New Year's Eve Celebration!!!

Guys had to avoid flying sparklers as they danced on the poles in the middle of the Square.
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Since all the roads leading into Taksim Square were blocked off, we got a cab halfway and walked up a very steep hill.  There were people everywhere.  Some were dancing, some were just walking and taking it all in, and of course there were the few that are always trying to sell you something.  We were offered a twelve-pack of tissues, which I thought was kind of weird for New Year's.

Techno music blasted through the square into all the little side streets - it was an assault on the ears that you just couldn't escape.

Ah, the fireworks.
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We had dinner at a restaurant on the square so we could watch the festivities before diving in ourselves.  Really, we just saw waves of people rolling around, and sparklers flying across their heads.

Eventually we entered the mob.  It was really just a bunch of Turks having a good time.  I noticed that I was one of the few girls in the crowd, and we were probably the only non-smokers.  But the music was loud and the people were happy, so we danced to crazy adaptations of American music and some Turkish stuff that everyone else sang along with.  I kept watching out for the sparklers that people threw around - because you know, what comes up must go down, and I didn't want to smell my hair burning.  A couple landed at my feet and that was it.

One of the streets on the Square.
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About 15 minutes before the New Year, all the local politicians came on the stage and gave speeches, which was just as interesting as the countdown to 2006, since we don't speak the language and didn't know the numbers.  But we couldn't imagine anyone other than a pop idol going on stage in Times Square.  Of course, there were other differences between Times Square and Taksim Square too: mainly, there were very few drunks (as opposed to everyone) and lots of families there, partying away.

Guys would climb these poles, then try to dance around, avoiding the sparklers that everyone threw at such easy targets.
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Midnight finally came, and we were rewarded with even louder techno and some pretty great fireworks, which are one of my favorite things (the fireworks, not the techno).  We kept dancing for a while, but the cold finally got to me and we headed home.