New Years!

Well hello there! I didn't end up getting the chance to write last night, so I will do it now. It really has been a long while since I last wrote, and so much has gone on. Last time, I still had one night to go in Oxford. Now, New Years has gone bye, a few more days in London, and several in Switzerland!

The remainder of my time in Oxford was fairly un-exciting, although it was lovely. At about noon I said goodbye to the people I had met in the hostel, and hopped on the bus back to London. It is so nice that between those cities, there are tons and tons of busses. Just the one company I went with has about six departures an hour all day, and two or three an hour through the night.

Now the day I arrived back in London was the 31st. The day before new years. By the time I got there, there were crowd control barriers going up all over central London, and there were already road closures. All of these in preparation for the fireworks show at midnight. And oh what a show it was, but more on that later. 

I had a nap in the late afternoon, around six or so, and when I woke up I looked at my clock and saw that it was 9:30! I jumped up and grabbed all the stuff I was taking to the fireworks and quickly made my way towards the Thames. It was wall to wall people on the street overlooking the Thames opposite the London Eye. It was quite a scene.

That was the view in each direction from about opposite the London Eye. Then I looked at my clock again. Turns out that I had misread it and it had only said 7:30, and it was now only eight. I had hours and hours to wait. I passed the first one or two of them by walking around and taking pictures. Here are some of those pictures.

By the time I took the last picture there it was still only about quarter after nine, but it was really starting to fill up even at the spot I took the last photo from. I wanted a spot that was not super crowded and near to an exit from the viewing area. I decided to stay there. For a little while I sat against the fence chatting to one of the many London Events people. At about two hours to go, some people parked themselves beside me, and we chatted most of the way to midnight.

The crowd was actually really good natured. The last picture shows the big spotlight just before the fireworks began. Then they began.

That is a little taste of the fireworks. They lasted for a full 15 minutes, and were absolutely incredible. I headed back to the hostel at Piccadilly Circus pretty quickly afterwards. It was amazing to see all the street absolutely covered in all directions with people. So different from any new years I have ever had before.

I suppose that is enough for one post. I will continue catching up later.