New Year's Eve in Times Square!

30.12.2008

Today is the big day! New Year's Eve in Times Square! I have been dreaming of this since I was a little girl, dressed up in pyjamas and dancing around with plastic Hawaiian leis in my aunt's basement. Haha! Yeah, I know you remember that mom. We wake up late, and mom asks at the desk where we can go for a cheap breakfast. They send us to "Au Bon Gout" and it is DISGUSTING. I had no idea it was possible to have SOGGY hash browns. My eggs and hashbrowns come in a tin foil container and they FORGET to get me toast. Ugh. Anyway, it's better than nothing, so we scarf it down and go straight to the State Island Ferry for a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. That's pretty fun, I've done it probably three times before, and it's definitely the same. The circumstances around the ferry have changed, like the loading dock is WAY less dingy and you can't just stay on the ferry and come back to Manhattan anymore, you have to get off and get on some other boat now. Anyway, after that, we go on down to Ground Zero, look at an old famous church (Trinity something or other) and before we know it, it's time to go back to the hotel room to get ready for tonight.

With our prior research done, we know that we can't bring any backpacks or liquor, and that there will be LOTS of police around everywhere checking all the time. We know we have to go EARLY, so we go for dinner at B.B. King's restaurant (which is TERRIBLE) as well. It was just a bad food day. Our waiter brought us COLD pulled pork sandwiches, so we sent them back. Apparently, Keith's ribs were gross too. Oh and it was also overpriced, since then, I have heard you're not supposed to go there unless you are there for the show or the drinks.

We wait around the restaurant where it is warm, and then we go outside, and walk in the direction of what we think is Times Square. There are times when it's good to have a plan. This is one of those times. We end up on the opposite side, in the back of the actually ball-dropping place. We can see the bright shiny ball, but we can't hear anything. Basically, it sucks. So we leave and go looking for another entrance. Around and around we go, freezing and looking for a random opening.

A common misconception (at least to me) about New Year's in Times Square, is that you can just wander around the area until it's midnight, watching shows and generally bumping into all kinds of random people. Nuh uh, not the case. What happens is, the police put barricades up in what seems like a random fashion. Then, they open these barricades up in an equally random fashion. What you have to do is walk up and down 8th and 6th streets until you come across a barricade that is open. When you find one, you go in, and then you are locked in there for the rest of the night, whether you have to pee or not.

Anyway, basically what my New Year's consisted of, is waiting around, freezing, singing songs and basically being bored until the big countdown. Then, I didn't see any actual ball dropping, because everyone (including me) had their cameras up to catch the "magic event". My batteries died and I never got a video, can you believe it?

Anyway, after the anti-climactic event, we slowly walk home and stop at a random cafe along the way. I have some of the best hot chocolate I've ever had in my life, try and warm my toes up and go back to the room to bed.

On the subway