Although usually we don't do much for New Year's, we decided this year we should celebrate in style. We made plans to see a show, have dinner at a restaurant, and then see the fireworks at midnight.
First we went to see Cirque Eloize, one of the new contemporary circus spectacles (like Cirque du Soleil) that combines circus arts with modern music, dance, video, and a bit of theater. iD, their latest show, is performed by 16 phenomenal artists and has a young, very urban feeling. The show was extraordinaire, and kids and adults alike kept their eyes peeled for the entire 90 minutes the show lasted.
Photos are not permitted during the performance so the following are courtesy of the show's website.
The show took place at the Palais de Chaillot, which was built for the International Exposition of 1937, replacing the old Palais du Trocadéro. It sits at the top of the Trocadéro (on the hill of Chaillot, a former village) and faces the Eiffel Tower. From inside the theater you have a beautiful view of the tower. My niece Laura, now in Paris for a semester, joined us for the show.
After the show we left the Chaillot Theater and braved the light rain and the hordes of people walking towards the Trocadero area to see the fireworks show at the Eiffel Tower. We headed to L'Etoile 1903, one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants, for a special Nuit de la Saint Sylvestre dinner.
As the night got older, the music got louder, and even the kids were getting into it. But eventually they crashed...but came back to life when dessert arrived.
You know it's getting close to midnight because people who're driving start honking like crazy. There's a great view of the Eiffel Tower from the Arc the Triomphe, right next to where we were having dinner, so we thought we'd step outside and see the fireworks, except there were no fireworks planned for this year. It wasn't clear if this was due to security reasons or the financial crisis, or both, but this year Paris did not have fireworks. Apparently this was announced by the city since last Thursday, but few people heard the news. We found out from the couple sitting next to us at the restaurant, with whom we clinked our champagne glasses and wished each other Bonne Année!