New Year's Eve

There were lots of fireworks in Italy for New Year's Eve. We started off our night by walking around Lucca and going ice skating for a half an hour. The four of us all skated and the ice was little too slippery for my taste. I had a fun time skating and I liked that I'm getting better at skating because we've been practicing a lot.

On the way home after skating, we asked some people to use their lighter for our sparklers. It was really funny because we got two packets. One said age 14+ and one said 4+. Ashley and I tried out the 4+ and Mom and Dad tried out the 14+, but it turned out that the younger age ones weren't any different than the older age ones!

After that we came home and Ashley made stove-warmed-up Nutella fondue for a little snack. It's like fondue, but since we don't have a microwave here, Ashely heated it up on the stove. We dipped breadsticks and apple slices in the Nutella. It was really yummy!

We also put up a bunch of streamers all over the house (trashed upstairs)!

Closer and closer to midnight, we went out to the wall and we saw lots and lots of fireworks while the new year struck. We also popped party poppers at midnight.

(If you're looking on a mobile device, there is a video of some of the fireworks here that may not play for you. Try looking on a computer.)

After that we walked to one of the piazzas and people were lighting off big fireworks and lanterns. The lanterns looked like floating candles with a sack over them, but when they were in the air they looked spectacular. If you've seen the movie Tangled they're like the lanterns that the king and queen set off.

(This is a video of the candle lantern. Again, try a browser on a computer if it's not showing on your mobile device.)

They were playing music and there was a gigantic crowd (but not as many people as Time's Square)! We watched the fireworks and lanterns for awhile and danced a little bit. When we were all getting tired, we decided it was time to go home.

New Year's Eve in Italy was very different and fun!