New Year at Eiffel Tower

Here it is the first photo of us in Paris. It was pretty much freezing outside, but Andy and Lindsey had made up a thermos of mulled wine to keep our faces warm. Our fireworks display is way better, but I guess when you have the Eiffel Tower all lit up and sparkling, you can get away with chintzing on some things.
After checking the tower, we went to a party at a friend of Andy's and had some awesome eats, including about 8 different kinds of cheese and roasted chestnuts, which at first we weren't sure whether they might be liver or kidneys or some other fancy French something. Roasted chestnuts are surprisingly meaty and pretty good once you realize you aren't eating what used to be swollen duck liver.
Speaking of which, we did try the next day at another party, this time in a small private basement completely covered in Prohibition Era posters and comics. (Fois gras is also tastier than I would have thought, but I can't really get past the force feeding part enough to enjoy). Our host was and older French gentleman, extremely nice and with an accent so thick I could barely understand him. Again, more cheese than you could shake at, and anything you could want to drink, all gratis. The jazz music was live and amazing... three pianos, at one point being played by 5 people all at once. Include a tap dancer, trumpet player, clarinet and sax. Super cool, and usually I am not even a fan of live music.