NY in NY

I know this should have been up long time back, but due to hectic pace of life currently going on with so many happenings, it feels that its better late than never. On the 26th new year eve of my life (of course I have no recollections of a quite a lot of the earlier ones), I found myself thanks to the convincing and planning skills of my friends, in the big apple to celebrate the new year eve at Times Square, New York.

The plan was simple, just go to NYC and soak in the atmosphere, move around in Manhattan and then hopefully, crowds permitting see the famous ball drop at Times Square. Then just hang around till day break before doing some sight seeing in Manhattan. But then, things that look simple at first never turn out to be that simple.

I will never forget the image that I got of New York when I got off the megabus just off Penn station. Being from Mumbai, I sort of like the feeling of seeing crowded streets in New York as it brings a familiar feeling. But this was something else. I am sure the population of the borough of Manhattan must have increased by a significant percentage that day. Contacted my friends and found out that they were at an Indian restaurant on 39th Street. As I was walking towards 39th Street, I could see the rush that had developed for the ball drop. And it was only 7pm, another five hours to go for the event. I could only imagine the crowds that would be there at midnight.

After meeting up with friends, some of whom I was meeting after years, we decided to head down south to Brooklyn Bridge. Standing halfway on the Brooklyn Bridge brings to your notice two things about New York. First is the color of the night sky. Its not black, but orange due to the high amount of lights that are on through the night. The second thing is the hectic pace of life on the roads that spread out connecting Manhattan with Queens and Brooklyn. And then of course, as you look towards mid Manhattan, the Empire State Building, in all its glory rises above the skyline. Seeing the Empire State Building stand out in the skyline, I can only think about how spectacular the twin towers would have looked and how Freedom tower will look once its completed. After absorbing the sights for an hour, we head back to central Manhattan.

So we are trying our best to get into Times Square and it says a lot about the crowds for this event that despite our best attempts, we can only get till as close as 38th street. And people tell us that for entering at that late hour, we are pretty lucky to have reached this close. And as the countdown begins, the frenzy just goes up. As the clock strikes midnight, people start celebrating. Strangers who dont know each other at all and might never meet again are wishing each other Happy New Year.

Once the excitement goes down and crowds leave, we head and finally few hours after midnight, we have reached Mount Times Square. Thanks to the snowstorm the previous week, there are literally hills of dirty snow around for it to be officially called Mount Times Square. The next few hours are spent chatting over coffee and sandwich at the very famous McDonalds located in center of Times Square.

In the morning, we head up the Empire State Building and get a fantastic cool winter morning view of New York City. As the sun shines over the East river, the thing that stands out the most for me are the various bridges in New York. Up close, the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges are shining gloriously while at a distance, the Verrazano's Narrows bridge and George Washington Bridge are doing their daily work of transporting vehicles in and out of New York. After an hour atop the Empire State Building, I start my return journey back to Philadelphia and end what was a memorable NYE in NYC...