Christmas in the City
Is there a more magical city on earth than New York City? Manhattan. The City. The mecca of art and culture in the United States – and possibly even the world. Though I had been to NYC a handful of times, I had not yet experienced the magic of the city at Christmas time. So, we packed our bags and headed out for a fantastic weekend in Manhattan.
We arrived late at night and Ubered to Pod 39 in Murray Hill. Pod hotels are considered more budget-friendly and, even though our room was small, it was perfect for a quick getaway! (Who has time to be in the room when the greatest city in the world is ten steps out the door?!)
The next day we ventured out to experience Christmastime in the City. We strolled through Grand Central (check out their Christmas market), walked up to Saks 5th Avenue (the window displays are unreal), made are way into St. Patrick’s Cathedral (wow), and reached our first destination – Rockefeller Center. The angels, the greenery, the tree – everything was spectacular and grand in true New York fashion. We anticipated only observing the ice skaters, but ended up waiting only 20 minutes (!!!) and got on the ice ourselves. It was fun and incredible to actually be skating in front of that famous façade and, thankfully, we won’t the worst skaters on the ice!
After skating, we walked through the NBC Studios Store (hello, FRIENDS mug!), before making our way towards Times Square. We made a much-needed stop at an adorable Italian café, posed with our LOVE, and ended up at McGee’s Irish Pub. Side note – while my first love lies with Friends, How I Met Your Mother is a super close second (seriously, I watch both of these shows religiously, and could probably quote every single episode if someone let me). We enjoyed some delicious HIMYM drinks before continuing on to Times Square (New York is awesome! – Chandler Bing). We posed, we fought the crowd and slowly meandered back to our Pod, stopping in Bryant Park to admire the tree and skaters. After freshening up, we cabbed down to Radio City Music Hall to see – wait for it – The Rockettes! As a former dancer, their show awed me. We ate dinner off of Times Square at Tony’s di Napoli (get the parmigiana, seriously), before calling it a night.
The next day, we made our way down to Lower Manhattan to visit Wall Street and to check out the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. As someone who vividly remembers the details of 9/11, this museum was incredibly moving. My pictures are limited as many of the areas do not allow photos, but my advice is to experience this museum for yourself. Pictures do not do it justice and the experience itself was priceless.
Feeling slightly bummed after our museum experience, we made our way around lower Manhattan and, one of my favorite areas, Greenwich Village. <3 With a quick pit stop at the Friends’ apartment building, and a stroll through Washington Square Park, we stopped for a quick bite before heading back to our Pod.
Our last day there, we woke up to SNOW. Not soft, pretty, gentle snow – thick, heavy, wet snow. Spoiler alert – we were not dressed for this and ended up buying hats, gloves, and I desperately wanted new shows by the end of the day. We took the subway to the Brooklyn Bridge, walked through Little Italy where we had lunch (Italian food is my favorite), before making our way to the Upper East Side and Central Park. We grabbed some crepes from a cart and made our way through the slushy, fresh snow to get back to our Pod. We changed and cabbed down to Madison Square Garden. Side note – my fiancé is a HUGE hockey fan, so when he realized the Rangers were in town he decided we HAD to go to a game. We grabbed dinner at a Ranger-themed bar near the Garden and headed in for the game. After a Ranger win, we walked with the crowd back to Times Square and stopped for one more drink at, you guessed it, McGee’s!
We laughed, we ate, we drank, we danced, we experienced entirely too much slush for my liking, but any time in the Big Apple is better than no time. We love you, New York!
Until next time,
