Now THIS is a city that parties
When people told me the Buenos Aires New Year's Eve celebration was something special, I just shrugged. I was considering going to bed early. But then I agreed to have dinner at Sottovoce in Recoleta, with some of the wedding party who are still around.
Dinner etc. will cost around $100, which includes almost everything.
What it doesn't include, and this is what fascinates me about New Year's Eve in Buenos Aires, is any way to get to the restaurant. ...
The front desk of my hotel explained that after 6 p.m. or so it's very difficult to get a taxi, and by 10 p.m., impossible. (Our reservations are for 9 p.m.) They simply stop running so the drivers can celebrate.
When do they start again? I asked, and was told not until 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. or maybe 6 a.m. I'm not sure I would want to get into a taxi after the driver had been partying that hard all night.
Everyone celebrates New Year's here, by staying up all night apparently, and I'm anxious to see what that involves. I asked the concierge what happens if you want to go to a bar after dinner, and she made the little walking gesture with her fingers. I guess that's what I'll be doing after dinner. Luckily the restaurant is only 10 or 12 blocks away from the hotel.
The weekend started last evening, when things began shutting down, and today almost nothing was open, including a lot of bars and restaurants that aren't having special events. The streets were deserted.
I never thought I'd get excited about a New Year's Eve. After all, I didn't stay up for the turn of the millennium. But I am.
Comments
In Elizabeth's honor, I'm going to celebrate the arrival of the New Year on Buenos Aires time.
Posted by: Bucky | December 31, 2008 4:25 PM
Party On EL!
Feliz Ano Nuevo!
(yeah, I know the little n should have a tilde over it, but I don't know how to do it with this software.)
Myself, I'm staying in this evening. I have an early tee time and don't want to be hating life with a pounding head.
Posted by: PCB Rob | December 31, 2008 5:50 PM
Ok, at midnight (B A time) I pulled up a webcam at Corrientes & Esmerelda...uh, Avenues, I think.
It wasn't Times Square, by any means.
I'm off to find a web cam of the Inner Harbor as a back-up plan. If that doesn't work, well, I think the New Year will arrive whether I'm up to welcome it or not.
Posted by: Bucky | December 31, 2008 9:07 PM
Bucky, the fireworks that were supposed to go at midnight have been postponed until tomorrow at 7 EST. They are still doing all the other stuff tonight, whatever that is.
Posted by: Lissa | December 31, 2008 10:13 PM
Thanks for the heads-up, Lissa. I did find an Inner Harbor webcam that I thought would have a good view of fireworks. But, of course, without fireworks, all I see is the water with buildings in the background. Probably just like any other night.
Oh, well...I tried.
Happy 2009 to all in the Sandbox.
Posted by: Bucky | December 31, 2008 11:31 PM
Happy 2009 to you, too, Bucky--and all the visitors to this community.
Now, can someone please think of diplomatic way to get Dick Clark to hang it up? We were channel surfing near midnight, and he was really sad and scary.
Posted by: Dahlink | January 1, 2009 8:02 AM
A lotta' years ago, I asked a free-wheeling friend what he was doing to celebrate the New Year. "Staying home," he said. "New Year's Eve is for the amatuer drunks." Good advice. My idea of a rip-roaring New Year's Eve is a flagon of something with bubbles that doesn't pay the French national debt and a losing attempt to stay awake til the Times Square ball drops. But after reading our roving leader's recent posts, in Buenos Aires I'd probably succumb and pull my first all-nighter since college days.
Posted by: Michael A Gray | January 1, 2009 8:29 AM
Now, can someone please think of diplomatic way to get Dick Clark to hang it up? We were channel surfing near midnight, and he was really sad and scary.
But it's not his fault that someone found his picture in the attic...
Posted by: Rosebud | January 1, 2009 9:07 AM
MAG - go west, young man. The Times Square ball drops at 10:00 here and all the local stations open the newscast with it.
(In Hawai'i the Times Square ball drops at 7:00, and that gets the party started.)
Posted by: Bucky | January 1, 2009 9:40 AM
Right you are, Bucky. Actually, I lived for several years in Santa Monica, CA where the ball dropped at nine -- after which I could hit the sack whenever I got drowsy. Sometimes as much as an hour later. Another advantage was that Monday night football started at 5:30 PM. No problem staying up to watch the whole game. Presumably, whether we're early birds or night owls depends on our biorhythmic clocks. And once set by nature, they aren't easy to change. As long as I can remember, no matter when I went to sleep, I was up at the crack of dawn. Which didn't contribute much to being a party animal.
Posted by: Michael A. Gray | January 1, 2009 11:34 AM
MAG - one of my more memorable New Year's was on the Santa Monica Pier, but that was years ago, when 10:00 came only once a day and it wasn't bathed in sunshine.
Posted by: Bucky | January 1, 2009 1:09 PM
Sister Rosebud--I had exactly the same thought! It's scary how often we think alike.
Posted by: Dahlink | January 1, 2009 1:23 PM
Bucky wrote: "MAG - one of my more memorable New Year's was on the Santa Monica Pier, but that was years ago, when 10:00 came only once a day and it wasn't bathed in sunshine."
How true. When I was in college I was told that there was a 7:00 in the morning also, but I never saw it.
One time I watched Otto Preminger make a movie on the Santa Monica Pier. I think it was "Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon." Does that date me because I was there on a business trip?
Posted by: Retired in Elkridge | January 1, 2009 5:38 PM
Now, can someone please think of diplomatic way to get Dick Clark to hang it up?
I'm trying
Posted by: Grim Reaper | January 1, 2009 6:26 PM