Note - Lauren was the most avid photo taker so check out her facebook for the pics!
The day after arrival we went on Julia's famous city tour, taking in your typical Manhattan sites of note. We walked down Broadway from 105th to 59th taking special note of the shops I like, the supermarket I use and Lincoln Center. The girls eyed off the new Century 21 shop but I hurried them on. We reached the bottom corner of Central Park and spent some time cruising the Christmas Market at Columbus Circle. We then walked across the bottom of the park and went inside The Plaza Hotel for a squiz. We walked down Fifth Avenue for a bit and stopped for lunch in a cafe. I showed everyone Greenacre Park (from behind the massive gate) and then we walked down Lexington Ave to the Chrysler Building and Grand Central Station. We then went down to Union Square for a chill (I took Lucy to Petco to meet Redford, our most recent cat who was back in the shelter) and then walked through Chelsea to visit Timon on his last day of work at Kava.
On the 23rd we went on the UN tour with Steph and spent some time perusing the New York Public Library. We had lunch at the Moonstruck Diner (keeping in tradition) and waited until dark to go to Times Square. I loved my Dad's face as he gazed up at the craziness of it all, walking through the huge crowd with his face upturned. The girls had booked us into the revolving restaurant in the middle of Times Square for a fancy dinner so we made our way there and spent the evening eating incredible food and taking in different angles of the city. After dinner we walked to Rockefeller Plaza to check out the infamous tree and hang out with another zillion or so people.
On the 24th we revisited the Christmas Market, went shopping for food and built the gingerbread house.
The 25th was Christmas!
On the 26th we visited the Empire State Building (Lucy went shopping and Timon was too scared) which involved a good 2 hour wait but mercifully inside with groovy jazz band entertainment. We walked down to the Flatiron Building and subway'd to Greenwich Village and the High Line park for sunset.
Lucy, Lauren, Timon and I went to Avenue Q on the 27th while Mum and Dad went to the Million Dollar Quarter.
We ventured into Brooklyn on the 28th, via the Brooklyn Bridge. We randomly discovered some old mansions that Dad wanted to see and finished up at the Fashion Institute to see an exhibit of some fashionista's wardrobe. Mum and Lauren snuck off to Bloomingdales and Lucy went off with Steph for a best friends adventure.
On the 29th we suffered greatly at the hands of Mother Nature and endured an epic 2 hour wait in -degrees cold for the Statue of Liberty Island ferry. Lauren had to run off and buy extra socks, Lucy was crippled by the cold and we drank foul foodcart coffee to keep warm. The Statue was glorious though and made the whole thing worth it. Ellis Island was a complete waste of time.
The 30th saw us freezing again, this time at Yankee Stadium for the Pinstripe Bowl college football. We had great seats and the game was mostly interesting but the star was the varsity marching band. It was like in the movies but real! We had dinner that night at Freda's Caribbean which was delish.
On New Years Eve I spent half the day trying to book us into a family-style Italian restaurant. I finally had success at a place called Daniela's, right near Times Square. We were all squished on a tiny table and enjoyed plenty of wine and a great set menu (and some hilariously goofy waiters). We negotiated the crowds and found a spot on Broadway and 51st from where we could see the jumbovision screen of the NYE action. Lady Gaga performed for all of about 5 minutes but our spirits were high nonetheless. After the countdown and kisses we walked over to Johnny Utah's to ride the bull only to be turned away by the $40 cover charge! There were fireworks over Central Park and we made it home A-OK.
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