New York City December 29, 2005 - January 3, 2006

Since 1972 when Dick Clark first started broadcasting from Times Square on New Year's Eve, I've always thought it would be great to be at the "Center of the Universe" for this traditional celebration. I determined that since this would not be an easy thing to do and I'm not getting any younger, the time was right to try it. And instead of going all the way to New York City just for New Year's Eve, I planned a five-day trip for me and Kathy so we could see many of the sights we both missed on previous trips to the Big Apple.

I started planning the trip back in June as flights and hotel rooms in New York City become scarce and very expensive around the holiday season. I was able to get a pretty good air/room package deal (at least for New York, the most expensive city in the U.S.) through Priceline.com.

We flew from Sacramento and stopped at Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas (DFW) to catch a connecting flight. Everything was going great until we taxied away from the gate at DFW. The captain came on and informed us that Kennedy Airport in New York City was backed up due to weather so we had to wait on the apron for up to an hour and 45 minutes. They started showing the movie to distract us so we wouldn't riot and about two hours later, just as the movie was ending, we finally took off.

We arrived at the Murray Hill East Suites Hotel, checked in and discovered our suite was quite nice and had a great view of the Empire State Building. The hotel was built in the 1970's and was originally an apartment building. It is located only about three blocks from Grand Central Terminal where we could catch the subway to anywhere we wanted to go.

From the weather forecasts, we knew our first day would be the best weather for walking around, so we headed out early. Our first stop was the Empire State Building where we immediately noticed a line of people stretching around the block. We found out the line was for the observation deck, took two hours and since we had both been up there on previous trips, we decided to head for Rockefeller Center and its observation deck instead. We stopped in Macy's on 34th and Broadway along the way. Macy's is the self-proclaimed "Largest Store in the World" and my grandmother worked there back in the 1940's and 50's.

Empire State Building

At the subway station near Macy's, we bought a Metro card and got a subway map. We found out that the subways were half price for the holidays until January 2. The fare was only $1.00 for a one-way trip anywhere on the system. We took the subway to Rockefeller Center and I was pleasantly surprised at how clean the subway stations and trains were. I remember riding the subway 21 years ago and almost all the trains were covered inside and out with graffiti. There was very little to no graffiti on all the trains we rode this time.

View of Central Park from the "Top of the Rock"

We walked around several of the buildings at Rockefeller Center seeing the Radio City Music Hall, the skating rink, the Christmas tree and the bronze statue leafed in gold of Prometheus stealing the sacred fire for mankind. Then we got tickets for the observation deck which recently reopened after being closed since 1986. The observation deck called the "Top of the Rock" is on top of the RCA Building, tallest building in Rockefeller Center. The 70th floor top level of the deck is 800 feet (243.8 m) high and the view was spectacular! We heard the day before, you couldn't see anything because of the weather but it looked like we could see 50 miles in any direction.

Rockefeller Center is truly an Art Deco masterpiece built in the middle of the depression. There are over 200 pieces of art throughout with many on the outside of the buildings.

From Rockefeller Center we walked to Times Square which was packed with people - you could barely walk through the masses. We also found out the Times Square restaurants are more expensive than in other areas of New York. A cheeseburger at T.G.I. Friday's cost $17.69!

From Times Square, we walked by Carnegie Hall on Seventh Avenue and through Central Park to the Dakota Apartments where John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived. Just across the street in Central Park is Strawberry Fields. There is a memorial to John Lennon there and people have left some very eclectic items at the site such as an apple with "Give Peace a Chance" written on it.

We walked back across Central Park all the way to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Art Museum located on 89th Street and Fifth Avenue. Most of the museums are open until 8:00 or 8:30 p.m. on Fridays so we figured this was a good opportunity to see one after walking around all day. The Guggenheim Museum was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and is unique. It is a spiral shape with much of the galleries located along the seven-level rotunda. The Guggenheim was crowded but we were able to get right in. When we left at about 6:30 p.m., the line to get in was all the way around the block. I don't think some of those people were going to have too much time to see much once inside.

Central Park: Horse-drawn Carriage

By this time, our feet were screaming "NO MORE!" so we took the subway back to Grand Central Terminal, ate dinner there and then walked back to the hotel. We walked about four miles (6.4 km) and stood a lot that first day so foot rubs were definitely next on the agenda.

The next day, we woke up and discovered it was snowing. I've always wanted to see just who really is buried in Grant's Tomb so we took the subway to Riverside Park located in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan. The General Grant National Memorial is located in Riverside Park and by the time we got there, it had stopped snowing. It is one of the largest mausoleums in the world rising to an imposing 150 feet (45.7 m) from a bluff overlooking the Hudson River. In the center of the building, an open crypt similar to Napoleon's tomb at the Invalides in Paris contains the identical 8½ ton sarcophagi of General Grant and his wife Julia Dent Grant. The whole memorial is quite impressive.

Just across the street from Grant's Tomb is the Riverside Church. It is a large Gothic Revival style interdenominational church completed in the late 1920's. We went inside and listened to a great organ recital going on. From the church, it was a short walk to the Columbia University subway station where we got on the subway bound for Washington Square and Greenwich Village.

I brought a Michelin Green Guide book on this trip that I originally took on a trip to NYC back in 1984. Although the admission prices have gone up astronomically since then, the sites haven't changed and we used the guide for an excellent walking tour of Greenwich Village and Little Italy.

Greenwich Village: Narrowest House on Left, Oldest House (1799) on Right

Greenwich Village is a whole different world apart from the rest of Manhattan. The streets go in every odd direction, it is very quiet and there are quite a few historical old buildings and houses there. The walking tour was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. We took the subway back to our hotel and relaxed for a while as this was New Year's Eve and the big challenge was still to come. We found a great Irish Pub called "The Black Sheep" around the corner from our hotel where we had dinner. Since standing for hours without any available bathrooms has not been on Kathy's "crazy things to do list", she decided to stay at the hotel, watch me wave to her on TV and save some champagne for my return.

I knew that those crazy fools who wanted to be up front in Times Square had to arrive between six and nine hours early. Once you get to your spot, you have to stand there, you can't return if you leave and there are no bathrooms. I decided to take the subway to the 57th Street station and walk up 7th Avenue toward Times Square to get at least close enough to see the ball drop. I ended up at 52nd Street, just about ten blocks from Number One Times Square which is the building the ball is located on. I could actually see the six-foot diameter ball constructed of Waterford Crystal from that distance! The temperature was 33 degrees Fahrenheit (.5 degree Celsius) but it wasn't snowing or raining so all I had to do was wait for the big moment three hours and 15 minutes away.

While standing there, I met a couple of guys from Philadelphia who drove four hours, parked 30 miles (48 km) away in New Jersey and had to drive back to Philadelphia and go to work in the morning. I felt like there were at least two people there who were crazier than me. In fact, about 85 percent of the people there are from out of town. I guess most New Yorkers know better. After awhile, several girls started "crowd surfing" (being lifted over everyone's heads and passed from person to person, ending up hopefully upright wherever). The whole thing is really well organized, with hundreds of cops in the subways and on the streets. No alcohol is allowed so the crowd is well-behaved.

Finally, the big countdown started, the ball dropped, fireworks exploded, confetti filled the air, everyone screamed "Happy New Year!" and then the crowd dispersed quite quickly (looking for bathrooms, no doubt). I went directly to the subway station and got back to the room by 1:15 a.m. to have a proper champagne toast with Kathy. I'm sure this will be my most memorable New Years celebration.

The next day, we took the subway to the Wall Street station and saw the Trinity Church, the outside of the New York Stock Exchange and the Federal Hall where George Washington was sworn in as the first president (New York City was the nation's first capital), and the famous 40 Wall Street Building, now called the Trump Building. From Wall Street, we walked toward the Brooklyn Bridge passing through the South Street Seaport Area.

We walked to the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge, a real engineering marvel when it was completed in 1883. Just about a week earlier, I saw a photo in the newspaper showing thousands of people walking home across that bridge because of the transit strike which thankfully ended before we arrived in NYC. On the way back toward the financial district, we passed the City Hall built between 1803 and 1812 where Mayor Bloomberg was going to be sworn in for his second term about an hour later. Just across the street from City Hall, stands the Woolworth Building opened in 1913. It held the record for tallest building in the world until 1931 when the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings opened.

On the Brooklyn Bridge

We ended up at the World Trade Center site now called "Ground Zero" and that was a sobering experience. I went to the top of the World Trade Center 21 years earlier and it was very strange seeing a huge empty space where those buildings once stood.

From the World Trade Center subway station, we took the subway to different destinations. Kathy went to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) and I went to the American Museum of National History. It would take a week to really see everything in the Natural History museum so I picked what really interested me such as the top floor which is entirely devoted to dinosaur fossils. Kathy said there was a lot of great art in the MOMA including some paintings by her favorite artist Claude Monet and the famous "The Starry Night" by Vincent Van Gogh. We each closed out those museums and then met up not too far from Times Square. After dinner, we ended up at "The Black Sheep" pub for some Guinness on tap.

The next day, we decided to walk up Fifth Avenue, seeing the New York Public Library with its famous marble lions called Patience and Fortitude guarding the entrance, St. Patrick's Cathedral, the famous Art Deco Atlas statue in front of the International Building at Rockefeller Center, Saks, Gucci, Tiffany's, Trump Tower and the Park Plaza Hotel which has been converted into condominiums. We ended up at the statue of General Sherman by Augustus St. Gaudens located at the corner of Central Park.

From the park we walked a few blocks over to Bloomingdale's. Inside, we saw woman's jeans with holes cut in them for $220. I guess the same people who eat at T.G.I. Friday's in Times Square shop at Bloomingdale's.

Heading back toward our hotel, we passed the United Nations complex and decided to take the tour of it. We got to see the four assembly rooms and several artwork gifts donated by various countries. Another interesting display showed the effects of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima - coins fused together, melted china cups, etc. Our guide from Columbia seemed pretty passionate about the work of the U.N. although I'm not as optimistic as her that the U.N. will be able to end all war, poverty and hunger in the world. Those are nice goals even if they aren't realistic.

Times Square

That night after dinner at the Pershing Square Restaurant across from Grand Central Terminal, we walked to the historic Majestic Theatre located just off Broadway and saw "The Phantom of the Opera". We bought tickets online before leaving on this trip as even though this play has been showing for 18 years, it was still sold out. In fact, about a week after we saw it, it became the all-time longest running Broadway play with its 7,486th performance. We had to check out of the hotel the next day by 1:00 p.m. which gave us enough time to take the subway to the Frick Collection located just across Fifth Avenue from Central Park at E. 70th Street.

The Frick Collection is a collection of art masterpieces assembled over 40 years by Henry Clay Frick, a Pittsburgh industrialist. His mansion which was built in 1913 was transformed into a museum and opened in 1935.

After one last subway ride to our hotel, we checked out, took the shuttle to Kennedy Airport and flew back home via Dallas/Ft. Worth. Our flight from DFW was about two hours late so we got back home around midnight. We both had to work the next day so catching up on rest would have to wait awhile.

This was Kathy's second trip to NYC and my fourth. We saw many of the other sites such as the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the Metropolitan Museum of Art on previous trips but there is still so much more to see. I would like to explore the boroughs of Queens, the Bronx and Brooklyn someday. Though I understand that Coney Island is rather run down now, it would be great to ride the historic roller coaster. I would also like to see a ball game at Yankee Stadium and find some of the old houses my dad lived in.

I was four years old the first time I saw New York City and can still recall my amazement at seeing the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty for the first time. I've always been awestruck at seeing skyscrapers and got a sore neck gazing at them on this trip.

The population of New York City is now 7,333,253 with 1,537,195 of those people crammed onto the island of Manhattan. Because there are so many people in a relatively small space, New Yorkers have not been known as the most polite people but I was quite surprised. The cops and the people who deal with tourists were quite friendly. One local person even came up and offered help when we were looking at a map in a subway station. We did notice that vehicle horns are used quite extensively even though we saw a sign stating there was a $350 fine for honking your horn. Also, no one seems to wait for the pedestrian lights to turn green before crossing crosswalks.

We were pretty lucky with the weather. It didn't rain or snow most of the time we were out walking and the temperature never got below 30 degrees Fahrenheit (-1 degree Celsius). The first full day was very clear and sunny.

If you like museums, Art Deco, skyscrapers, historic sites and city parks, New York City is definitely a great place to visit!

Midtown and Lower Manhattan: