January 4th 2012 04:19 pm
New Year’s Eve in San Remo
Five days later, we were parking the car on the same carpark as we did five days earlier, raring to discover more of the nice things that made San Remo a major tourist destination for centuries, even in the winter!
But first, I shall show you “last-day-of-the-year” images of this gem of the Italian Riviera as we saw it.
I always thought that campsites are closed for the winter especially around Christmas when it is freezing cold to even dream of a tin can existence but look what we found! This campsite is fully booked that they have to put up this sign to deter unbooked campervans from coming in!
Lots of campervans did not end up disappointed however. A hundred meters away, this carpark was transformed into an instant caravan site at no cost at all! A lot of carparks in the town, we noticed, did not charge for parking fees that day!
The owners of this campervan are seasoned travellers. The stickers show that they have been to the Arctic Circle, North Cape (Europe´s northernmost point), Russia, Estonia, to the Dolomites, Italy’s Tuscany, France’s Briancon and more…
We went walking up to the Luna Park where amusement rides and games are set up.
Games like, if you get to shoot those moving plastic ducks, you get to win any of these…cool!
Nearing midnight, more and more New Year’s Eve revellers were coming out in groups, complete with their party hats and festive attires.
A record number of street vendors stood on every corners selling cheap Made in China hats that twinkle or glitter. Hats of strange shapes and forms you can imagine. I even saw one wearing Satan’s horns in pink, probably recycling her Halloween hat!
All cafés were full and remarkably, Black is the colour of the entire population.
Orchestras, stage shows and singing groups were performing in various places. This band was singing Reggae and popular music that had everyone swaying to the beat!
Everybody was dressed up as if the entire country was a big party venue. The streets resembled that of a giant catwalk where the ladies looked so elegant and beautiful. I came to the conclusion that night that Italian women in general, are the best dressers in the planet!
Right in the middle of a busy alley, an instant wine bar was set up where passers-by were queueing up for cocktails.
It rained champagne and wine that night! We saw people drinking straight from the bottle, one each! But no brawling nor drunken stupor-related incidents occurred. What a civilized nation ….
Few minutes before midnight, everyone settled around the port for a good view of the Fireworks display, including me with my tripod all set up for the grand show. This was the moment where I could put on practice what I had been reading the past few days - Fireworks Photography. San Remo is renowned for its annual New Year’s Eve Fireworks Show!
I did it hurray… but not without a bit of disappointment. My position was very low and a lot of objects were blocking my point of view. But there was no time to waste, I simply had to continue snapping…
Check for more fireworks display…
A lot of families were also on the quayside with their bottles of champagne and wineglasses. As soon as the countdown reached zero, they all started kissing each other and made a happy toast for the new year! H and I did the same 
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