New Years Eve in London

I'm impressed with ourselves - we had a fabulous New Years Eve, even though we planned it barely 24 hours in advance and we missed the fireworks. We had a fixed price meal at Absolute Thai just down the road from Leicester Sqaure (and therefore in the heart of the tourist zone and the where the roads are blocked off to traffic on New Year Eve. In fact, here is a google map of where we ate). The meal came with our choice of soup and dessert and for the main course, we got a sampling of 5 dishes, and there was so much food! We were there for an unhurried 3 hours enjoying the food, wine, and company and then realized at 11:30pm that we better get going if we are going to get a spot near the river to see the fireworks.

This is where the fun really began. We were swept into a sea of people as we neared the river, although walking parallel to it on the Strand. We were basically following the crowd, and the street was filled with people, mostly walking the same direction. After about 10 minutes, more and more people were walking the 'wrong' way, and before we knew it, we were in a human gridlock of people. None of us have ever been in such a crowd, even riding the tube and going to gigs. The four of us linked arms so we wouldn't lose each other, and even once we decided to turn around with the crowd, there was no hope of making it to the river. The side streets were mostly blocked by police lines, and there was no chance of making it anywhere fast. We didn't do the countdown ourselves, but joined in with the mass of cheering at midnight standing in the middle of the street on the Strand.

We finally made it down this side street about 10 minutes after midnight where we popped open our bottle of champagne and breathed a sigh of relief to have escaped the primary crowd. Around 12:30am we decided to head home, another adventure. We waited outside the Charing Cross tube stop, surrounded by police lines and attempts at crowd control. Eventually they let us through and we were on our way and home by 1am! More pictures are up on smugmug. Happy New Year!!!