Why I Love New York Wednesdays: New Year's Eve

So, as part of this "goal" (not resolution!) to give my blog more structure, I present you with Why I Love New York Wednesdays (to accompany Martha Stewart Sundays). I'll come up with fun ideas for the other days soon... that I can commit to... hopefully!

I got this idea from a recent article in New York magazine, Reasons to Love New York 2010, which covered some events from this year, current popular trends in fashion, food and culture, thought patterns, as well as NYC perennials.

So, why do I love New York this week?

New Year's Eve, of course! There must be a reason why the entire world descends on NYC to celebrate the new year, right? Well, this year I found out for myself. I shared the streets with a few of my closest friends, some random Swiss guys, a handful of crazy people, and a WHOLE BUNCH of tourists, and I had a great time.

(Gillian and me @ Cellar Bar @ The Bryant Park Hotel)

In my trip to and from dinner at Per Lei on the Upper East Side, to the Bryant Park Hotel, to Grand Central, and back to the Upper East Side on Friday night/Saturday morning, I can't believe the sheer number and diversity of the crowds that I saw. As much as I normally hate crowds and tourists, I didn't mind on Friday night. Everyone was just having a good time. New Year's Eve here is such an institution--it's like everyone kind of knew what to expect, or at least had gleaned some of the right expectations from pop culture.

My expectations were completely met. I wouldn't say they were exceeded, but I think I was realistic about the night. I had a fantastic dinner with my friends at a classy neighborhood resto, fought the other UESiders for a taxi downtown, mulled about on the sidewalks with the aforementioned tourists, New Yorkers, and crazy people, and attended a swanky party complete with 5 hours of open bar at a beautiful hotel, and (happily, if not slightly drunkenly) found my way to the Subway at 3 a.m. with no hope of finding a cab home. It definitely ranks up there with some of the best nights out in my life, but I wasn't exactly blown away.

But I guess that's what I expected. So, I come out of my first New Year's Eve in NYC extremely satisfied, and completely in love with this city not necessarily because of my own experience, but because of the way that New Year's Eve here is such a phenomenon in itself--because of the experiences that other people have had here, and fantasize about having here, and will hopefully someday have here on New Year's Eves in the future.

Plus, where else can you drink for 5 hours+, stumble to the public transportation of your choice with your new Swiss friends, and know that 1.5 million people are doing the exact same thing in the greatest city in the world?