New Year's Eve in Times Square

On New Year's Eve I was convinced by Harry that the thing to do was to go to Times Square. Everyone should do it at least once. Josh and Harry were going to meet me at work at 7, then we were to make our way as close as possible. Which we knew wouldn't be too close since most people leave in the late morning or early afternoon to get a good spot. About 4pm Josh came up to visit me at work and said he wouldn't be joining us. And who can blame him? With the windchill factor it was about 1 degree outside!

So we started walking from M's, which is about 8 blocks away. The police department (hats off to NYPD's finest--every cop was nice and answered everyone's questions!)had so many streets blocked off, they diverted us many, many blocks out of the way. We followed an incredible mass of people until we got to Central Park and arrived at our first 'block.' (Actually a corral in the middle of a block filled with people, what you would imagine they do with cows in the west.) They kept filtering us through these blocks, maybe three or four, until we got to the closest spot: for us that was 7th Ave and 55th Street. There were checkpoints at each of these 'blocks' where they used hand sensors (is that what they are called? the things they use at airports to make sure you don't have a weapon?) and did bag checks, etc. So it was very safe.

There we waited for the ball to drop, which we had a great view of, it was just very small. We were too far to hear any of the music or get hit with confetti at midnight. But it was cool to see. One thing that really surprised me was that I didn't see any drunk people. There was one obnoxious person, but no one who was out of hand.

Joshua had decided to stay at his hotel just two blocks away from us. We tried after midnight to get to him, but the way the streets were blocked, there was no access. So, my son flies three states away to see me, and I can't get two blocks to meet him! After trying a bit, we headed with the rest of the herd to the train station and made our way back home. All in all a memorable event!