Christmas in New York?

I'm really behind!  It's mid-January and I'm just now getting to our vacation in New York City this past December.  So...here goes.

It seems that lately we've been taking some kind of vacation in December right around (but not on) Christmas.  One year we went to San Diego but that was because I needed some miles to retain my gold status with an airline who shall remain nameless.  (I know it sounds dumb but when you travel like I do for work, every little thing helps!)  Then a couple of years ago we went to New Orleans and it was awesome.  This year we finally decided to go back to New York.

This was the BEST vacation.  We paid for the airfare with miles (so we flew first class) and we paid for the hotel with points (may as well get something for having to travel all year!).

Like I said, we started out with First Class.  Not as nice as in the old days but we actually had a lovely meal.  There was this delicious chicken and salad.  (I'm serious, it was good.)

Once we got to our hotel, it was still relatively early so we decided to walk around and see the city all lit up.  We were on the upper West Side near Times Square and Hell's Kitchen.  The Christmas decorations were out in full force.  It was fantastic!

There were a ton of people out and about trying to get the perfect photo in front of this display, which was across from our hotel.

 

We managed to push and shove our way to the front for a photo.  

This was one of my favorites.  They were Christmas Tree lights.  Cool, no?  The weather was amazing, which is to say that it wasn't very cold.  I brought a heavy coat and a jean jacket.  Jean jacket pretty much won out.

I loved all the decorations.

That would be me in front of a nutcracker.  (Go ahead, insert joke here...)

The requisite selfie in front of Radio City Music Hall.

The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, which we did NOT get to see. 

Times Square!  It was about eleven in the evening and the place was very crowded.

It was pretty blustery out so we ducked into a bar and had a drink.  That's a rather healthy cosmopolitan and a Hendricks martini.

 

After a rather painful morning (one of us had a bit of a headache) and a long hike up to the The North Face store (someone, I won't say who but it wasn't me, lost their jacket), we stopped in Central Park by Strawberry Fields.  I like this little piece of the park.  There was a guy there playing guitar and singing Beatles songs. 

I was really looking forward to this.  The Sabrett's guy.  This was one of my dad's favorites.  I had a chili dog and John just had a regular dog with mustard.  It did NOT disappoint.

 

We had an appointment to go to the top of the World Trade Center so we decided to walk down there since we had time and what better way to see the city?  Bono wants to take us for a bike ride, which works for me.

So, it's a much longer walk down there than you would expect.  It said something like 2 1/2 miles but it felt like a lot longer.  We stopped for a rest along the way.

We passed R.H. Macy and Company and their Christmas windows.  Peanuts was the theme.

This was one of the things I was looking forward to seeing...the Christmas windows.

 A Peanuts Christmas.

We were lucky to get close enough for photos of the actual windows.  As soon as we walked away, this massive crowd of people showed up.

This is a reflecting pool where one of the towers used to stand.  The other one isn't far away.

The new World Trade Center.  Today, we're going up to the top to the observatory.

 The reflecting pool.

Just taking it all in.  The area is busy but still peaceful, an odd combination really.

  

The sun setting on Lady Liberty in New York Harbor.  This was really beautiful.  The photo doesn't do the view justice.

 My beloved Brooklyn Bridge.

 Views from the Observatory.

You can see the entire city from up here.

As soon as we knew we were coming to New York, we started looking forward to this very meal at this very deli.

I know this looks rather glutinous but all I had all day was that chili dog and a piece of toast.  So we didn't hold back.  We got a Ruben sandwich, a pastrami sandwich (which was pastrami and bread), an egg cream (because we'd never had one) and french fries.  The fries were a mistake.  They just took up space.  The egg cream was a little weird.  It tasted like carbonated chocolate milk.  Not my thing.  The Ruben was freakin' awesome and the pastrami?  Amazing!  At one point, I tossed the bread aside.

In our defense, we walked 27,000 steps that day according to our phones.  That's like 12 miles.  We deserved this meal and enjoyed every bite!

 

The next day we went over to Rockefeller Center.  I wanted to ice skate but it was really crowded to get in and it was pretty pricey.

The Christmas Tree.  You can't see it so much during the day but it was beautiful.

These Salvation Army red kettle people were really having a great time.  There were two of them at every station and they had a jambox.  They were all dancing and some of them were pretty good.

THE New York Public Library.  This place is cool.  They have a genealogy department you could get lost in.

A little rest at the library.

We went back to Rockefeller Center at night to get another look at the tree.  Everyone that was in New York City that night was at Rockefeller Center.  It was so crowded you could barely move.

Right across the street Saks Fifth Avenue (actually on Fifth Avenue!) had the windows lit up.  You couldn't get over there, though.  Way too crowded.  Last time I was here, that was a toy store.  I was looking forward to seeing the windows up close.

For the record, at the end of day 2?  17,000 steps.  We need to take more cabs!

We went back the next morning...What the hell is this?  This is not a cool Christmas window!  This was one of the tamer ones.  I would say these windows were not suitable for children.  Some had women splayed out on pianos, up in the clouds.  I'm not sure they understood the assignment of "create a Christmas window".

We took the subway down to the place where we could get to the Brooklyn Bridge.  I LOVE this bridge.  Why?  No idea.  I just do.  It was very crowded but awesome just the same.

Selfie on the bridge.

A view of the city from the bridge.  From here it was back to the subway.  I was looking at the subway map just checking stuff out when a lady on the train asked me what I was looking for.  She wanted to help me determine where I needed to get off the train.  She helped a lot of people that were having trouble.  And people say New Yorkers are rude.  Strange perhaps, but not rude.  There was a woman and her boyfriend that got on the train at the next stop and all she was wearing was the Santa Clause coat.  That's it.  Seriously. 

Grand Central Station.  It's just as crowded as you would think it to be.

Waiting on a train?

So this trip we decided not to eat at fancy places and just see what we felt like.  So for lunch, we kept seeing these food trucks with long lines.  The Halal Guys.  So on our last day, we decided why not?  The top one is mine.  Chicken and rice.  The red stuff that you can barely see (because I said "just a little") is hot sauce of some sort.  They weren't kidding when they said it was spicy.  John got chicken and rice too but he had some kind of yogurt sauce on his.  This was super good.  I might get a little more hot sauce next time but it was incredibly tasty, which would explain the really long lines...

Last night cap in the city.  It was really fun.  We also went to the 9/11 museum which was heartbreaking.  Our parents remember where they were when Kennedy got shot.  I will never forget where I was when the towers went down.  The museum is definitely worth a visit (no photos) but be sure and bring a tissue.

Goodbye New York!