The Big NYC

Okay, so Little Chic and I went to NYC last Saturday. This was a long-awaited trip as we are both city girls at heart, and we were psyched to see the Big Apple in all it's sparkly Christmas splendor. We were gettin' a little worried about the big bad Nor'easter that was supposed to come, but luckily our trusty weathermen were completely wrong. As usual.

But so. We got on the bus bright and early, which was an exercise in determination for me in the first place. We made the trek into the city, got dropped off at Bryant Park and the day started.We decided to start out with a bit of education, just to make the bus fee worth our while. As if it weren't already! We headed down to the United Nations all excited to see the national flags for ever member nation. It would have helped if it had been a weekday so the flags would have been actually flying. Disappointing. What was not disappointing is the fact that once we entered the building, we found out we were in international territory. That was weird. We even sent postcards to ourselves with special UN stamps that can only be used in the UN post office inside the building. I made a slight boo-boo when the woman asked what country I needed a stamp for. I got wise and thought that I'd send Muh Main Man his postcard with a Norwegian stamp for his family heritage. Apparently she meant where was I sending the postcard TO which would explain why they cost 3 times the amount the US ones cost. I bought three of them. The tour was highly worthwhile and Little Chic, even at 10, got a lot out of it.

We proceeded to Grand Central Station and saw their Christmas light show which was a nice break from the walking we'd done already. I realized that it's not so gross to sit on the floor of a public subway building when your feet are desperate for a rest.

Rockefeller Center was no disappointment with the fabulous tree and the four-hour wait for ice skating. We passed on that particular pleasure, although Little Chic was a bit disappointed. But Hey. We live in the north. We can ice skate at home for $6 and no wait.

We finished up at Toys R Us which had been Little Chic's big dream. It ended up being shoulder to shoulder people, causing us to clutch one another like crazy people so as not to be separated. We did enter the madness and stand in line 45 minutes to buy a video game for the ride home.

We were disappointed to miss dinner at Hard Rock Cafe but a 3 hour wait was going to make us miss our bus and cause us to faint with hunger. We opted for a local pizza joint and it was actually pretty good.

We are already planning our next trip back, but that will be in warmer weather with fewer tourists. Hate those tourists ;)

Incidentally, Muh Main Man took Brainy Boy the same day on a snowmobiling expedition. He took my camera along. Grrr. Luckily, Little Chic received an early Christmas gift of a camera of her own from Grammy, which we had with us. So we got lots of shots like this.... There are more where that came from, but we'll spare ya.