New York City at Christmas Time

Wow, it's already been over a month ago since we went to NYC.  I've been meaning to do a re-cap on our trip, so here it is...finally!!  For starters, we had an absolutely amazing time in New York.  It was the first time for both Jeff and I to visit the city, and it was everything I imagined it would be...and so much more!  It was so fun to escape together and explore the city.  I already can't wait to go back as there are just so many more things to see and do.  I think we absolutely squeezed in as much as possible though!  We literally were like two kids on Christmas morning...so excited to explore the city!!

We stayed in Times Square, so right after gettting settled in at the hotel, we immediately took off to see the nearby sights.  My mom has a puzzle of Radio City Music Hall that we used to put together around the holidays, so this was a sight that held special meaning to me.

And of course, I am obsessed with the movie Home Alone, and I felt like I was in the movies when we walked up to THE TREE.  I was in awe!!

We kept walking around the theatre district until closer to showtime as we had tickets to Wicked. WOW! It was so much fun, and it was magical to actually see a performance on Broadway.  I had expected that I would love it, but I was so surprised and happy to see that Jeff really enjoyed the show as well. Such a great story and the talent is just truly amazing! 

We visited the Top of the Rock to see the views of NYC and to finally see the Empire State Building, Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty although from afar.  It still was so surreal to actually be there in person.  I'm so grateful that we got the opportunity to go on this trip (very thankful for Jeff having to work for a couple of days there! ;) )

We did a tour of the NBC studios, which was really fun. It's not too long, but it was interesting to see a glimpse of behind the scenes.  We got to see the sets of Dr.Oz, Jimmy Fallon, and SNL.  It's really fascinating of how the production of SNL takes place and how they have to time everything so precisely. 

We went for a short stroll through Central Park.  The small bridges throughout the park were so beautiful.

We did end up making it to Soho and actually caught a little Christmas parade going through the streets.  We stopped and watched for a bit to see the floats by local businesses and to watch the kids excitement.  It was super cute.  We then made our way to Chelsea Market as it became dark and got colder.  I didn't really know what to expect, but I was really impressed with the market.  The shops and stores were adorable, the whole look was a mix of inustrial and shabby chic, and I just loved it.  We were amazed at the Lobster market that had every possible type of seafood for sale or so it seemed.  Jeff and I agreed that if we lived in Manhattan, we would make it a point to come once a month to buy something nice and treat ourselves to all of the fresh food to make a nice dinner! The Italian grocery was amazing as well. (I'll have to do another post on our food in NYC! If I start talking about the amazing food....)

This was the view outside of our room!  It would be a perfect view to watch the ball drop on New Year's.  If you looked straight down you could watch all of the people walking around Times Square.  It was just as busy at all times of the day as people said.  Crazy!!

One of the highlights at Christmas time is seeing all of the store fronts with their elaborate windows.  I was impressed by many but I must say some of the window displays were quite interesting and had unexpected twists.  I guess they have to keep people's interest!

We visited the 9/11 memorial, which makes all sorts of emotions flood through you.  If you haven't been, there are two big square waterfalls built where the old towers were with the names of those lost written on the sides.  (You can see the ice in the pic below as the water fell to the next level down.)

We were glad that we were there right at dusk because as we were leaving, the new towers that are still under construction are lit up with alternating lights of red, white and blue on different floors.  Seeing the lights, with the NYPD police car and the flag flying was an amazing and heart-touching sight.



Oh and look who we ran into sporting a convertible outside of The Plaza...so of course we had to snap a pic with him!!

Hope you enjoyed NYC through my pictures and ramblings!  That's all till next time....

Tara