Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland: NYC!

My trip up to New York this weekend was, admittedly, kind of silly. Brian and I aim to see each other at least once a month, and we are way over that lately! But since this is his last winter up north, we decided that it was important to do all of the holiday things in NYC while we still have the opportunity! People travel from all over the country, and even all over the world, to see New York at Christmas time, and we just knew it was something we had to check off of our bucket lists. :)

I drove up and checked into our hotel on Friday afternoon, and got to pick up Brian from school shortly after that. Our hotel looked just like a mountain lodge!

We woke up early on Saturday and took the short train ride into the city. On the way there, it started to drizzle. Of course, by the time we got into Grand Central, it was all out pouring! Our first stop was Duane Reade to buy an umbrella, and it was probably the best ten dollars we spent all day.

Now, I was excited to see all of the typical winter tourist attractions in the city...but I was most excited to go to Crumbs, easily the most famous cupcake bakery in NYC! After getting a couple of drinks from Starbucks, Brian and I got a delicious cupcake and enjoyed it for breakfast.

Despite the weather, we squeezed in a lot in one day. After Crumbs, we walked down 5th Avenue window shopping and looking at all of the beautiful holiday displays. After a lot of walking, we finally got to Rockefeller Center and the famous Christmas tree! People were definitely in the Christmas spirit, because every time Brian and I tried to take a self-pic, someone would come up and offer to take a picture for us. :)

The tree was beautiful, and so much bigger than I expected! Our plan had been to go ice skating, but the weather was just absolutely horrendous. After watching the skaters slip, slide, and fall on the ice, and then come up soaking wet, we decided to skip it. I was perfectly fine staying as dry and warm as possible!

We walked by Radio City Music Hall and a couple of really neat Christmas displays, like giant Christmas ornaments...

...and giant Christmas lights!

At some point, we stopped at a little cafe for lunch that I don't remember the name of (which is also what we did for dinner). We ate some delicious flatbread sandwiches and just enjoyed being inside. The weather was not really conducive to doing any more walking around than necessary...

...so when we got to Times Square, we decided to take a break from the rain, rest our feet, and go to Regal to see a movie. We had both been wanting to see The Blind Side for a while, and it was definitely the best movie I have seen in a long time. Brian was raving about it too. It was just so inspirational, sad, and moving, and it's about Baltimore Raven Michael Oher (so that's a bonus!). Sandra Bullock is amazing in it.

After the movie, we walked around Times Square, checked out the Diamond District (which had really neat street lights that I should have taken a picture of!), and took the subway over to Macy's on 34th Street. It takes up an entire city block, and, like the rest of New York City, it was completely decked out for the holidays.

We decided to walk back to Rockefeller Center to see the tree at night, but first we stumbled on the snowflake light show on the side of the Saks Fifth Avenue building. The lights are choreographed to a modern version of Carol of the Bells...it was amazing!

Radio City Music Hall was also all lit up for the holidays.

The Rockefeller tree at night was even more spectacular than during the day. The lights sparkled, and the awful rain had finally switched over to fluffy snow. It was beautiful, and the perfect end to our day in New York.

It was a wonderful weekend with Brian, and certainly put me in the Christmas spirit. :)