Paris, January 31, 1999
Partying at the End of History, and I didn't even know it.
Paris, New Years Eve 1999. I was there and experienced the whole thing live.
Everyone was in the streets, walking towards the tower, open bottles of Champagne, laughing, hugging, making out, shouting ‘bonne année!’ I was 28 and I remember thinking ‘This is something I’m going to tell my grandkids about.’ I had landed in Munich just under two months prior. I was still on a tourist visa and had no idea if I was going to stay or go.
What I can only understand in retrospect and with the passing of time, is how much optimism permeated everything. It was The End of History, though I had no familiarity with the phrase at the time. I had a job doing internet stuff at a time when it was brand new, cutting edge and full of hope. It was the beginning of my time as a European.
It was The Before Times. Before 9/11, before Bush and Iraq, Enron, smart phones, social media.
Nostalgia can be a seductive liar, but still, it kind of breaks my heart to watch this now.
