One of my favorite trips with Marco was going to New York City in July 2009 to see the fireworks. It’s odd to realize that it was 3 years ago today. Only two days removed from the job interview that would eventually secure me the job that I have now (July 2, 2009, a Thursday).
We waited at 12th Avenue and 34th street, as that year the fireworks were on the west side in the Hudson river. There were actually 6 (!) barges setting off fireworks from the river, so that millions of people could see them. Both from the New York side of the river and the New Jersey side.
The crazy thing was how fast the area filled up.
Looks like there is a lot of space, right?
(Above) This was the area right after we arrived (around 4:30PM, or so?)
This was the area just over an hour later (not kidding).
The crazy thing to realize is this is only 40% of the action… only 2 of the 6 barges are pictured (we could see another 2 or 3 of them).
You were actually penned in – once that section filled up, the police closed off the area so no one could easily enter (or leave!). After the fireworks were over, the police opened up sections one at a time, so we had to wait around about 5 minutes before they let us out. Nice crowd control.
(Below) Here is a view of Times Square (different day).
This was probably shortly after they opened the pedestrian areas in Times Square, giving us more room to roam and lounge around.
And here was a picture of Offspring, another awesome memory from the trip. Roger found out the concert was happening, and Marco dutifully took me along. Of course he was happy, since Sum 41 was the opening act.
Woot. Awesome concert… awesome memories.
All and all, a fun trip.
My local town is actually shooting off fireworks in a few hours, at 9:45PM tonight… if the rain holds off!
Life in the Hague 
Also the day Marco lost his passport.
That’s another blog post to write. Soon. 😉
Pffft. you had to bring that up huh?
Also..regarding Times Square and fireworks..
After the show, Niki and I were caught in the wave of people that moved back towards the center of Manhattan, all clustering around Times Square..Eventually we sort of broke free, saw that we had something like two hours until we had to catch our train. and had a drink (plus some asian-style chicken wings) at TGIF. In the mean time the crowd outside SLOWLY dispersed so that was good.
Made even more interesting by the fact that I had a 3-4 year old in front of me and I was desperately trying not to step on their heels. So I gave them an extra foot or two of empty space behind them and guarded it from the sea of humanity that was crashing over Manhattan.