I read many posts and saw a few videos from last year's New Year's Eve celebration (2011/12) at the Eiffel Tower and it seemed very anticlimactic with no countdown or fireworks and not much else other than the same twinkly lights (which are still very beautiful) that always happen at the top of every hour from 9pm to midnight every night. Does anyone know if there will be more to this year's NYE celebration at the Eiffel Tower? We will be staying across the way from the tower and were thinking it would be a spectacular countdown and display, but maybe not? (not that the Eiffel Tower itself isn't spectacular, I'm just wondering if there will be any kind of NYE celebration/fireworks display this year.)
Posted by
Sacramento, California U.S.A.
10603 posts
I don't know if anyone can answer your question. I had the same experience you describe when we were in Paris for New Years 4 years ago. People indicated there would be fireworks. Wanting to avoid the crowd we positioned ourselves on the Pont Neuf bridge to have a good view. There were many others there, with bottles of champagne and wine. At midnight the only change from the normal twinkling lights was that the lights went from blue to white as Sarkozy was no longer the President of the EU as of midnight. Some of the people on the bridge had brought their own fireworks. It was not what I was expecting, but we were in Paris, so no complaints!!
Posted by
Stuttgart, Germany
3050 posts
Hey San Leandro! Former Oaklander here. I can't speak specifically to Paris but at least in Germany, fireworks for NYE are often more of a "DIY" thing than coordinated large displays. Based on the previous response, it sounds like that's the situation for Paris as well. But dodging totally-illegal-in-the-U.S. bottle rockets can certainly be exciting!