New Years Eve Celebrations will be held around the world today and tonight. Some will range from the sublime to ostentatious. Here is a wrap up of a few.

Sydney – 

Hundreds of thousands of revellers along Australia’s eastern seaboard have welcomed 2006 at spectacular fireworks displays.

In Sydney, three thousand kilos of fireworks exploded from six main locations lighting up the sky to celebrate the New Year.

Hundreds of thousands of revellers, many of them tourists, packed vantage points around Sydney Harbour to see the pyrotechnics display, considered one of the most spectacular new years eve celebrations in the world.

A beating red heart adorns the bridge, and earlier Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the theme of the celebration was one of tolerance and compassion. Via ABCOfficial Web Site

Tokyo

 The biggest holiday in Japan is unquestionably New Year’s. It’s the time that most Japanese perform their annual Shinto duties - visiting temples and briefly acknowledging the spiritual/cultural history traditions. Speciality foods are prepared, some whip out their fancy traditional garb; millions converge on temples and thousands of small shops open up on the streets to sell New Year’s goods to those passing by.

London – Celebrates with a huge  display on  a midnight fireworks display at the London Eye wheel on the south bank of the River Thames. There is also Parade through starting at Parliament Square at Midday that is famous.

 Hundreds of thousands of London New Year’s Eve revellers faced transport chaos on Saturday as underground rail station staff prepared to strike on one of the busiest nights of the year.

The 24-hour strike, beginning at midday, will undermine a planned free underground service which had been due to run from 11.45 p.m.

Transport officials said they hoped to be able to provide some service on all underground lines but advised passengers to plan alternative routes home.

New York – No other city does New Years as well as New York City with it’s Ball Drop on Time Square. Then the city has over 120 parties around the city to welcome in the New Year.  And do not forget Dick Clark,  who will be broadcasting to the world from Times Square and counting in the New  Year.

The ball is made from 500 Waterford crystals and illuminated by 600 bulbs. It’s about six feet in diameter and weights 1,000 pounds. The world waits for the ball to descend a 77-foot pole during the final minute of the year, which of course, will be counted down by the unofficial mayor of Times Square, Dick Clark.

Clark missed last year’s celebration after suffering a stroke. His co-host this year, Ryan Seacrest, remembers watching him as a child

“New Year’s Eve is all about Dick Clark and his show,” said Seacrest, the host of “American Idol.” “It always has been. He’s obviously been recovering, and he wasn’t with us last year on the show. But he’s going to be back, and he’s giddy about it, and he’s excited about it.”

Las Vegas –  Working to turn their city into the second largest New Years Eve Party in the country, Las Vegas has many new ideas planned.

Celebrations will range from high brow to accessible.

Wynn Las Vegas, the Strip’s newest luxury hotel, will celebrate the opening of Tryst, a nightclub with its own 90-foot waterfall and secluded lagoon. For $2,000, clubgoers get a VIP table for up to 10 people and a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne. Non-VIPs will pay a cover charge of $100 for women and $150 for men, about five times the standard fee.

At Caesars Palace, the nightclub Pure is promising to deliver celebrity clubgirl Nicky Hilton and her boyfriend Kevin Connolly, the star of HBO’s Entourage. Kid Rock is scheduled to appear at the opening of Jet, the Bellagio hotel-casino’s latest club.

At the Fremont Street Experience downtown, $40 will get partygoers a ticket to see the ’90s pop groups The Gin Blossoms and Cheap Trick, and a commemorative plastic wineglass filled with 2004 Beaulieu Vineyard Chardonnay.

The Napa winery supplied 200 cases of the wine for the big toast, which must see more than 10,081 people drink in unison to seize the “world’s largest” title from a Japanese sake maker, winery spokeswoman Pip Jones said.

They will also have a Grucci fireworks display, with “

With 40,000 devices, 10 rooftop launching pads and 75 pyrotechnicians coordinating the explosions, the Las Vegas show will be five times as big as the one Grucci produces in New York’s Times Square. .

So where ever you celebrate the New Year, have a great and safe time.

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