NYC at Christmas Time

This year Michael and I decided that we really would rather travel than get some random gift for each other, so we left the weekend before Christmas and headed to NYC! It was the best Christmas gift ever!!! We hit all the major touristy hot spots and enjoyed some good quality time together. We were only there for 3 days and man did we cover a LOT of ground. Here's an overview of our trip:

Day 1: Snowing and 28 degrees

We landed and took our first train ride into Penn Station, dropped our bags off at the hotel, and began our adventure in the city. We started off at Rockefeller Plaza, witnessed a proposal on the ice rink, took pictures with THE TREE, and walked through the NBC store. For lunch we decided to take Elf's advice and went to the original Ray's Pizza. It was fabulous!

After lunch we went to Time Square where we hit the M&M and Hershey stores, Toy's R Us, Good Morning America studios, and walked our way down to Herald Square to witness the madness that is Macy's. We shopped for a while, enjoyed the Christmas decorations, and then made our way to the Empire State Building. We managed to time it perfectly for an amazing sunset. Most of the day it had been overcast, but once we made it to the top the sun finally came out. We stayed up watching all the lights come on in the city for about an hour- really until we froze our butts off, and then headed on to Bubba Gump's for dinner. After dinner we went to see Spamalot the Musical. It was definitely different than any other musical I have ever seen, but it is the one Michael really wanted to see, so I caved. It was actually really funny and I enjoyed it!

Day 2: Sunny and 15 degrees with the wind chill at 5 degrees
Holy cow, I'm pretty sure I've never been that cold before in my life. We caught the subway that morning and headed to Tribeca to enjoy breakfast at my favorite place, Bubby's! Oh man was it tasty! We stayed inside as long as we could and then finally ventured out and walked to the World Trade Center site. It is amazing the progress they have made in the 2 years since I last visited. This was the first time Michael was able to see Ground Zero and walk through all the memorial sites. After walking around the memorial, we headed to Canal Street to do some shopping, and then onto Little Italy to have some lunch. After a fabulous lunch we walked up to NYU and "toured" the campus. We were freezing, so we decided to catch the subway up to Park Ave. and spend some time inside at FAO Schwarz. It was hilarious, Michael was so excited about everything in the store. You name it, he wanted it! I'm pretty sure I witnessed what it will be like if we have a little boy one day. (in many, many years) :) After we played and finally warmed up, we walked to Radio City and saw the Christmas Spectacular performed by the famous Rockettes. It was wonderful! I think I enjoyed it a little more than Michael did, seeing as he feel asleep, but I think he enjoyed the parts he saw.

Day 3: Sunny and 20 degrees

We packed all our bags up and left the hotel for a stroll in Central Park. The park was gorgeous! I've never seen the Central Park with that much snow on the ground and the sidewalks were pure ice, which made walking a little interesting. My sweet husband decided it would be a great idea to get a running start and just slide down the sidewalk, I'm so glad we made it home with no broken bones. I am always amazed how peaceful the park is and this time was no different. We walked around for about 2 1/2 hours just talking, taking pictures, and people watching. It was a great way to end our trip.