New Year's Eve in Paris

2 hours of Paris, the first 2 hours of the 2008 year.

Nine, eight, seven, nine, six, eight …
The Tour Eiffel is flashing. I am standing with an unopened champagne bottle, waiting for the New Year in a huge crowd. I am waiting for fireworks, for shouts, for kisses. My hand is freezing on the bottle, nothing. A pair started to kiss, the others still waiting. Others started to kiss. My girlfriend announced the New Year and kissed me. Well, I guess it was the New Year a little shy.

5 minutes later we are floated by the mass of people to the Champs Elysee. We are near the big victory arch. Just next to us, at about 1 meter and half, a group of 5 boys started to throw with empty bottles to the crowd. A girl screams. A chain of policemen jumps immediately on them. We pass by them. All the time we hear the ambulances sound.

55 minutes later, we arrived to the RER station, a big station. The gate is closed. I tear the chained door. Near me, a disturbed mass of cartoons is moving. We missed our train. The next is in 40 minutes.

5 minutes later, we found a little door opened and we go to the platform. We wait 30 minutes. The long waited train arrives. I jump in the car. A man is exiting with the hand on his face. I turned back. There was a toxic gas. We run outside the station. Even after 10 minutes, the throat was still hearting.

30 minutes later we try our luck and get the train.
It was a double floor wagon. When our station arrived I got down the stairs. I so a man with a mask on his face, like a gangster, going back the door between the cars. I so him behind the door, staring at me. Even I was very tired I started to act aggressively to impress him. We get off the train. I looked back and the guy was behind. He passed away with his mask. I guess it was the new fashion for that neighborhood for the New Year Night.

Thriller movies make the girls look for a refuge in the boy’s arms. I guess for the same reason the Paris is called the City of Love.