Flying to New York is always a joy, not only because you’re on a plane to New York but also because you can leave London at 8:00pm and be in your hotel in Manhattan by Midnight! Which is what exactly what happened to us. The witching hour saw us arrive at the Four Points by Sheraton in Hell’s Kitchen in a lovely room about the size of a shoebox, but right in the heart of the city.
Our days were spent with breakfast in bed, getting to TKTS South Street Seaport for opening time (11am), buying our 50%-off broadway tickets to one of the productions we had hoped to watch and then filling our day with exploring the city until show time.
We saw:
1) Anastasia – Entertaining, Anya had an impressive belt but Dmitry was a young pop star who couldn’t quite act
2) The Band’s Visit – Loved it! Great music and great cast!
3) The Rockettes Christmas Spectacular – Happy I saw it, although i hope to never see it again until I have kids and they drag me there
4) The Ferryman – The best show we saw. Can’t believe we had to wait for it to move to Broadway from the West End to watch it.
The Christmas lights at Dyker Heights (an affluent residential neighbourhood in South Brooklyn) was probably the most surreal experience we had during our holiday. Nicknamed the “undisputed capital of Christmas pageantry”, house after house was adorned with Christmas lights and decorations that reportedly cost up to tens of thousands of dollars! It was very over-the-top… very American… and we loved it!
Being in Kansas for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Years Eve and New Years Day (also Clare’s mum’s birthday) meant our days were filled with home cooked celebratory meals with lots of drink and good cheer! Every day also featured a new board game of some sort: we played Cards Against Humanity, Secret Hitler (a few times), Murder on Starship Deathstation IV, Sushi Go Party, The Fishbowl Game and Island Survival. What else do you need out of a Christmas holiday?
The sun welcomed us on our first day in New York! We had a lovely stroll by the river after buying our tickets to TKTS. On our way to Bryant Park we stopped by the National Library to have say hello to the original Pooh Bear The Winter Village Christmas market at Bryant Park Amazing seats!!!! Not sure why clare is still wearing her coat Day two: Another sunny day prompted us to walk around the financial district after our Visit to TKTS Inside the “Oculus” at World Is it worth going down? Nope – they’re just Westfield shops. Even on holiday, Brexit looms! Times Square! Times Square! Second show: The Bands Visit. Loved it! Went for a glass of wine at the top of the Peninsula on 5th Avenue Two wines with S.C. cost us 50USD, so we made sure we soaked in the views and took loads of photos. Here’s one more The Rockettes! It had everything, Santa, the nutcracker, dancing bears and the Nativity Scene We could never have enough of Christmas, so Clare and I went to check out the lights at Dyker Heights The decorations that these millionaire residents put up are impressive And it goes on for blocks and blocks Not all are tasteful though For some, size matters! We walked past a lot of houses I liked this one… but then again, I love green One more for luck! Our one “fancy” meal out. Rosemary’s! The last and best show. Us at Newark airport after missing our flight because we went to JFK instead That’s okay, we made it to Kansas the next morning without paying a penny more to get on the early morning flight! Life in Kansas CIty was very different to New York. We chilled at home… Opened presents for thee days… Caught up with our nephews… and celebrated the season with lovely meals at home Our boxing day spread We did venture out to check out the DInosaur Exhibit in the Central Station Visited Abe Lincoln… … and even when to a Brewery for some beer tasting! Princess Layer, Dah Fader and Master Goader at the Murder Mystery NYE Dinner Welcoming in the new year! Afternoon tea for Catherine’s birthday! Three generations of McAndrews Family photo on Catherine’s birthday (New Years Day)