Paris:- Friday, 27. December 1996:- Like anywhere else in the world, there are three things you can do on New Year's Eve in Paris: go out, stay home, and stay home alone.

Although I have to admit I have seldom tried 'going out' in Paris, I have 'stayed home' with mixed results, some of them really crummy. From my experience with France in general, I know the French like to have a good time - so, except for danger to your 'portemonnaie,' you can find a good time by 'going out' here too.

Before going, take a look at the items below. And before booking anything, just give a few moment's thought to how you might get back from wherever you go. You don't want to be standing in the middle of the boulevard Saint Germain at 03:25 on 1. January with the temperature at minus six, a howling wind from the east, in the beginning of a raging blizzard - with 583 other people waiting for only one taxi.

The Crillon's 'New Year's Eve Menu'

If you are not a 'dreamer,' do not bother to read what follows in this part. There are some offers at the high-end of the financial spectrum for passing the New Year in Paris. These are - without drinks included - packages which include reception at a hotel with a bottle of champagne and a bunch of flowers to put in the ice bucket. This is followed by dinner and dancing - I imagine for all night - and a double bedroom in the hotel followed by breakfast or brunch. Suites cost more, and suites with a view cost the earth - but life is short, and if you've got it, what's it for?

The Hôtel de Crillon's New Year's Eve program features dinner in either of two restaurants, L'Obélisque or Les Ambassadeurs. The package price per couple is 6,400 francs with L'Obélisque option or 7,500 with Les Ambassadeurs option, including all taxes. The menu for Les Ambasssdeurs is below. All drinks are an extra charge, so I suggest bringing an extra 'gold' card for a reserve.

Le Crillon's 'Les Ambassadeurs' Menu

Each of these courses should be accompanied by its appropriate wine, unless you are sticking to champagne non-stop - but the sommelier will provide assistance with the choices if you want a variety, and the sky's the limit.

If you do the above and you feel like bothering me by writing to say how 'nice' it was, do not bother to mention how good the breakfast was, please.

Going Out in Paris

For the fête of Saint-Sylvestre, there seems to be two basic choices if you feel like going out and having a party with a lot of other people in the mood to party.

Upscale hotels, restaurants - even fairly ordinary ones - have all-inclusive deals that include dinner, festivities and dancing, sometimes until dawn. Other places - bars, cafés, music joints - have simple entry charges, and offer disk-jockeys, live bands and even karaoké, which I believe allows every Elvis in the room to wail away.

You have to know your own taste, your own budget - and take your chances - because this is all unfamiliar to me. Some places include drink with the entry charge, and some offer only a half-bottle of champagne at midnight, and others charge by the drink - but may have an entry that includes one drink, and you pay for the rest. If you fear 'free' booze, pick a place where you pay for each drink - then you have a choice.

I had a special edition of the weekly program magazine 'Pariscope' which I consulted for a couple of readers who specifically asked for New Year's Eve tips - but I've thrown it away. I saved the replies to the readers - but, as I wrote to them, I can not guarantee any of these places. With a few modifications and additions, here is a short 'no-preference' list:

- Xavier Gourmet Saint-Georges, 19. rue Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Paris 9 - Tel. 01 45 26 38 46 - probably near métro Saint-Georges - in Paris-Athénes - Menu 690 francs - 1/2 bottle. Champers and rest of wines included (I think), long menu, cabaret, musicians. I do not know it, but it is in 'honest' part of Paris.

- Taverne de Kronenbourg, 24. bd. des Italiens, Paris 9 - métro Opéra - Tel. 01 47 70 16 64 - this is a big brasserie, charging 780 francs - includes all Champagne, with dancing and games/dancing. I have eaten lunch here and it is a professional place, not a clip-joint.

- L'Oree du Bois, 1. allée de Longchamp, Paris 16 - Tel. 01 40 67 92 50 - close to métro Porte Maillot on the Bois side - costs 995 francs but includes all drinks, has big band, animation - magician - all night and big menu. Wear a tie and your high-heeled red shoes.

- Les Ministeres, 30. rue de Bac, Paris 7 - Tel. 01 42 61 22 37 - métro rue de Bac, and head towards the Seine - 690 francs with wine during meal - disk-jockey music, western Quartier Latin, near Quai d'Orsay museum.

- Hotel Lutetia at 43. bd Raspail, Paris 6 - Tel. 01 49 54 46 31 - métro Sevres-Babylone - seems to have two choices for dinner: one at 460 francs and the other, more formal, at 950 francs. Disk-jockey in their bar afterwards, where a bottle Tattinger is only 350 francs (a very fair price!).

- Chez Jenny, 39. bd du Temple, Paris 3 - Tel. 01 42 74 75 75 - métro Republique or Filles de Calvaire - music - dinner includes half-bottle wine and half Champagne. It is a brasserie, Alsacienne-style.

- Abelard, 1. rue des Grands-Dégres, Paris 5 - métro Saint-Michel or Maubert-Mutualite - near quai Montebello - Tel. 01 43 25 16 46 - menu 600 francs without drinks - mentions only ambiance of Sylvestre without details...

- Rotisserie de l'Abbaye, 22. rue Jacob, Paris 6 - métro Saint-Germain-des-Pres and go down Bonaparte towards Seine - Tel. 01 47 64 46 43. Up front 900 francs includes drinks, spectacle, dinner... but maybe no dancing?

For all of the places mentioned here - and if you are in Paris, you will see plenty of other places advertising Saint-Sylvestre galas - you should make a reservation to be sure of getting in the door.

Places With More Party and Less Dinner

- Bistrot de la Gaite, 20. rue de la Gaité, Paris 14 - métro Gaite - Tel. 01 43 22 86 46 - métro Gaité - mentions menu, mentions 450 francs, mentions music... on street of theatres, including one old Italian one. Marcello M. played often in this street.

- La Coupole, 102. bd. de Montparnasse, Paris 14 - Tel. 01 43 20 14 20 - métro Montparnasse or Vavin - has dance floor! costs only 350 francs from 21:30 to dawn, two drinks included - this is good - eat at the Dôme and finish off at La Coupole. Afterwards - maybe - have breakfast in Le Select - café et calvados - and think it is 1929 instead of what it really is.

- Le New Riverside, 7. rue Gregoire de Tours, Paris 6 - Tel. 01 43 54 46 33 - 200 francs includes two drinks. I think this is a music place.

- Le Rétro Dancing, 23. rue du Faubourg du Temple - Paris 10 - Tel. 01 42 08 54 06 - métro Republique - 200 francs with drink - dance joint, supposedly old-style, with rumba and rap.

- Mustang Café, 84. bd. du Montparnasse - métro Montparnasse - Tel. 01 43 35 36 12 - has 275 franc deal that includes champers at midnight, but I don't know what they'll have for music or dancing - but included here for their '1997' decor on outside of building, at corner of rue du Montparnasse; shown in photo that opens 'Diary' in this issue of Metropole.

- The big famous places with elaborate floor shows such as the Moulin Rouge, Lido or Paradis Latin, all are over 1500 francs, but some include dinner and some champagne, as well as the show - and they all have real dance-bands.

Have a Fun Party at Home

One New Year's Eve, quite a long time ago, we decided to stay home and have one couple come over - as we didn't feel like having a loud riot. We dreamed up a super menu and I took special care in choosing the drink; the 'right' champagne for this and the 'right' wine for that. In mid-afternoon everything was ready and all we had to do was wait.

While waiting, it became apparent that it was getting cold outside - because it was getting cold inside. Around 16:00 ice started to form on the bare branches of the tree opposite our balcony. It got colder.

Cars going up our street - in Meudon this was - started going down, while pointed up. After 17:00 no cars went up the street at all, and the few that came down, came down sideways. Pedestrians went down boom on the sidewalk. The tree outside looked like it was made of solid glass, and was very glittery with the streetlight behind it.

The appointed time arrived but our guests did not. A hour passed, still no guests. Two hours, nothing. Around 21:00, Klaus-Peter phoned from the Champs-Elysées.

He said they had gone to a movie in the afternoon, and when they came out, his car was completely covered in ice and the doors were frozen shut and a hours' attempts to open them were futile. He said he was abandoning his car there and going home by métro.

I don't remember exactly which year that was, but I imagine a lot of people stayed home that New Year's. I don't think the 'going-out' places did well and we certainly had a lot of liquid left-overs. And, no doubt, that is why Bastille Day is in July, instead of the middle of winter.