December 16, 2007

Yesterday, I spent the day in the city (New York City) taking in the sights of the season with my sister, Lisa, her daughter Erin, and two of Erin’s friends - Laice and Rachael, who had all driven down from upstate New York. We had planned to go ice skating in Rockefeller Plaza; however, so did a lot of others, and wait times were 1-2 hours. Same for the rink over at Bryant Park. Needless to say, skating didn’t happen. But, we found other ways to keep us entertained - even in the brutal cold.

After taking the bus in, we made our way over to FAO Schwarz. I’d never been there before and, to say I felt like a little kid again was an absolute understatement. There’s a lot of unique and hard-to-find things - relics from our childhood memories - i.e. Steiff bears, cast iron model cars - and new “old-style” - Button in the ear, etc.

An hour and a half later, we left FAO in search of a restaurant. I hadn’t eaten anything since the night before, and was starving. Across the street from FAO is PopBurger. Decisions, decisions. What to get? After settling on Cokes, fries and miniburgers, and salads, and loaded up on cholesterol and grease, we were ready to brave the cold again.


After filling our bellies with food, we started to make our way back over to Rockefeller to see the tree, and skate. All of the city was lit up in it’s finest Christmas splendor. Some were to display the store’s offerings, while others depicted the spirit of the season. Some were very sparkly and aglow with lights while others enticed the shoppers with sale! sale! sale.

A lot of the stores I had never visited before. Tiffany’s was one of those. Loving the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to check it out. Walking in, it looked pretty much the same as I recalled it from the movie - but I only visited the first floor - fine jewelry. Of course, we browsed the cases, and gawked at the decorations beautifully adorning the store. The girls got bored, and we left, onward to the next destination, and then the next after that.

Finally, we arrived at Rockefeller. It was packed with others who also wanted to see the tree, and to skate. I didn’t realize how popular the skating was there until I was told there was a 2-hour waiting line. Yeah, I don’t think so. We pushed our way up to see the tree, shot a bunch of pictures, and then found another store, Anthropologie, to warm up in. What we discovered was there was a whole ‘nother set of stores under Rockefeller that I never knew existed. So we walked around inside for a while, grabbed coffee at Starbucks, and were back on our way outside again.

It was starting to get late, and decided to start making our way back to the Port Authority to catch our bus home. We came upon Bryant Park and the Christmas Shoppes. The girls loved these - and darted in and out of the tiny boutiques, looking for something to buy. Rachael didn’t buy the hat (in the picture at right), but did model it quite well. We found the Pond at the park but it, too, had a waiting line in excess of an hour for skating. Rat bastards!

Tired now, we left the shoppes, and continued on to the Port Authority. In Times Square, we stopped so the girls could savor the moment. In a split second, they spotted Toys-R-Us across the street, and persuaded us we should go there. So, being the good moms, we did. This was the biggest Toys-R-Us I’ve ever seen - three stories. The girls spotted a ferris wheel, and made it their mission to not only ride it, but to ride in the “My Little Pony” car. Amazingly enough, they got it, too.

After the girls’ ride, we finally made it back to the Port Authority and caught the bus home. Arriving home, the first thing I did was turn on my electric blanket, and then set up the girls where to have a slumber party and all sleep together. Our journey having ended, we were wiped out. Climbing in my cozy bed, I was asleep in seconds. Well, there are many more pictures, but I’m too tired to put them all up (sorry). Check the photogallery in the next few days, as I’ll be posting them there.

We had a great time, and are looking forward to doing it again next year. The next time, hopefully, with more family.

How was your weekend?

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