New Year’s Day in Times Square, the first day of 2011, had
the streets filled with tourists excited about being in Times Square. Some were
reliving the night previous, remembering standing in crowds for hours waiting
for that ultimate countdown they’ve been looking forward to for so long. Others
were less lucky and didn’t manage to get in a queue in time to experience Times
Square on New Year’s Eve. They were now down there getting a glimpse of the
ball, imagining what it would have been like to do the countdown.
I spent the day with my camera walking around enjoying the crowds
– crowds that felt much less crowded to me by then after my experience the
night before. I got some good pictures with my fisheye lens, and enjoyed
walking around reminiscing about the night before like so many other tourists.
2010 had been a fantastic year for me, and this had been a great way to send it
off. Another once in a lifetime experience checked off!
Another thing we wanted to do while we were in New York was
skate at Rockefeller Square. There is a line up, of course, but by then we were
veterans at waiting. And even better: at least this line moved every so often!
Plus there was a wedding proposal that happened on the ice right in front of
us, and plenty of really novice skaters on the rink to amuse ourselves watching.
The ice was terrible, to be honest. It was skated-out
something fierce. It was coming up to a Zamboni run, so needless to say it had plenty
of ruts and lots of snow scrapped up out of the ice. Almost everyone on the
rink was someone who couldn’t skate. There were a lot of hard falls and a lot
of exhausted people, but everyone was enjoying their skate as much as we were.
Despite the conditions and the crowds of novice skaters that provided a
difficult obstacle course to navigate at times, it was still one of those fun
experiences that we could enjoy before checking it off as something we’ve done.
Once the Zamboni came out, we were ready to move on. After a
great skate, it was time to drop our skates off so we could go get dinner,
followed by some drinks. We went to an Italian place for dinner, Il Cantinori
in Greenwich Village. It was delicious! Thank goodness we were able to walk in
without a reservation and snag one of the last tables for New Year’s Day
dinner. They had live jazz that provided the perfect atmosphere to enjoy a delightful
meal, and the perfect way to wind down the first day of 2011.
Another time visiting NYC I discovered McSorley’s Old Ale
House – one of the oldest bars in America. A popular spot for NYU students and
locals alike, we joined in to have a couple glasses of brew. The beer is pretty
good, always served in two glasses because they’re too busy to wait for the
foam to fill any one glass I suppose. Toasting a frosty beer at McSorley’s is a
great way to wind down a fun-filled visit to New York. Cheers!
