So last July, a friend of mine called and said he had hotel rooms in NYC for New Years, and that he was collecting a group. A dozen of us met up to hang out in Times Square for the big event -- what an adventure!
Or so we thought, anyway. Here's some facts:
1 - Police shut down TS at about noon. Little pens, 50 or so feet on a side set up all down the street. If you ask nicely, you can still get into a pen by 3:30, but I'm not sure that they didn't less us in simply because we had sailors in uniform in our group.
2 - There is nothing in the pens except people, and whatever you've brought with you. Mind you that backpacks are officially verboten per the security regulations, so what you bring with you is extremely limited. There's no vendors -- no food, no drink, nothing -- and no restrooms.
3 - It's cold, on a phenomenal scale. I'm a skier from way back, and I've spent quite a bit of time in sub-zero temps. But if you're just standing around in sub-zero (wind-chill) for 12 hours, it's going to suck pretty bad.
So by about 5:30, my wife was freezing her ketushka off, so I directed a tactical withdrawal to the nearest Irish Pub, about a block away, outside the police barricades. The rest of the group was disappointed, but, like Napoleon's troops in Russia, I had to admit that we were poorly prepared for the weather (inadequate alcohol was definitely a problem!) and that we must depart.
We closed out our bar tab by 8, but my wife (who is more of a drinker than I am) was still drunk enough by 11 to be standing on a table singing La Marseillaise. Not that I'm complaining, of course, people were buying me drinks for her singing!
So lesson learned: do New Years somewhere warm. Like Rio, or Vegas, or something. But not New York!
Cheers, and a slightly hung-over Happy New Year to all!
Dan