Christmas in Manhattan - Day 1

This is a weird "travel" post for me because I technically didn't even leave my own city. We had relatives coming to visit for the holiday, and this presented two logistical problems: 1) we couldn't comfortably accommodate everyone & 2) we live in Brooklyn, and the relatives wanted to experience "Christmas in New York City." I don't know where they think Brooklyn is, but I guess it's a pretty common misconception that only Manhattan is "New York City" and the other four boroughs are just floating out in space somewhere. At least they didn't want to stay in Times Square.

We ended up staying at the Park Hyatt New York, which is a very nice hotel with an indoor pool - extremely rare anywhere in the city. I'm glad I read about it on the website before arriving so that I knew to bring a swimsuit. The best thing about the pool is that you can listen to classical music underwater. I guess this is kind of dangerous because I almost bumped into a stranger's rear end while floating along on my back with my ears in the water. That would have been pretty terrible, and also completely my fault. That is really not the kind of Christmas surprise anyone is looking for. Fortunately, I don't think the would-be victim even noticed the near-miss...

The room itself was quite nice. There was a lot of space to move around in, the beds were very comfortable, and the minibar was huge! It was fun to look through even if we didn't really make use of it. The hotel provided a little bowl of fruit (Asian pears) and bottles of water for us, and both items were replenished each day. I really appreciated that. Other than the usual amenities, there was a media center with every connection you might need (USB, Lightning, HDMI, RCA, etc) and an iPad to get in touch with any hotel staff you might need. We used it to order room service while watching videos from my computer on the TV. Long live technology!

Another really cool feature... little TVs in the bathroom mirrors! I also liked the very cool & modern-looking freestanding tub. I had a really nice bath using the lavender salts provided by the hotel. Overall, I was very impressed by the amenities. There was even a dry body brush, which I use at home but typically don't travel with because it's too big to pack easily.

(Cameo by my Christmas dress on the left-hand side.)

Our main objective on this day was to walk around Midtown & see as many of the decorated shop windows as possible. We did surprisingly well, given that some of my family members are not used to walking in the city. We did stop to rest a few times, so this route probably could have been accomplished a lot faster with a different group. The pace we went at was fine for us, though, and let everybody enjoy the sights without overexerting themselves or ending up with blisters.

We took the following route...

- Dylan's Candy Bar, 1011 3rd Ave
- Bloomingdale's, 1000 3rd Ave
- Bergdorf Goodman, 754 5th Ave
- Saks, 611 5th Ave
- Lord & Taylor, 424 5th Ave

(Dylan's doesn't really have any spectacular Christmas decorations. We just wanted to start our walk with some candy, and Dylan's is right across the street from Bloomingdale's.)

Some of my favorite windows were at Bloomingdale's and they were truly amazing. They were inspired by the upcoming movie The Greatest Showman, which is about P.T. Barnum... so the windows were circus-themed. They had a lot of interactive elements, such as a strength test, karaoke, wacky fun house mirrors, and a fortune teller. I was thrilled because I love that kind of thing. Honestly, I was surprised that I liked these windows as much as I did. I knew Saks had a Disney theme & I thought for sure they would win my "favorite window" award this year, by far. Apparently not! It was more of a tie.

One of the windows offered a chance to have your picture taken for a collaborative postcard. We did that, but then we couldn't figure out where the postcard was or what our photo looked like. Fail.

Bergdorf Goodman's windows were mainly themed to (sponsored by?) various institutions in the city. Their windows always look really amazing & this year was no different. I think my favorite "institutional" window was AMNH's, but that could be a biased opinion since I am in the museum industry and I think the work they do at AMNH is phenomenal. Nothing says Christmas like fossil ornaments, anyway.

Next, we made our way over to Saks for the Disney windows. As expected, I loved them, and the twinkling castle theme on the building itself was amazing. I really felt like I was in a fairy tale as we made our way through the different viewing areas to see each window up close. The lighting was perfect and the spirit of the story was spot-on. Snow White, the prince & the dwarfs all looked great! I was so happy that we got to see these. I hope Saks & Disney partner again in the future.

Our final stop was at Lord & Taylor. They teamed up with Hallmark this year and had some lovely windows - polar bears, a circus, a winter forest, and snow globes, among others. I really liked the way the blue-purple lights & white snow looked together. There was even a "Countdown to Christmas" window that the little kids in attendance seemed enamored with.

My relatives were pretty exhausted at this point and we decided to get something to eat. We had dinner at Langan's, a nearby pub that's always been good. I have a lot of memories of eating here when I was growing up, usually before seeing shows with my parents. Sadly, a few weeks later, they announced that they were closing after 25 years due to an insane rent increase. I was really frustrated because something similar happened to the Cafe Edison, one of my favorite little diners. I will probably never get over that one. That said, our dinner was great and if it had to be the last meal I would ever have there, it was a good note to go out on. We got to sit in the back corner booth underneath the old Broadway posters and we all had fun talking about which shows we remember seeing - many of which, for my relatives, were before I was even born, but I had seen some of the revivals!

After dinner, I thought about going over to the Disney Store but then I remembered that it was Christmas Eve & it would either be closed or too crowded to move. I really didn't feel like finding out either way. I was still half-jetlagged (a constant state for me these days) and therefore decided to call it a night. I ate some leftover candy, watched Home Alone and The Grinch, tracked Santa because one is never too old to need updates on his whereabouts, and passed out in my Christmas pajamas around 10 PM.