New Year's Eve 2008
We spent New Year's Eve in Carytown because we heard it's a big deal. We walked from the apartment down to the Can Can for an excellent dinner (Thuraya's sipping her Martini in the attached picture … full set is here), stalling as much as we could because the night was freezing. When we finally bundled up and headed back out to the street, we were a little disappointed at the size of the crowd and the general offerings. There was one stage at the end of Carytown that hosted a few bands through the night and a few street vendors selling hot food and New Year's junk (blinking glasses, hats, etc.), but that was about it. I think the cold kept a lot of people away until close to midnight.
Rather than freeze ourselves walking back and forth between the stage and the Byrd (where the ball would rise at midnight), we bought hot drinks at a coffee shop and killed another hour in there watching people and eveasdropping. When the crowd finally started to pick up, sometime around 11:30, we headed back out and eventually found a spot on a street corner, packed in by people, and waited for the ball to rise. A rooftop full of partiers served as the enertainment, shouting, spraying champagne, and swatting beach balls into the crowd.
Finally, the last minute of the year shivered by, but even that was a bit disappointing: the ball was halfway up the spire before anyone realized it, and the crowd was only on "three" when the ball stopped and a few fireworks shot out. Everyone happily ditched the last two seconds of the countdown to scream "Happy New Year," though, and then the mass exit down alleys and side streets began. We were back at the apartment making hot chocolate by 1:00 a.m. A mostly good time, and we're both glad we went, but next year we need to find a pre-party or two.
