I don't remember previous New Years in Italy. Only one in Paris on the Champs-Elysées where some drunk French guy ran up to me and wanted to kiss me on the lips and we ended up on the pavement with my elbow in his face and his arm around my waist.
We weren't feeling all that festive last night especially in the wake of the Tsunami, so Dave and I stayed in and chilled a bottle of spumante (Italian sparkling wine) that I picked up on the way home.
Once midnight struck, all hell literally broke loose. People were screaming, whistling, and singing while fireworks and firecrackers went off all around. We could hear them as if they were in our living room. Normally we can't hear anything from inside of our apartment with all the doors and windows shut, so we knew it must be loud outside.
We stood out on the terrace and it felt like we were in a stadium. It was the most unbelievable thing we'd ever experienced. My friends warned me not to go outside or walk around downtown because of the fireworks/firecrackers and now I understood as we stood on the terrace and heard things fall on the roof behind our apartment.
I got sleepy from the spumante (I only had one glass) and went to bed at around 2AM, but the noise continued. Dave stayed up and didn't come to bed until 4AM and told me this morning that people were still up and making as much noise as they were at midnight.
Well...here's to the new year...and hopefully it's a good one! But aren't they all?
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