New Years Eve

Christina and I celebrated New Years Eve in Edmonton together for 2011.

We started with a nice home cooked meal of lobster tails and shrimp pasta.

After eating we got all dressed up for a big night out at a masquerade ball at the Matrix Hotel a few blocks away.  We arrived pretty early - 9ish - to mix and mingle with the other revellers for the night. We had high hopes for the event and were dressed to the nines.

We were greeted by some lovely ticket takers and led to the side area to select a mask. 

 There was some pretty cool ones available and I think Chrissy and I got the best of the bunch.

The Cat that Wore the Canary and the Rosebush Phantom out on the town.

Unfortunately, the masks were the only highpoint of the event. They ran out of appetizers around 10pm before we could get any, the line-ups for booze were way too long, the staff was indifferent to doing their jobs and the crowd wasn't really very sociable. We were genuinely disappointed but couldn't complain too loudly as the whole purpose of the event was to fundraise for Oxfam. We donned our caps and jackets and headed back to my place to change and hit the downtown.

After a quick change and some bundling up we headed out once again. This time towards City Hall and the first night of Metropolis. Churchill Square was really hopping (the Edm Journal said 25,000 people) and we entered the crowds to hit the temporary pavilions set up.

 We were excited to discover what was inside of each of the covered buildings and we queued up politely with the rest of the citizenry. Eventually we reached the entry to the first large tent and found....local artists showing their paintings. Now, I am a fan of local art and local painters but it was severely underwhelming. Most people that were lined up simply walked through the middle of the tent and out the other side. We walked through and looked at everyones wares, but it didn't seem like the best place or time. As we walked out by the lineups of people waiting to get in I heard them speculating on what was inside: A live band, dancers, beer. Boy where they going to be disappointed.  Eventually, we did find a band and where treated to the groan worthy question "Who rode public transit here?....Did you take the #5? The #12? The #3? The LRT?" They then broke into Fool In The Rain by Led Zeppelin. I winced and led Chrissy away from the area to City Hall.

City Hall looked fantastic, unfortunately we just missed the in-house band and by the time we reached the 3rd floor to enjoy the view we were told to vacate it.

We headed outside to find a spot for the fireworks but the pavilions set up for Metropolis obscured a lot of site lines. We were lucky enough to find a spot near the beer tent (which was not set-up for the night...Boo!) and get an ok view - or at least a lot better than most other people. 

Seemingly from reading this blog I had a horrible time. Although each event held nothing but disappointment I had a great time. 

We had a nice meal, the weather was nice, I got to gawk at Chrissy in her fancy dress, and everybody around us was in a positive mood. New Years Eve never match's expectations, but it didn't matter as my company for the night exceeded it.