3 min read
So this year for some reason, the fireworks weren't on the Hudson (a resident of 20 years here was surprised on hearing this, meaning they were supposed to be on the Hudson). So rather than watching the show comfortably from Google's newest building 2 blocks over from mine which is practically right on the Hudson, I had to trek to the east side if I wanted a chance to see anything.
It wasn't too bad until I hit around 2nd and 24th. People were all flocking to FDR Drive which was shut down so people could watch. I went through a bag check around 1st as I got closer to the East River. I saw lots of NYPD officers scattered throughout the east side standing around and making sure nothing happened, which I was happy about since I was walking by myself.
I was later redirected south towards 18th street, probably since the section I was heading to was already full. On arriving, I hit a bottleneck since a police car was purposely blocking the on-ramp so they could do yet another bag check. People shuffled along slower than zombies as police looked into bags and purses with flashlights.
After what felt like a long time, I was up on elevated the freeway. I managed to get pretty close to the barrier despite getting there around 9 pm. I could even clearly see 2 of the 5 Macy's barges, which had the logo lit up on the side of them. 2 were a little further up the river, but I was still able to see the fireworks shooting up from them. The last barge was south of the Brooklyn Bridge (not sure why they put one all the way over there), which everyone completely disregarded since that was pretty far away.
Waiting for the fireworks to start
After waiting around impatiently for half an hour, the show started. I took a lot of video of the 25-minute show but here are a few pictures (at a crappy resolution unless you click on them because they won't fit on the page otherwise). Almost everything I took is in yet another album, at full-size and res, along with a video of the grand finale, which I didn't think was all that grand. (Now THIS is what I'm talking about, but don't click on it before turning your volume down unless you feel like going deaf or destroying your speakers).
Some were so bright, the streetlights shut off like in this picture
The golden sparkly ones are my all-time favorite
The grand finale didn't really feel like a grand finale so I wasn't sure when the best time to make my way off the freeway was. By the time I realized the grand finale was the grand finale, it was too late and it was a slow shuffle of thousands of people towards the on-ramp.
Dealing with this both at the start and the end alone made seeing the fireworks not worth the hassle, not even considering the 1.6 miles I walked here since taking the subway wasn't significantly faster.
After half an hour of trudging along at zombie pace -- which made no sense because the police car obstructing the on-ramp was no longer there and there was no outgoing bag-check -- I was finally off FDR Drive and speed-walking back to the west side. After walking for half an hour, I made a pitstop at the office to cool off and refuel before heading back to my apartment. On tomorrow's agenda is another journey across Manhattan -- only this time at not such a sketchy hour.