Christmas In New York – Part 2

Day 2 of our trip to the Big Apple for Christmas this year!  The entire post, in one really long post, can be found here.  Or, if you want to revisit Part 1 or Day 1, click here.

Who can go to NYC and not try to get on The Today Show?

Not us!

Al was outside more than all the others.  We were a little late getting there so we were about three rows back and I’m quite certain we did NOT make it on television for our 15 seconds of fame, or whatever it is now.

But.  It was fun to see the crew, including Wrangler.

And Thursday the selfie stick was in hand…so selfie #1

On to Central Park or if you’ve seen “Date Night” – “THE Central Park!”

My short list of activities/things to see/do included ice skating in Central Park.  Funny thing was when we asked the front desk person at our hotel they didn’t even know about it.  Wollman Rink is just inside the south end of the park…  And honestly as magical as the thought of ice skating in Central Park sounded…the reality of it was so much more so.

When we got to the rink it was just before 9:30am…it didn’t open until 10 so we took a stroll up the path, sat down on a bench and watched the world go by.  I was fascinated by the number of languages I heard while sitting on that bench for just a few minutes.  Andrew and I played the “Date Night” game – What’s the Story?  to try to figure out where people were from, what they were doing, where they were going, etc.

Back down at the rink around 9:45 the line was starting to form so we joined in.

Laced up and ready to go!

I think you can tell from our faces that we were pretty excited to be there.  We had the most fun.  I only busted my tail once, when I took my eyes off the horizon and tried to take a video of Andrew!  But it was so worth it!

We left the rink when the school buses dropped off about 50 kids who had never skated before.  They were all doing that scream-laugh that’s really hilarious at first and then well, it just gets loud with that many kids and the magical hour of skating just became LOUD.   We did, however, sit and watch them all clinging to the wall laughing and yelling at each other in terrified glee.  It was great.

After we left the rink we were bound for some food.  Wouldn’t you know it, we stumbled upon another set of these pop-up shops that are seemingly in every park of NYC at Christmas…

Andrew was fancying an empanada so we pulled up to this bright orange bench and enjoyed the scenery and a really delicious bit of chicken pastry.

Next we continued our stroll looking for the restaurant district…which we discovered wasn’t quite where we’d been told it was…and then, on the right hand side of the road was…

Tavern On The Green.

Ok, so three and a half years ago when we were in NYC, it was closed – due to renovations.  Others said it was permanently closed.  So when it wasn’t showing up on my map, I thought it WAS closed.

We walked up the back, there was a man in white cleaning off the side walk…”hmm, I mean, I guess it could be open, but there are no cars…”

We continued to the front and saw this beautiful red berry tree…

It is stunning on the inside.  I have no idea of what it looked like before but this was completely gorgeous!

And then we ate really amazing food…

We had to get a pic in front of their tree 🙂

I think at this point I posted on FB that it had been a magical day thus far…it really had been.

As we sort of made our way back thru midtown, we went thru Times Square.

This billboard was fantastic.

We made a pit-stop in the Disney store to pick up a few sursies for Reynolds and Eliza Jane.

Do you see us?

First CFA – it’s two stories and the line of customers was out the door and around the corner…the best thing that ever happened to NYC!

Macy’s and their Peanuts window displays {night time photos are below – KEEP scrolling!!!}

A really cool walkway…

For all of our friends that told us to eat pizza…Waldy’s was AMAZING!!!! $8 for a pizza and it was delicious!  Oh, and a soda came with it!  WHAT?!

After the pizza we went to our room and Andrew took a nap while I worked for about an hour.

The last thing on our short list was to see Rockefeller Center all lit up at night.

First, Eataly.  If you’ve ever been, you know how amazing this place is.  I literally could wander around for hours.  HOURS.

Pasta, pasta and MORE pasta!!!!

Say cheeeeeessssseeee!

And this one was for Reynolds…yes, Nutella goes with everything!  An entire section dedicated to all of your Nutella dreams…

Next stop, Saks Fifth Avenue…remember the photo from the very beginning – the castle on the outside of their beautiful 5th Avenue store?  Meet their light show!

The lights of course were set to music and yes, I did take a video while we stood on the corner with a thousand of our closest friends…and completely in awe of this beautiful sight!

The Rockefeller Plaza and the tree.

Oh, and about as soon as we took our selfie and I got this really great shot of the tree, this happened…

Anyone wanting to propose at Christmas time, this guy just raised the bar for you.

Hello?!  Private skating in RC…with thousands of people gasping and then screaming and clapping in joyful celebration along with you?!  Bless.

The soldiers were a favorite…

On to Times Square where things got a little interesting.  First of all…see all the ruffles of pretty colors in the photo below?  This, er, individual was laying on the ground.  And then there in the corner of Walgreens there started a little scuffle between another person and a few NYPD officers.  So then the ruffled mass got up with all his belongings and moved closer.  At this point, I wanted to run for my life, unsure of what was about to happen with the scuffle in the corner {it was loud…}.  Andrew?  No.  No, Andrew wanted to go closer.  And he did, while I clung to my selfie stick ready to start swinging…

Thankful for the officers that subdued the troublemaker and allowed us tourists to continue as we were. 🙂

Another one for R.

{I’m sorry if you’re bored at this point..but really, you shouldn’t be!!!  It’s almost over, just a few more pics!}

Ok, so after the thing with the dude and the officers, I was ready to go somewhere less exciting.  Like Bryant Park.

I’m telling y’all…this place…the skating rink was always packed!!  We sat down and watched the experts and the beginners.  We laughed, we “ooohhhh”‘d with them…it was such fun.

Looking back towards Times Square…the lights…it’s just so bright!

I had heard that the Empire State Building would be lit up in red and green…this is not red or green or even a combination thereof…

But still, it was pretty!

Back in front of Macy’s and their window displays of scenes from Peanuts!

They were so cute!

On our quest for dinner we were trying to decide what nationality we’d not visited for food and somehow we’d totally missed Italian…back to Eataly for our last meal in NYC and it was fantastic!

One random photo for you, from the subway

And that’s it, friends!!!!  I hope you enjoyed your jpeg tour of NYC at Christmas!  We loved every minute of being there.  We saw all the things we wanted to see and did all the things we wanted to do in our short stay.

If you’re going this year or any year for that matter…at Christmas, see the lights, see 5th Avenue, GO to the Rockettes AND ice skate!  Either in Central Park or Bryant Park {but go early!!!}.

Thanks for being so fun and allowing me to share this adventure with you!