This past Saturday was dedicated to New York City. I've been to New York City before but never to this area. This time around we went to Time Square and Rockefeller Center...and we couldn't have picked worse weather. Of course once you've got the trip all planned and paid for you are committed to going, so bad weather must just be tolerated. Early in the week I started hearing about snow..and I blew it off. There was plenty of time for the forecast to change. The weather man never knows what he's talking about. Those weather men are always gun-ho for some kind of storm. All these phrases and more were running through my head every time I saw a forecast I didn't like. Our weather has been so warm lately I just wouldn't believe that it wouldn't stay that way. I figured we'd get rain if anything.
Saturday morning felt colder than most of the cold days we'd had so far...didn't shake my confidence. I was too busy getting myself and "the girls" all set for the day. I didn't have time to think about much of anything but packing my knapsack and feeding and pottying the pups. I felt bad for them, knowing that they would not be having a fun Saturday. I had people set up to stop by for potty calls but they were going to have to spend most of their day in the pens. Poor little girls!
Justin came wandering out to the kitchen with barely a half hour to get ready. I have a perverse sense of humor at times so I told him we may not be able to go today...there's at least a foot of snow out there! He expressed shock and disbelief but never looked out the window for himself. He took my word for it and continued getting ready, thinking everyone that was meeting at my house was probably going to be late. I had a smirk on my face as I headed back upstairs to finish getting ready.
Not 5 mins later everyone started arriving and I heard Justin ask so how are the roads? Kathy (KC's Mom) gave him a blank look and said what do you mean? It wasn't long after that that he figured out Mommy lied to him and we had a good laugh about it.
Still, I wasn't believing it was going to snow....it was misting out a little but I thought that was all we would see for the day. I was so wrong!!
It took us a little less than an hour to get to the parking lot in Meridan where we were supposed to meet the bus. When we got there the bus wasn't there yet but people were arriving. Eventually the bus arrived and we all loaded up. It's been my experience on bus trips that people will often make instant friends with total strangers or at least share in the anticipation of a fun day ahead. This trip was no different in that respect. We were laughing and joking with some of the people around us within minutes. And to make the trip even more fun a huge box of snacks and a cooler full of water bottles was placed in the seat right behind mine. Great location!
There was some delay getting to NY because of a mysterious need to change bus drivers....still don't know what that was all about but it caused some irritation for the passengers. Once we got to NY and were going to be dumped in different locations, the woman leading the trip told us to look for the bus between 48th and 49th street near St. Patrick's cathedral. She gave us the bus number and her cell phone number as well and we piled out the door into the heart of Times Square and eventually made our way to Rockefeller Center.
There were Christmas lights everywhere and the huge tree was not only ablaze with color but surrounded by lighted angels. It was very impressive but for some reason I thought that tree would have looked bigger. Maybe it would have looked much bigger if we could have walked right up to it...but that wasn't possible. The streets were crawling with people going in every direction and it was starting to rain more. The wind kicked up a bit and I realized I'm going to be colder as the day goes on because I'd forgotten my gloves and didn't think I'd need my earmuffs. Within minutes after getting off the bus I was buying a beautiful scarf from a street vendor for $5.00. (I love the street vendors!!) A few minutes later we were all tramping into a store to look for hats and gloves. I didn't find a hat or even earmuffs that I wanted to wear but I bought a pair of cheap cotton gloves for $1.99 and I was good to go.
Once outside I overcame my desire to "look good" and wrapped my new scarf over my head and around my neck. It kept most of the rain off my hair (I could charge admission to let people see what my hair does in the rain!) and blocked the wind as well. We started off down the street, looking at every shop window and gawking at the all the video type billboards on every building. I'm sure the expressions on our faces and the glazed look in our eyes would have screamed out to new yorkers that we are "tourists"...but we were packed in with other tourist that were just as mesmerized as we were and lets face it, real new yorkers should be used to people wandering around their city with their mouths hanging open, pointing at everything like children. Every few feet I could see someone taking pictures; someone stopping in mid stride to avoid ruining someone else's picture; people wandering around looking excited or impressed and even confused.
It felt like we walked all over that city but I know it was really only a small fraction of it. We did visit M&M World...that was total chaos! Never before have I been in a store that was so packed with people that they had attendants at the escalators to ensure that only a few people were allowed on at a time so they could be absorbed into the crowds at the top and the bottom. The attendants were literally screaming for people to move immediately out of the way so the people behind them would not be caught by the escalator. (Now I understand how those horror stories about escalators actually happen!) It was uncomfortably snug with people in that place....so we all got what we wanted and got out as quick as we could but it still took some time because we kept losing members of our group. I did manage to take a side photo of a gigantic blue M&M dude all done up like Elvis. Wouldn't I love to have that on my front lawn!
We got to view the famous Macy's windows (and plowed our way through the store also)...but to tell the truth I wasn't overly impressed with them. Yes, they were animated and each had a Christmas theme...but somehow I guess I just expected them to be really way over the top and I was expecting an artists rendering of each theme. What I saw looked like something an ordinary marketing dept would come up with. It was well done but a bit ordinary to me. (commercial maybe?) I guess I'm someone that always appreciates an artistic touch whenever I see it...and I just about worship an artist that can WOW me with a concept that I've never thought of before...I like it when art expands my perception of the world. These windows didn't do that for me. They were...normal concepts with expected animation added. (small yawn here)
We had lunch at a place called Stout...don't understand the name...(probably because I don't drink beer?) but the restaurant was nice. I ordered a Cesar salad with smoked salmon...not realizing that smoked salmon is raw, smoked fish sliced thin. I hated it! (as soon as I put it in my mouth all I could think of was where can I spit it out?!) It's good to try new things...but I hated it. Justin and Kathy helped me eat the salmon..I ate the lettuce. Lesson learned....don't order smoked salmon ever again. We took pictures at the restaurant because we were so glad to get out of the rain and the warmth and food made everyone feel happier. I liked the interior of this restaurant...it had booths and dark, glossy woodwork with low lighting. It had been recommended to us by a cashier at a previous store we had popped into.
When we left the restaurant it was absolutely pouring outside! We all had umbrellas at this point but the wind didn't make it easy to use them. (every street corner had a vendor selling umbrellas...and they were loud about it!) Even with the umbrella it was necessary to keep my head wrapped up; my feet and pant legs were already soaked; but my hands were warm and dry!
On our way to Rockefeller Center we passed the outdoor ice skating rink. It's built with steps leading down to it and it's wonderfully decorated all around. We were pretty wet and cold at this point so we didn't linger there but I recall seeing massive toy soldiers standing in sets of two near all the stairways. Now THOSE I liked! (again....something I'd like to have in my yard. ha ha)
Most of the day I had a vague idea of where I was but I wasn't overly concerned about it either. I was enjoying the shops and once we made it to Rockefeller Center...well, that's were I finally saw the artistic interpretation of Christmas. And this was where I really felt the need to take pictures but no picture can do justice to the giant red Christmas ornaments constructed in the middle of a water display. (I SO wanted to touch them!They even had the hooks on them...as if they were just waiting for some giant to come along and place them on his tree!) There were also some fantastic, massive Christmas lights in the same plaza. Once again, I took pictures but they don't give you the scope of how huge the display was. The entire area was lit by smaller white lights all over the trees and some trees had an unusual light setup that made it look like lighted rain coming off the trees. Beautiful to watch...even in the rain. Don't want to forget to mention also that there was a large tree of lights up on the side of a building that continually changed from red to gold...very nice.
Now you will recall that our trip organizer had told us to meet at 48th and 49th streets....so we were heading that way. We were all so soaked through and cold that we decided to duck in to a Star Bucks for coffee and warmth. While we were there it started to snow...thick, wet sloppy snowflakes that splatter as they hit the sidewalk. But we were inside warming up with coffee and sharing the warm air blasting down from above somewhere. We watched the snow and waited, everyone keeping an eye out for the bus. Our wait was made even better by a girl that kept coming around the room with free samples of different flavored latte's in small cups. I don't normally drink much coffee. I'm a dedicated tea drinker. But those latte's were delicious! I had two of them and it wasn't long before I had a pleasant sugar and caffeine high going.
Believe it or not we spent approx 1 and a half hours in that Star Bucks. We didn't have seats but we didn't care...as long as we weren't outside. The doors were left open and more and more people were crowding into that store..very little of them were leaving. Some of them were people from our bus which was comforting because we weren't told exactly where to wait for the bus and that was making us a little nervous. Eventually the woman who organized the trip (never got her name) called us and said we were supposed to wait for the bus at 47th and 48th! Out into the freezing cold we go again! No one was happy about the switch in locations.
We met up with other bus folks on the corner. All of us were cold and wet, standing in the rain and snow waiting..feeling pretty miserable by this point. Our group was pretty irritated that she had changed the location too...lots of people from the bus were never told about the change. As it turned out someone told her she got the location wrong and we had to once again troop back to 48th and 49th streets! (by this point I would have gladly wrung her neck!)
After what felt like an eternity waiting for that bus it finally showed up. Some of us were actually running to get on it...we were that desperate for warmth and a place to sit down! Once on the bus the happy smiles came back on our faces and we settled in for the ride back to Ct. I fell asleep for a little while but it's not possible for me to stay asleep on a bus. When I sleep sitting up like that my mouth keeps falling open and it wakes me up! ha ha
Once we got back to the parking lot it was another hour just to get home. I was never so happy to see my house! I just wanted to get my wet shoes and socks off and get comfortable.
The girls were ecstatic to see me. They must have thought I was never coming back. I should have been home around 7:30 pm but thanks to the spontaneous schedule changes made by our trip organizer, I didn't get in the door until 9:00 pm! Everyone had had enough fun for one day so they all scattered to their own cars and left quickly. I still had to feed the pups and let them play for a couple of hours so I wasn't going to bed soon.
Overall it was a nice trip. The big city sights were great. The Christmas decorations were lovely to see and I'm glad I went. But I can guarantee you that I won't go on a trip to New York City with Justin's work people organizing it again. They are too scatter brained for me. Changing bus drivers; changing locations for pick up; changing the time of pick up...no thanks! Ill make sure if I travel with them again that they've got a parking lot to meet at and someone in charge that isn't prone to forgetting where she told us to meet and isn't inclined to change meeting times on the spur of the moment.
I didn't take a lot of pictures in New York but these are the pictures I did take. I hope you like them.
