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Time Square is the most visited place in the world. I can see why with its bright lights and vibrant energy. According to the City Sights Bus Tour operator, over 58 million people flock to the crossroads of Broadway and 42nd Street each year.
Time Square is located in Midtown Manhattan. The heart of the square named after the New York Times newspaper is a few
blocks where only walking traffic’s allowed. A bronze statue of George M. Cohen stands sentry in the shadow of the New York Times building. Cute iron tables painted red are scattered about for you to sit and soak up the energy while people watching. A set of bleachers behind the tables is the perfect spot to watch the ball drop on New Year’s Eve. When we were there a Japanese choir stood in the stands singing “How Great Thou Art” in Japanese. It took me a minute to hum the melody and translate the words to English.
There you are surrounded by entertainment, restaurants and stores galore. Anything you wish to eat from Applebee’s, TGIF Fridays, Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock café, Mars 2112 to McDonald’s. Stores include Toys ‘R Us, Disney, American Eagle, Aeropostle and Levis, all two to three stories tal
l. My favorite was Hershey’s World of Chocolate right across the street from M&M World. The smell of chocolate wafting in the air was irresistible. There’s entertainment from Dave & Buster’s, Bowlmor Lanes, AMC Theaters to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, Ripley’s Believe It or Not and Discovery Exposition. Of course the Theatre District is where some of the world’s best plays are performed. On 47th Street between Broadway & 7th Ave is the TKTS booth
where you can buy discounted tickets (40% to 50%) to many of the shows. The catch, the tickets are for that day’s performance only. So for the more popular shows there may not be any seats left. They’ll sell tickets that are available for the matinees from 10-2 and evening shows from 3-8.
If it’s your first time to Times Square, I suggest you drop in to the Times Square Visitor’s Center (www.timessquarenyc.org). It’s next to McDonalds. They are a mini-museum and information center rolled into one. You can see costumes from Broadway shows and the Centennial Ball that was dropped in 2007. The coolest thing was the Wishing Wall, a wall of H
opes & Dreams. The visitor’s center provides tissue paper cut in shapes and you write your wish or dream on it. It becomes a part of the two tons of confetti that will fall at midnight on New Year’s Eve and release your dream. I wrote my dream and wishes for each member of my family. So this year when the ball drops in Times Square, I’ll have extra reason to smile while I ring in the New Year.
Wishing you and your family a joyous holiday season.
by Sia Huff
27 comments
Sia,
Time Square is alive…
The hotel for Nationals sat right on Time Square, just down from the bleachers you mentioned.
Didn’t you stop at the ice cream shop right along there? Oh my goodness…it was sooooo good.
Thanks for the reminder of a good trip to N.Y.
Morning Sia, My only regret while in NYC for RWA this year was not getting to spend more time just exploring the square!
Sia,
I love the post. You make Times Square even more wonderful. I’ve got to get up there one day and see a show.
O-o-o-o I want one of those tissues! Lots of luck with yours!
Sia, that is so cool! I had no idea about the visitor center, especially, and I love the idea of putting hopes and dreams on the confetti that falls. Love it!
I have been to NYC twice but I have never visited Times Square. Your post made me want to go really, really badly. Road trip!
NY has so much energy that it makes you have it too. I love your descriptions. Glad you had a great time during your visit.
Hey Sia!
I was at Times Square during this past RWA nationals convention. I loved it. And what’s funny is, I’m not a crowd person. I don’t like crowds and to tell the truth, must people bug the crap out of me, but if I were a billionaire, I’d want to live in one of those high-rise, door man, swanky apartment buildings either overlooking the square or overlooking Central park. What amazing fun that would be…granted, I’d probably weigh 400 pounds because of all of the food.
And speaking of food, one of my favorite (and I mean favorite!) places to eat (me and Pamela Varnado ate here every meal except for the ones that RWA provided) was Junior’s. It was right next door to the Marriot, just a hop skip and a jump away.
I ate like a queen there, potato pancake sandwiches, tongue sandwich, blintzes with sweet cheese & strawberries, I could go on and on. And the staff? I wished I could take them and the whole restaurant home with me.
But again, I’d have that 400 pounds of flabby flesh issue to deal with.
I loved it there!
Thanks so much for the reminder of my happy time at the square.
have a great weekend!
Tamara
Hey Sia! Ohhhhh do I want to go to NYC. Thanks a ton for the visitor’s link and the info on the dream tissues. That is so cool and something that would definitely make staying up late to watch that ball drop a must see. Definitely adding this trip to my wish list. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.
Tami
Thanks for the tip about the hopes and dreams stop,Sia. I’d not heard about that before. I’m actually going to NYC on Tues with my husband and another couple who are good friends. We’re taking in a show and meandering around to restaurants and such. I’ll have to get our group to write down their dreams for the big event this year.
Thanks for the stop over at NY, Sia,
I miss the big city life and feel… considering I grew up in Hong Kong. NY is fascinating and a whirlwind of sights, smells and sounds you won’t want to miss. Thanks for taking us there this hoiday season!
Sia,
I didn’t know about the visitor’s center or the dream confetti. I’ve been there a lot of times but never knew they had a museum. I loved being in that area for Nationals and I had lunch with Tamara and Pam at Juniors! My daughter lives in New York so I’ll be sure to drop by there on our next visit. And I love M&M World.
Sia,
I love Times Square. It’s my favorite place to visit in NY. The energy and excitement that flows around the square is contagious. Everything there is bigger and brighter! And the food and shopping–OMG! I can’t wait until my next trip there.
Alive is a great word, Sandy.
Do you remember the name of the ice cream shop for next time? Because there definately will be a next time.
We did eat homemade gelato from Mama Sbarro’s which has hardly any fat & less sugar compared to ice cream. Even though we wore winter coats, we couldn’t resist.
The wonderful thing Debbie, is there’s always next RWA to explore the square. I’m ready to find new things. We only touched the tip of the iceburg.
So glad you enjoyed the post, Maxine. Yes, you’d love seeing a show. They’re wonderful
.
And when you’re there you can get ahold of one of those tissues and write your hearts desire. Thanks for the luck. With my dream, I need it and hard work and persistance and patiences. You know the drill.
I think it’s cool too Sally. Putting all those good wishes and dream out in the atmosphere – it’s just good karma that hopefully will roll around.
Definite road trip, Pam. Maybe you’ll be ready to go next RWA Nationals. I’m up for staying a few days and enjoying all that NYC has to offer. But then I still don’t think I’ll figure it all out.
Hershey’s and M&Ms in the air? No wonder people heart New York. Yum. I hope to get to NYC one day. In the meantime, I’ll content myself with colorful posts like yours. Thanks, Sia. I hope all your hopes and dreams come true.
Yes Susan, the energy is contagious. But I love it! Glad you enjoyed the descriptions. I found the Marriott for year RWA NYC
.
Tamara, I never would have guessed you don’t like crowds. You are such a people person
.
I don’t think you’ll ever weigh 400 pounds. NY is a walking city. My son and I figured we walked about 10 miles. I enjoyed every step.
We didn’t get to try Junior’s but heard about it. They’re famous for their cheesecake (which I don’t care for). So it wasn’t a high priority – but maybe next time.
Thanks for sharing!
Hey Tami,
Yes, NYC is a must do. Like Pam said road trip. I love the dream tissue drop from the sky at midnight. When you go, you can make your own. And I hope it comes true.
I’ll have more blogs on this trip. It was so much fun. And I look forward to hearing about yours to our Nation’s Capital.
Hi Dianna,
So glad I could give you a new tip. Have a safe trip and wonderful time with your husband and friends. NY is beautiful this time of year with the Christmas lights.
And the shows. I could go broke. We saw “Anything Goes”. It was phemonenal!
Thanks for commenting.
You’re welcome, Anju.
NY is a whirlwind of sights and smells. I grew up in the surburbs and always loved visiting the big city. I can where you miss it coming from Hong Kong. (For those of you who missed it, Anju did an amazing travel blog on Hong Kong.)
Thanks for commening.
Marilyn, glad I could introduce a veteran like you to the Visitor’s Center.
You’re so lucky your daughter lives there so you have an excuse to visit all the other wonderful things in NYC. Of course, she’s a wonderful reason to visit just by herself.
I wanted a t-ee shirt in M&M World. It had the Green (lady) M&M on the front in a witch hat with a “Wicked” line on it – but they only had huge sizes. Oh, well, maybe next time they’ll have some in stock.
You are so right, Pam. “Everything is bigger and brighter.” I love it too and can’t wait to go back.
.
The last time I went was 30 years ago. Not going to be that long again
Thanks for commenting.
Double yum, Linsey. I hope you get to take a bite out of the Big Apple. NYC is wonderful.
Thanks for your wishes. I hope your dreams come true as well.
Thanks for mentioning my blog Sia, I did a second part – ‘Hong Kong – Bang for Bucks!’ in which I quoted something you had commented about in the first part!