then, they showed the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, shooting the youth that was drinking there. That's it.
No embarrasement for France? Well, maybe this is another thing, out of the many others, that seems to be weird for us, foreigners, but it is normal for the French- to 'sacrifise' the money for firework only at round years' celebrations, as it was in 2010. However, the questions remain: ' How is it possible that even a small town in far East Slovakia can outshine the Paris' 'program' for the New Year' s Eve?' Isn' t that an embarresment for Paris - one of the most visited cities in the world? The fact is that over seven million people a year come to see the 'Tour Eiffel' on regular circumstances. It only makes sense that many of them come during the New Year's Eve. The ignorance of this fact by the Town Hall only dissapointed me and my family. We fall in love with Paris, but never again we want to see it on 31st December.
The sad thing is that in the current globalized world, every state is trying to adopt to the trends and attract as much tourists as possible. France is once again the exception. Luckily, they have a great wine and even better cheese, so the tourists will come anyway.
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