NYE in Paris

My New Year’s Eve in Paris was crazy. Here are the highlights:

I had already heard that it was going to be busy everywhere, and to go out was to be packed like sardines. Though the metros were running all night (and for free, good news for any prospective NYE tourists,) I was lucky to live close enough to the Champs Élysées that I was able to walk. 

The entire bridge in front of my apartment (Pont de l’Alma) was covered with street vendors selling cheap food, beer, and (of course) champagne. 

At midnight fireworks went off at the Arc de Triomphe, and people crowded on the Champs Élysées until the very end of the road. At one point, I thought it would be a good idea to stand on top of a bus shed to get a better look, and apparently enough Parisians agreed with me, as I was promptly hoisted up there. You can see the video here, but unfortunately I did not record my screaming “Bonne Année”, or the police who threatened me when I finally got down.