New York, Baby!

Last weekend Boyd and I ventured to New York City! We wanted to see what Christmas in New York was really all about. It turns out, it is mostly about crowds! Saturday was a perfect day for sight-seeing because it was not too cold and there was no wind or snow (quite the opposite of Minnesota that day...). We are only a 1.5-2 hour train ride away from the city, so it's pretty easy and not too expensive to make the trip.

After dropping our stuff off at our friend Alicia's apartment in "Stuy Town", we took the subway to the Met Museum. The Met is HUGE and it has a varied collection and instead of going to the American art (which is our go-to section of the art museum), we saw the period/decorative arts rooms, photography, musical instruments, and the "Arms and Armor" section. It was pretty cool to go to an art museum and not just look at paintings!

Boyd in the Met Museum store. Cool a 3D book about Lincoln!

Next, we walked through Central Park. This time of year the park is between the beauty of fall and the magic of winter snow, so it was just a lot of bare trees and cement paths. I think it would be really beautiful in summer, and a nice haven from the craziness of the city.

There are SO MANY PEOPLE in NYC!! The weekends right before Christmas are even more busy than usual and so instead of waiting in LONG lines to even enter stores on 5th Avenue (like FAO Schwartz) we just window shopped. For one moment, we got out of the hustle and bustle and caught the last 10 minutes of a Saturday night service at St Thomas Church. It was so startling to go from the herd-like mentality of 5th Ave to the beautiful singing in the church. Look at the crowd outside the Apple store!

One piece of advice: NEVER try to see the Rockefeller Center on a weekend near Christmas! Just don't. Not even if your really want to see the famous Christmas tree or take a picture of the 30 Rock building. It's just not worth it! We got stuck in a crowd and LITERALLY (yes I do mean literally) could not move one step in any direction. At one point I think I was even lifted off the ground for a second and I thought "this is how people die in stampedes."

Here is my attempt to take a picture of both Boyd and the Christmas tree...

On Broadway, after surviving Rockefeller Center

We made it out alive (barely) and then we really needed a beer and some onion rings. mmmmm. We found a great, overpriced, pub near Broadway and I was so excited to get a Magner's, which was my favorite Irish cider.

We got dinner and then saw a NY Philharmonic production of "Beethoven and Mahler".The violin soloist was really amazing and overall the dynamics were really impressive.

If that feels like a whirlwind trip, that's because it was! We took the train home in the pouring rain on Sunday afternoon, reading the NY Times and finally being able to picture the different parts of Manhattan as I read the news stories. It was a great trip and I can't wait to go again to see more of this crazy city!

P.S. Meanwhile, back on the home front, Qwill says, "Tut- tut, it looks like rain, dudes!"