Happy New Year!

For New Year's Eve, I went to the Eiffel Tower with my dad. Taking the subway there was pretty packed, but not nearly as packed as any bus ride in Belarus. We picked a spot by the river and waited for about a half hour until midnight. I got some cool photos of the Eiffel Tower. I'll never forget the words of my tour guide when first seeing the Eiffel Tower in 2001. "During the day, it's just a stack of wrought iron metal, but at night, it's magic!" Ha ha. Anyways, I was looking forward to the countdown cuz the French word for "one" is a real nasal sounding "oh" and I wanted to hear a half million people say "oh!" at once. No luck though cuz I guess the French don't count down. The lights on the Eiffel Tower just started flickering and everyone started cheering and setting off their fireworks. Then after about 20 minutes, all the lights in the Eiffel Tower just turned off which was something I've never seen. I'm not sure if that's just so the crowd will disperse or if they just blew a fuse or something. Anyways, the crowd still had a lot of party left in them so we took the opportunity to catch the subway back before the rest of the people decided to go home. It was a good idea since we got home rather quick. Anyways, it was a great night to end my stay in Paris. I leave tomorrow morning to go back home. I've been gone so long I feel like I've been gone for months. I think it will feel all too soon by the time I get back though. Happy New Year!