New Year's Day in Paris

Good answer by Steve. For questions about specific holidays in specific cities, it's also helpful to have input from locals, which you won't find here but can probably get by also posting your question on this forum.

We spent New Years Day in Paris about six years ago. Nancy description is fairly accurate. It can get pretty wild with firecrackers -- big ones -- and bottles thrown in the air and crash on the pavement around you. It was chilly, overcast, and rained some. It was very relaxing to walk the streets by yourself on NY's day and there were some good photo opportunities but nothing was open. Even most restaurants were closed except for some associated with hotels. Steve's comments apply to New Year's eve and not NY's day.

Having spent New Year's eve at the Eiffel Tower in 2004 getting firecrackers thrown at me by idiot boys, heard about the rioting that went on along the Champs between different ethnic groups and then being underwhelmed by the light display of the Eiffel Tower that was no different than any other night of the year, I personally wouldn't bother with it ever again. As for what is open on New Years Day, very little. Notre Dame does have a service you could attend, but the museums are all closed. It is actually a good time to get out with your camera and take photos of the exteriors of places because there are absolulely NO crowds anywhere. You will almost have the city all to yourself.

Interesting how different the New Year's Eve experiences are. The most fun I ever had on that special night was on the Champs Elysées about 9 years ago. It was very mild and we sat on the sidewalk with our bottles of wine and watched the throngs singing and dancing (a bunch of Germans had a great conga line going) and there were a gazillion gendarmes standing arms akimbo watching with us. The gendarmes were much amused by all they saw but we had the feeling that could change if anyone got seriously out of line. It was a good evening and I wish the same for anyone else who goes.

Norma,

"About 9 years ago" would have been the millenial celebration and much more exciting. Also, the level of inter-ethnic violence in Paris has been rising over the years as the economy has suffered.

As for the firecrackers, the only ones I saw were the ones being thrown at people by juveniles who didn't know any better. In my case, the first one landed behind me and when I didn't react in a satisfactory manner (which is to say, not at all when it went off), the next one hit me in the back. I then walked to an area further from the Eiffel Tower itself and met up with a Canadian family and some Brits. Actually, the Brits became part of our group when a group of organized thieves ran through and knocked the British father into us and stole his daughter's cell phone as she was chatting to a friend. So I can't say my memories of New Year's Eve in Paris were in any way magical, LOL! Enlightening, yes. I'd rather spend New Year's on the lake where my parents used to keep their boat watching all of the fireworks shows in the area or in my own backyard where I get a pretty good view of my town's fireworks display and can make sure it isn't overwhelming my dogs.

It probably depends a little bit on where you are. We were some distance away from the E tower along one of the park areas. I didn't notice that the firecrackers were being thrown at anyone other just being lit and tossed on the ground. But there was some heavy stuff -- M=80s, cherry bomb -- that would throw up some gravel. And it was both old and young. The bottles being thrown high in the air were a bigger concern. These would come down with a tremendous boom and throw glass everywhere. Quickly moving to a grassy area solved that problem. But the sidewalks were covered with broken glass when we walked back to the hotel.

But the celebrate was not unlike what we saw in Seville this year. Lot of firecrackers but maybe not as much of the heavy stuff. And no bottles but they sprayed an enormous amount of bubbly into the air. Should have brought our rain jackets. And, of course, we had to eat our twelve grapes. It was behavior that would not be tolerated anywhere in the US except maybe after a Super Bowl victory. Part of culture awareness.

We were in Paris this last New Year's Eve and there were no fireworks. I don't know why, but we were a little disappointed. After hearing about firecrackers, etc., we decided to watch the non existent fireworks over the Eiffel Tower from the Pont Neuf bridge. It was crowded with people having fun. Some people brought their own fireworks, but it didn't get too crazy. And yes, the Eiffel Tower will sparkle with lights at midnight...just like it does a the top of every hour after it gets dark. New Years day a lot of things are closed but you can still find things to do.