New York City – December 2006

After Christmas this year, mom & I decided to visit New York City and celebrate New Year’s in style! It was truly an experience I don’t think either of us will ever forget. We boarded the train in Buffalo, NY and we without a car for almost a week. New York at Christmas time is truly a magical place that everybody probably should experience! Here are some pictures to share…

One of the first places we visited was Central Park. I think we both really enjoyed this park as it truly is the only peaceful place in the whole city.

Wollman Rink is probably the most popular place in the park that time of year. Everybody seemed to be having a great time — I think it costs a bit to rent skates.

Even if she doesn’t look it (it was a bit cold), mom is having a great time!

Next stop was the Metropolitan Museum of Art — this really is an amazing museum and I don’t think our three or so hours did it justice. I couldn’t believe how busy the place was!!!

We stayed our first two nights at the Hudson Hotel, which was probably the coolest place I’ve ever stayed. The bar especially were very interesting to say the least!

The lobby was pretty darn unique as well.

The rooms were a *bit* on the small side though…..

Grand Central Terminal truly is the hub of the city — they have a really neat light show there during the holidays.

The first time you see the tree at Rockefeller Center is something you may never forget. It is absolutely the biggest tree I’ve ever seen in my life! And the lights!!! And, of course, they do some skating here as well…

Mom enjoyed the tree as well and was having a great time in the big city!

(Note that there are MANY more pictures of the tree in my gallery)

Of course no trip to New York is complete without stopping in Times Square — this was the calm before the storm…

On our second day in the city, we visited the South Street Seaport and stood in line for tickets to the Radio City Christmas show. It was long and cold but we got some pretty good tickets. This is pretty near Brookly, so I got a fair picture of the bridge.

We stopped to pay our respects at Ground Zero — it has come a long way since we were last there and they have some interesting pictures now.

Radio City Music Hall and the Rockettes — this was a great performance and very Christmasy…

All the stores had really neat Christmas displays — this one is from Saks.

The next day, we went to Greenwich Village and Soho. Mom really enjoyed Greenwich Village and says she would like to go back there someday. They had lots of fun places to eat. And I *almost* lost my camera!!! Lucky, the really nice people working the bar where we ate found my camera or else you wouldn’t get to see any of these pictures!!!

We next visited the Holiday Market in Bryant Park. This is right in midtown Manhattan and great fun, especially for mom. This was late afternoon so I got some nice pictures of the sky…

Our favorite store in Times Square:

MY favorite store!!!

So New Year’s in New York City is an experience! Many will say not to go — but I am not one of them. It is truly something not to be forgotten!!! The quantity of people is just enormous but they are all very well behaved so it’s not a problem. And there is the largest police presence I have ever witnessed. We had to go all the way up to 57th street (I think) to enter the queues… but we ended up at something like 50th where we could easily see the ball. Everybody had a good time and I don’t think the pictures do it justice!

(So yeah — it was cold)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

On New Years Day, we visited the Museum of Modern Art, as the weather didn’t cooperate with out other plans. This place was packed as well, and a very unique place to visit. I really enjoyed the weird art they had there.

Our last night we stayed at the Grand Hyatt…. and had the most amazing view of the Chrysler Building out our window! Thank you priceline!!!

Our last meal in New York was in Little Italy at La Mela. I thought it was the best Italian I have ever had! Really good stuff!! And the area was very cute.

This is the way to end a great week in New York City!!!

But wait — we had one more experience… eating breakfast at the Rock Cafe right next to the ice. THAT is the way to end a trip. It has become our tradition, I think.