Until about 6pm, Traci, Amanda, Ashleigh, and I didn’t have any set plans. We were really cutting it close, since most things-to-do required tickets or reservations, and we knew we didn’t want to stand in Times Square for hours to watch the ball drop.

Our ideal New Year’s idea was to go to a bar or a restaurant, have some dinner and a few drinks, and then somehow watch the ball drop (if possible) or at least some fireworks, preferably from a place that wasn’t too crowded.

We managed to get a reservation at Beacon, a really fancy, expensive restaurant on 56th between 5th and 6th. Since most restaurants in the city were charging upwards of $100 per person for buffet-style dinners tonight, we decided it was worth it to buy ourselves expensive dinner for any amount less than that. And instead of mediocre food from a place like Friday’s (which was charging $195 per person) or Planet Hollywood ($225 per person), we got AMAZING high-class dinner for about $80 each.

After dinner, we decided we would go up to Central Park so we could at least HEAR the ball drop (or rather, the crowd’s reaction to it) and see the fireworks in the park. When we got to the park, it had a crowd, but it wasn’t stuffed person-to-person like all of 7th Ave and Broadway were. There was plenty of room for us to move about, and… best of all… WE COULD SEE THE BALL IN TIMES SQUARE, ONE MILE AWAY!!!

So sure enough, we got our wish. We watched the ball drop, and we watched the big “2005” sign light up in Times Square, and we watched the fireworks behind us in the park and in Times Square. It was great.