It was a cold and wet December day, when we
touched the ground at JFK. Snow was melting on the ground, on BLS I heard the
sound of an angel. New York like a Christmas tree, tonight this city belongs to
me.
- U2
One of the best things about New York City is the food. The old saying is that
you could eat at a different restaurant every night of your life and not get to
every single eatery in this vast city. We left Newark and went into the city
for breakfast, stopping at another delicatessen-café place in Midtown. The
bagel with either cream cheese or sometimes ham and egg (or even a combination
of the three) is the real famous and popular breakfast item. I had pancakes
today, topped with fresh fruit, and they were great.
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| Snowy Central Park |
Nourished, we hit the shops, starting with a trip down the
famous – or infamous, if you’re the one paying the credit card bills – Fifth
Avenue, where there’s every imaginable store, ranging from Nike to Tiffany and everything in
between. I bought Lauryn a jacket for her Christmas present at GAP, where every
single item in the shop was a whopping 40% off, and did some shopping of my own
(and for other people) in some of the other shops close by.
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| Santa on Skates |
The United States Marine Corps do a ‘Toys for Tots’
fundraiser annually, where they accept unwrapped toys, which are then
distributed to underprivileged children across America. We went to the Lego
Store near Rockefeller Centre – a place that’ll blow your mind – and I took the
opportunity to buy something small. This Christmas, some kid is going to be very happy with his Star Wars Lego!
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| Christmas Lego |
My friends from Virginia, Janet and Allyson, arrived
yesterday afternoon through Penn Station, and after we stored their luggage, we
went uptown to Central Park. The famous patch of green, surrounded by towering
apartment buildings on all sides, is just about the only place where the snow
from recent storms is still clinging to the ground. Basically, it’s the Central
Park from all the movies, and it’s awesome.
Donald Trump’s Wollman Rink is a popular destination for
skating. There are great views of the cityscape and, unlike the skating at
Thirty Rock, they don’t charge an arm and a leg to get onto the ice. In fact,
the pricing was very reasonable. Lauryn, Allyson and I skated for about an
hour, getting better as the time went on. I was atrocious to begin with – the
legacy of not having skated for a year – but got better, and the better I got,
the more I enjoyed it.
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| Central Park's Wollman Rink |
There’s nothing better than skating outdoors, especially
when it’s outdoors in the heart of New York City. We skated through sunset and
into the dusk, as the lights around the rink come on, but not as spectacularly
as the lights of the city behind it. Add some great Christmas music, and that’s
another experience ticked off my bucket list.
It’s been a long day for us. New York’s such a massive
place that you need to put in long days to see it all, especially when we’re
only here for such a limited amount of time. Oh man, what I wouldn’t give for a
month here!
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