When you've got two musical nuts like Laura and I rambling 'bout New York, it's a pretty safe bet you'll find yourself spending a fair amount of time on Broadway and in Times Square.

Which is where most everyone else in New York seems to end up.

Which means that you start to realize..."Holy crap...there are a whole ton of folks around here!"

Then you head back down Seventh and from Times Square to the Garden, another scrum of people. (I'm not exactly sure Laura believes me that scrum is a word. It is, but even if it's not, it should be.) We've both agreed that entering the Toys R Us on Times Square would require some sort of insanity or drugged state that neither of us possesses. (Heck, there were lines just to get into the place.)

I keep looking at Laura and saying, "Imagine the gall to say...'Okay, we're going to put eight million people, of all different walks of life, together and just stand back and watch the commotion.'" We've decided the city could probably use three mayors.

So, yesterday morning was quite different.

We were going to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular at 9 AM. (They hold something like three or four performances a day just to accomodate all the people who want to see it.) We left our hotel around 7:30 and started walking down Fifth Avenue.

And it was almost like we owned the place.

No one was out. There were no crowds. We had no problems getting down the streets.

It left us more free to check out the architecture, the city. And to admire the vastness of a place built for lots of people, but with no one there.

It made me feel like, for a few seconds, it was our city.

It's interesting what you learn about a person you travel with. I've learned Laura hates -- absolutely hates -- people who move slowly on the street in front of her, especially when they take up the whole street. (This is quite possible to do, btw.) And she doesn't particularly care for whomever she's with to be behind her.

Oh, one other thing I've learned. The main branch of the New York Public Library?

They're short on books.

I told Laura I thought the founders of the Library must have decided to make a huge capital investment when they built the place by making it a beautiful temple of architecture, and by making it such a great building, hopefully save money on books.