La Vida Loca begins...

NYC Adventure: Part 1

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all partied hard this past weekend. I sure did. And as I promised some of you, I will write about my adventure, even though I don't feel like it because I am sick. See guys, I'm nice. j/k

My New Year's celebration begin on Thursday December 30th when Sabrina and CJ came over to spend the night. We were to leave at 4:30 am to catch a bus to New York City. I only got one hour of sleep that night while CJ decided to stay up all night. At least she (and everyone but me) got some sleep on the way there.

Our bus departed at 5:30 am from Laval. Even so, we got to U.S at 10:30 am, after being tied for 2.5 hours at the customs. I almost had a heart attack when the officer got suspicous of me and asked me to follow her inside because the photo on my 5 year-old passport doesn't look like me- it's this hidious picture of me with bangs and black hair. I'm now a redhead with no bangs, plus I was wearing my glasses. Even worse, when I was asked to show another piece of I.D, I realized that I forgot my wallet at home. My last bad omen of 2004. Good thing I had extra cash on me.

It was long bus ride. We spent it sleeping (or trying to) and staring at Samir. Needless to say, we arrived at our four star Crown Plaza hotel in New Jersey a bit late- around 4:15, meaning we only had 45 minutes to get ready to leave for Times Square. The first thing I noticed when we got there was there there was no snow at all. The hotel was practically right next the New Jersey-New York Tunnel, so it only took about ten minutes to get there.

After listening to our tour guide tell us what to expect at Times Square, we decided that it sort of sounded like a pain- 500,000 people, tight security, no bathrooms (well, we could go into the Dunkin Doughnuts and pay $5 to pee). Thus, we decided that we would spend our new year's eve at Tavern on the Green, a popular dinining venue in on 67th street in Central Park that features a lantern-lit garden and music. After wandering around for awhile, we finally found the Tavern ourselves- we asked a police officer for directions, but he didn't know where it was...it turned out we were right next to it.

At the front of the brightly-lit Tavern, a man in a long black coat and black top hat (think Uncle Scrooge like) stands at the gate and greets all the party goers. He opens the doors for people who pass by in their cars. It's all very nice, until we find out that only those who have payed $100 for reservation can get in.

What to do now? We made our way back to the city and went to 9th Avenue (away from the big crowd) to get something to eat. We finally settled for Saigon Fun, a cozy Vietnamese restaurant where we got to have a good, inexpensive meal, and use the bathroom for free before heading back out to party city.

We walked all the way back to Times Square and had to follow this massive mosh pit-like line of traffic in order to try to make our way to one of the viewing areas. After actually being able to get on-site and having security check our bags, we found ourselves wwwwwwwwaaaaaayyyyyy far from the main stage. It was so crowded that we couldn't really get anywhere.

So we decided to wander aound downtown a bit more. Everywhere we went was crowded, but not as clamped as in Times Square. There were really long lineups outside of all bars and clubs. We walked for blocks and blocks trying to find somewhere to go, with no luck. I'm glad it was nice out, or I would have given up. Finally, we just went back to Times Square and found a spot to sit down on one of the streets that had no view of the ball. We didn't even know that it was new year's until we saw the giant Times Square confetti comming our way (yes, they are really giant, bout 2x2").

That's how I spent New Year's eve- wondering around the craziest city on earth with five of the craziest people I know- a whole lot better than in boring Montreal.