New York, New York! (Part 1 - NYE)

I am still smiling from ear to ear over the combo Christmas/ 4oth Birthday gift Julie presented me with a couple of weeks ago.  We just returned from New York City, where we spent four days and nights over the New Year.  It was unbelievable! 

After arriving in NYC late on Dec. 30^th, we headed to the guesthouse Julie had reserved for us in Grennwich Village.  Gorgeous little place…very quaint and homey.  So much better than a hotel would have been, it was like staying in our own little apartment.  We wandered out into the neighborhood a little bit after getting settled in search of something to eat.  Around the corner from us was the Village Bistro, which was a little pub.  Nice first taste of the city.

On December 31^st we found some brunch and made our way first to Central Park.  Unreal.  Strawberry Fields (and the Dakota, right across the street) was a place I’ve always wanted to visit.  The park is beautiful and it was a nice day, so Julie and I walked around a bit, holding hands and watching families make snowmen. 

We started walking around midtown Manhattan afterwards, just getting more comfortable with the city and finding our way around.  It didn’t take long before we realized we were walking down the middle of Times Square by about 2:30pm in the afternoon.  Preparations were being made for the New Year’s Eve celebration that evening and it was a bit of a surreal sight.  Streets being blocked off and cleared, hundred of cops on each corner listening to their Sergeants bark out the evenings orders.  The deeper we walked into the centre, the more we were getting swallowed up by the now gathering crowd.  We realized if we didn’t duck out soon, we might never get out of there at all.

We walked back to the guesthouse and readied ourselves for the evening, then set out on our way to Madison Square Garden for Phish!  I cannot express the excitement and vibration pulsing through me for this show!  We were there early, just cuz.  Once inside, we quickly made friends with our seat neighbors.  Lots of talk about the setlist and guessing as to what we might hear.  Once the show started, it was obvious that Phish was on fire!

As the third set of the night started around 11:45pm, they played a great version of Meatstick.  As the song progressed, they brought out dancers of different ethincities to see the chorus in their represented native tongues.  One by one…African bushmen, buxom Swedish skiers, a Mountie, Mexican mariachi band…they kept on coming one after the other until the stage was filled with a colorful display of United Nations.  By now we noticed that the band was no longer on the stage…..

….from the corner of MSG everyone saw the spotlight on the smoke rising.  There it was, rising to the ceiling loaded with the band members:  a giant hotdog!!  This is a gimmick the pulled once before and in fact, the hotdog was enshrined at the Rock n’ Roll Hall of fame in Cleveland.  I cannot believe I was seeing the hotdog!  They rode that baby along the ceiling tossing what we thought were bottles of mustard into the crowd.  So awesome!!

With everyone onstage now bringing the song down, the countdown clock appeared and the crowd started in.  10!  9!  8!  7!......An explosion of balloons, screams, raised arms and Phish breaking into Auld Lang Syne.  What a moment.  It was everything I could have hoped for it to be. 

The first song they played after ringing in 2011 was After Midnight, a cover of Eric Clapton’s classic.  I still can’t believe I got to see a Phish New year’s Eve show in Madison Square Garden.  Talk about knocking things off of your bucket list: 

1.       Go to New York City

2.       See Phish play a New Year’s Eve  gig

3.       See Phish play MSG

4.       Visit Strawberry Fields

And that was just the first two nights……..how am I ever going to pay Julie back for this experience?  What could she possibly desire to experience in life as much as what she gave me?  How can I ever say enough Thank You’s?  Thank you, Julie.  What you gave me goes so far beyond gift.  It was a life experience that most people will never come close to experiencing.  I love you!