A Whirlwind Christmas Tour in the Big Apple

Ah, New York City. The iconic set for so many movies, and in particular, some Christmas favorites in our family: Elf, Miracle on 34th Street, Home Alone 2, to name a few. Since my boys had never visited NYC, I knew that this was the year to take them, ideally, during the holiday season. Though I'm on a planned deferred leave year, I didn't account for fitting this in with everyone else's schedules, hence, our 'whirlwind tour' had us in Manhattan for a mere 36.5 hours.

We arrived at our last minute, Priceline-booked hotel at 10:30pm, hungry and excited to be perfectly located in Midtown. We dropped our bags and headed out looking for authentic New York style pizza. Manhattan was as easy as I remembered to navigate due to its consistently numbered streets and avenues, and as luck would have it, our hotel was on 45th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenue. We headed in the direction of 5th Avenue and turned a corner to see some sort of holiday light show going on. We were around the corner from Saks Fifth Avenue! This is the must-see store in all of NYC for it's holiday display, with ten stories of coordinated lights depicting a "Theatre of Dreams", with a tip of the hat to Broadway. Each window tells the story of a shopper who falls asleep and dreams of shopping for luxurious items throughout the store. I had actually watched a clip of it's opening on TV where over one hundred Broadway dancers put on a show in front of the store in November.

After we oohed and ahhed over this amazing sight, we literally turned around and saw the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. We were standing in front of The Channel Gardens lined with Christmas Angels leading pedestrians to Rockefeller Center. I had also watched the star studded performances leading up to the lighting of this year's tree on TV only a couple of weeks ago. We walked towards the tree and were treated to the popular sight of the golden sculpture of Prometheus overseeing the skaters on the seasonal ice rink. The boys were thrilled to have only been in New York for an hour and to have already been treated to the famous scenes of movies and television. We stopped for some pics and as we posed, the lights of the tree went out. 11:30pm, apparently, is shut down time. Still with pizza on the brain, we walked around the 30 Rock building towards Radio City Music Hall's recognizable neon sign.

With no open pizzerias to be found yet, we used our Google Maps app to locate a good pizza spot, and we were off to to Times Square, to Joe's Pizza. Joe's has been an institution for 44 years as the place to go for an authentic slice, and they claim, "No glossy corporate backing, no fancy pants pies, no pretentious nonsense and no gimmicky budget pizza either.   We are tried and true - the real deal." After waiting in an expected line up, we all savored every bite and it was truly delicious. After all, all the celebrities on the wall couldn't be wrong, could they?

Times Square, to my boys, looked like the pictures, but with a lot less people. Keep in mind, it was shortly after midnight at this point, and the crowds are significantly less than usual here. Nonetheless, Times Square? Check! (Still safe walking the streets with our 12 and 18 year olds? Check! Just in case you were wondering.)

We started our morning early, with only having one full day in the city. By 8:45am, we were all sufficiently fed and clean, and off we went to ride the New York City subway system on our way to the Financial District and the Staten Island Ferry. Who goes to New York without, at least, a good look at the Statue of Liberty, and riding the free ferry to Staten Island and back is a great way to do it on a budget. We were treated to a clear and sunny view of the "Lady" in all of her green glory, and a lovely view of Lower Manhattan upon our return. After discussing the scientific reasons for her green color (she's made of copper and over time, 132 years in her case, the chemical make up of the copper sheets reacts with the oxygen, carbon dioxide, humidity and air pollution to create a patina layer that helps protect the metal underneath), we headed back to Radio City Music Hall to pick up tickets from our TodayTix concierge for the matinee show we couldn't miss.

If you ever find yourself in NYC during the holiday season, as many people have told us, you CANNOT miss seeing Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Spectacular featuring The Rockettes. First of all, Radio City Music Hall is an amazing and beautiful theatre in itself and could boast the world's largest auditorium when it was constructed in 1929. The theatre stage features a series of moveable and rotating sections controlled by hydraulics. It has been home to the world famous precision dance company, The Rockettes, since 1932. The Christmas Spectacular show was been a New York tradition since 1933. And spectacular it was, with a delightful story, colorful costumes, incorporated film and projections taking over the entire theatre hall including the walls and ceiling, and, of course, perfect dance, and orchestrated music. There was even elements of 3D. I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it, and was incredibly astounded and immersed in this entertaining experience.

Next up was Central Park before dusk. To make the most of our sightseeing time, we wandered our way up Fifth Avenue, to check out the other amazing store holiday displays at places such as Tiffany's, Begdorf Goodwin, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Microsoft Fifth Avenue, and Tommy Hilfiger to name a few notable spots. On the way by the Trump Tower, some of us posed for a sardonic pic with armed guards in the background, and then, happily, we moved away to cross the street towards the south entrance of Central Park.

We made our way up East Drive past Central Park Zoo, posing for pics on the big rocks with skyscrapers in the background. Mike thought to get our boys to pose with the famous Gapstow Bridge and Wollman Rink in the background. We reached The Mall and followed it to Belthesda Terrace and Fountain. I wished we could have had time to explore more of the park. In particular, I would have liked to shown the boys the Alice in Wonderland statue, the Obelisk behind The Metropolitan Museum (and the museum itself), the Belvedere Castle (which they would have seen in a Smurf movie), Tavern on the Green and The Great Lawn. We did pay our respects to John Lennon, before leaving, at Strawberry Fields, his memorial, with both Ben and Ethan being Beatles fans. Vacating the park from here, we did check out The Dakota where Yoko Ono still lives, along with many other people of the rich and famous variety.

In need of a little rest, we walked back to our hotel for a happy hour reception. Gaining an appetizer and beverage for our bellies, and an hour with our feet up, we then found a yummy Thai restaurant up the street. And, finally, our last stop of the day, was Dylan's Candy Bar, a huge, pop culture candy emporium whom welcomes over 2 million guests a year, and has been on many of New York's 'Top Ten' tourist attractions list.

With our last couple of hours, in the morning, we decided we couldn't leave New York without checking the New York Public Library's main branch and much filmed location. It was only a nine minute walk from our hotel, so we donned our backpacks, with intentions of catching our Uber to the airport from there. Sure enough, the Lions were donned with their Christmas wreaths, and inside, the palace-like scene was complete with a massive, "snow" covered tree. A trip to the gift shop, where I bought our Christmas ornament souvenir, finalized our visit.

Just walking around New York City was enough to create feelings of incredible awe for us 'small town folk. It's hard to imagine how life must be for the millions of New Yorkers. It was surreal for Ethan as we walked around that first night, stating that it was so weird to think that that morning he was in school in our small community and that night he was seeing what he was seeing in New York. Ben was happy to acknowledge that people seemed happy and friendly in New York, and comments, still, on how exciting it would be to live in New York. Me. I love to visit, but am happy to exist in my peaceful life in rural Nova Scotia, with it's own awe inspiring sights.