On February 17, 2002 Marti and I went to the annual
Chinese New Year celebration in the 13th arrondissement.
We had a pho lunch at the Caravelle Vietnamese
restaurant on Avenue Choisy, the street where the
marchers would be processing.
Just before the parade began, we hit the street . . .
and I discovered that my camera batteries had failed.
We dashed into various Asian gift shops along the
parade route before we finally located a tabac
that had AAAs. Soon the festivities were underway.
Giant strings of firecrackers exploded in side streets and
in the trees above the crowd. Most of the kids loved them,
but many sensitive adults covered their ears and cringed.
The highlight of the afternoon was the colorful
Chinese New Year parade . . .
Click on the right arrow to see images of the parade.
