Well, nine of us were sitting in the shoe-box appartment that 5 of us were staying in. My Uncle Eric was in charge of the menu and so we were spreading pate on fresh bagettes, slirping down raw oysters, peeling whole jumbo shrimp, relishing the fresh mini quiches we had picked up on Rue Cler. It was a pretty phenominal spread. Not to mention my uncle’s friend, Ken the Google Man, was in charge of beverages…so the champagne was excellent.
We were actually a mellow bunch considering the fact there were only a few hours left of 2007. But then, four twelve-hour days of walking the streets and taking in the sites were behind us. So we just shared prank stories…Like, my Aunt Trisha knows a man who claims to have turned an olympic sized pool into a vat of Jello. We were discussing the probability of the story actually being truth, when Ken the Google Man says “hold on”. Thirty seconds of silence, and then “He would have needed _____ thousands of packets of Jello to do that.” (I forget the number exactly, but it was astronomical). So we unanimously declared it to be a false story and thus ended the probability debate.
Before we knew it, 11:30 pm was upon us and we realized we would have to walk fast to make it to the Eiffel Tower before midnight. My Aunt Trish, Uncle Scott, Sam, Jack and I decided to take the Metro to save time. Little did we know the whole of Paris was thinking the same thing. So we walked to the Metro only to find that the station was so jam packed with inebriated Parisians that we couldn’t get within 50 ft. of the train. Deep Breath, we’ll have to walk.
So up and out of the Metro we go and fall in line with the throngs headed toward the Tower. We were about 4 blocks away (we could just see the tip of the Tower) when we realized we’d need to run to make it in time. So away we went, adrenaline overruling exhaustion, and just as we rounded the corner to take in the full view the Tower exploded in lights! Still running we started shouting Bon Annee! Bon Annee! at the top of our lungs! Oh such bliss. I imagined I was wearing one of those jackets like Napolean, forgetting for the moment that I am a girl and would never had had a man’s jacket. But oh well, I felt like a Revolutionary! A new day! A new year! And all the adventures to be had!
