Christmas in the Big Apple '09

My how time flies. Christmas '09 is now a thing of the past, if only by a day. Buppy and I seriously enjoyed our trip up to NYC Christmas Eve. We left our house around 4pm and arrived in The City around 8:30pm. The hotel was easy enough to find and we were lucky enough to find a parking garage almost directly across the street. After our quick check-in, we headed out to find Asian Fusion, our dinner pick from restaurant.com. We were surprised at how packed the restaurant was, but that doesn't say much considering how tiny the place was. The sushi was affordable (especially with our gift certificate!), beautiful and very delish. My salmon was my favorite (from my order) and had such fantastic texture. My favorite from Buppy's order? Both! His were really, really tasty! After dinner, we decided to find the Rockefeller Tree. We knew we weren't staying very far from it, so it was just a matter of locating the appropriate block. We found some cute decorations along the way, as well as some crazily decorated vehicles. I didn't know that Radio City Music Hall has their own tree (which turns colors), but we ran across that on our trek too. One of the most holiday-ish sites we found was directly across from Rockefeller; the Saks Fifth Ave. building had giant snowflakes all across the side that lit up along with Carol of the Bells.And then there it was, the main reason I wanted to venture to The City for Christmas --- Rockefeller Tree! I can't even describe to you the feeling of seeing that tree in person. Most people, my family included, don't understand the big deal, but it's just something I've always wanted to see up close and in person. It didn't disappoint. We didn't get in line to skate on the rink below the tree; I'm sure it would have taken us 2+ hours to get through the line! I'm ok with that though, since I saw what I came there for.

We wandered around looking at different buildings and sites for awhile after that, then ended up at one of the few places open to warm up: Applebee's. We had a cocktail or 2 there (At the staggering price of $62 for 4 drinks total, no food. Can you say OUCH?) and then headed back to the hotel.

Christmas day consisted of lunch at Carnegie Deli (can you say "wow" to their Reuben?!?!), walking the fashion district (the Juicy store had tigers on their model's heads!), roaming Bryant Park and just taking in The City. We found a fabulous little shop in Bryant Park where we got Buppy some hot choco. He said it was $5 and well worth it --- he called it "liquid gold" in his mouth!While I would have enjoyed being with my family for the holidays, especially since they were all home together in Wisco and I didn't get to see them last year for the holidays, this was a close 2nd to "most enjoyable holiday." And with my discount from working at a hotel, a quite affordable holiday as well! Happy holidays '09!