... and 2018 arrived!

Yes, we were a few hundred thousand on the Champs Elysées waiting for 2018 to arrive. A lot of security…. No bottles allowed – the champagne had to be taken before or after. I was not allowed on the platform for some better overview pictures, like some more professional photographers, and I didn’t bring a drone… so I stole a picture on the net. 

The count-down started at 23:20 with a new image on the Arch of Triumph every minute…

… until 23:40, when a “son-et-lumière” started. There were tens and tens of illustrations and a lot of sound. 

My camera had sometimes difficulties to know whether to concentrate on the Arch of Triumph or on the smartphone on a stick. 

We were now and then reminded about the hour and minutes… 

… and then suddenly, it was 2018… and some rather modest three minutes of fireworks. 

(Surprisingly, there are no fireworks around the Eiffel Tower December 31 - only July 14. There was an exception when the year 2000 arrived.)