Alicia: Christmas in New York City!

I've always wanted to see New York at Christmas! My friend Amber from work asked if I'd like to join her and I said yes! We took a red eye flight on December 9th, getting into NYC around 6am on December 10th. Let's just say I won't be doing that flight again...after working a night shift and then 2 back to back day shifts...I was a mess! We were able to store our bags at our hotel, yet we couldn't check in for another 2.5 hours. So what do you do in NYC, endless things, but at 7am?!? We walked down the street to a cute little cafe and bought breakfast. We then went and bought a subway pass, got off at the 34th St. stop and walked to Macy's. The scene of a "Miracle on 34th Street"! Yet it didn't open until 8am...so we kept walking. We walked up to 42nd street, Times Square! I LOVE Times Square!!! The atmosphere is infectious, bright lights, sound, and the people! Okay, I could do without the people, so many of them...nevertheless I love it! It's home to Broadway! It was empty! We took a few pictures and turned back around. It was starting to rain and I didn't grab my gloves or scarf from the bag I left at the hotel and was beginning to freeze. Finally, it was 8am and we wandered into the beauty and wonder of Macy's!

We took the escalators up to the 8th floor...8th floor! Wow! Everything was so sparkly, festive, and bright for the holidays. Once we got to the 8th floor, we stood in line to see Santa! Now I just wanted to "see" Santa, I didn't want to actually see Santa. If that makes any sense. I was exhausted, felt like crap, had a pounding headache, and all I wanted was a nap. Nevertheless, I didn't want to miss out on anything. The line was nonexistent, as you can see! Santa is here...I love it! As the clocked chimed, they ushered us in to the Santa Wonderland (literally, that's what they called it) where we were quickly guided into see Santa. The couple with their kids in front of us were guided to the left, as we were guided to the right. I asked, how many Santa's were in this place?...but they only said one! ;) I'm guessing there had to be at least 10 or so. What a thriving metropolis!

After seeing Santa, Amber and I made our way down from the top floor. We passed the "Believe" meter, currently at Dream!

The decorations were fantastic!

The cute little Gramercy Cafe on the corner of 17th St and 3rd Avenue where we got breakfast our first early morning. My belgium waffle and scrambled eggs were delicious! After breakfast and Macy's, we were able to check into our hotel and after a 4 hour nap, I felt a ton better!

Even the lions at the New York City Public Library were decked out for the holidays!

I think my favorite part of the whole trip was seeing the signs for "He is the gift" from the church displayed in Times Square. They have 3 permanent billboards and 2-3 rotating ones...amazing!

Amber and I at Times Square!

Rockefeller Center tree and angels!

...and the tiny, small, minuscule, itty bitty ice skating rink!

Every morning we'd walk to Union Square to catch the subway and walk through the market. I loved their fresh wreaths and trees!

A view of the Trump Ice Skating rink within Central Park, where we displayed our many tricks on Friday, December 12th. Ok, not really, but my trick was that...I didn't fall on my butt! I was nervous to skate at first, it's been years, but after the first half hour or so, I was gliding with ease. But if I needed to stop, I still had to glide to a stop or catch myself on the wall. Someday I'll learn to stop on my rollerblades and on skates!

Tada...look at me!

We had to be quick to get our picture taken, as no electronic equipment was allowed on the ice. Yet, we frequently saw the workers taking people's pictures, so what?!? We asked 2 women from the Netherlands and I told them how much I loved their country!

On December 12th, we put our names down for the 1.5-2 hour wait to sit at a table in Serendipity 3! We then took the subway back to Times Square, bought tickets to see If/Then, and then rushed back. They were able to sit us rather quickly which was nice so we could eat and then get back, once again, to Times Square. Amber and I shared chicken nachos and a Serendipity must have...frozen hot chocolate!

Ok, you've got to see this show! Hilarious!! We saw 3 musicals (Once, If/Then, and A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder) and the Nutcracker at the Lincoln Center. But I laughed the hardest at this one!

My favorite shot of Times Square! I loved the santa billboard and I caught it at the same time as "He is the gift" was on! Perfect!

Olaf...my buddy!

And we saw a HUGE Sven at the Disney Store in Times Square! I mean massive! I bought the baby, baby Sven to go with my baby Olaf at home!

Each morning we ran in Central Park! There were so many different paths to take, so many options, I loved it! Amber and I may have staged these photos...well it's not very easy to take photos of one another when you're both running... :)

Ok you're probably wondering what this logo is about...well it has to do with an Alicia moment! And if any of you know me well enough, I have amazing Alicia moments! This one isn't entirely my fault, ok here it is! So while walking around New York City, I saw a lot of people with this logo on their coats. My first thought when I saw the first person was wow, they are a scientist with the Government and they work in Antartica! If you've seen the movie, 8 Below, the scientists wear similar patches, very similar on their coats in the movie. Naturally that's my source of knowledge, a movie! Yet, I kept seeing people with this patch on their coat. I then thought they had a conference or something in New York and they were all wearing their coats since maybe it's the warmest one they have. And then when Amber and I walked through Bloomingdales's, I saw some coats for sale...with the patch above! Canada Goose brand coats, on sale but still about $500!! Gulp, my gosh! No wonder people were wearing them proudly! Ok, so they aren't scientists, just rich! I let Amber in on my Alicia moment and so to make fun of myself the rest of the trip, every time I saw someone wearing one of these coats, I pointed them out to Amber and said, "hey, there's a scientist"!

On our last day, we checked out of our hotel at noon and left our bags there until 3:30p. We took the subway downtown and walked the Brooklyn Bridge.

You can see the Statue of Liberty, really small, in the distance!

I like this photo!

I love the views of New York and of the harbor when you walk the bridge!

We got pizza at Grimaldi's, the original place under the bridge! It was so good! But then we had to run back, literally, to the subway and catch the express to 14th street to get to our hotel where our hotel had arranged for a car to take us to the airport. :(