New York, New York! - Part 1

Apologies for the lacklustre blogging lately! Honestly I've been so busy I just haven't had much time to sit down and catch up here! My family and I spent a week in New York a couple of weeks ago, and then we went to Danny Elfman's concert in the Royal Albert Hall, and then I went to the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland with my buddy Laura. So, I'm going to try and catch up with everything before Christmas. Eep!

This was seriously our view from the apartment!

Anyway, so New York! Basically, my parents haven't had a holiday in a few years now after inheriting my nan's cat. Tigger is very insecure and we've never felt all that content putting him in a cattery while we go away and have fun, but after a few years they both really wanted a break and a vacation! We chose New York because I'd been there last year with Moose and really enjoyed it, and because Mum has wanted to visit there forever. Dad's actually not a big fan of busy cities or crowds, so the plan was to break it up, stay in New Jersey and get a car half way through so we could travel around and do some more 'real' America. It was the best of both worlds, really!

We flew out on December 2nd with British Airways. They were great! I used to be a Virgin Atlantic fangirl but BA really won me over, the crew were fantastic, the in flight entertainment was great and the food was yummy. By the time we got through security (seriously, three giant flights land and Newark Airport had four immigration desks open), and got to our apartment, we were all far too tired to do much else that night. The apartment was crazy though! We overlooked the Manhattan skyline, it was beautiful.

Day 1~

We were only a quick train or boat across from Manhattan, so we spent our first day exploring our local area and grabbing pancakes at the City Diner. They were lighting the Rockefeller Tree later that evening, so our plan was to walk up to the Newport Mall, have a look around and then rest in the afternoon before taking a train over to Manhattan in an attempt to get to Rockefeller. That's where I had the cutest interaction with a child, ever! I was stood on the train with my parents when this woman said to me "she's obsessed with your hair." I looked down to see two little girls, both smiling at me. Of course, I've got bubblegum pink hair at the moment, and the woman, obviously their mother, explained that they thought I was a mermaid. Honestly, I've been rehearsing this interaction ever since I started dying my hair! I told her I wasn't a mermaid, I was a unicorn and that's why I had pink hair. It was so adorable! The older girl said her name was Elsa and she had snow magic (uh huh) and her little sister poked her tongue out and told me that she had 'snake magic'. I didn't question what snake magic was, but she was at the age where she probably saw a snake recently and realised I Like Snakes. It was so perfect. They asked me if I was a unicorn, where was my horn? And I said you can only see it if you believe enough! If I have children, I'll make sure they're as cute as these two were, full of magic and excitement.

It was so busy though. We knew it would be, with the tree lighting and all, but the crowds were crazy! Mariah Carey was performing 'All I Want For Christmas' so that kind of explains it, but she was so bad! Like, her performance was super off key. We learned later that she was meant to record her performance but didn't turn up at the recording session so was just forced to perform it live. Which, y'know, is probably what a multi millionaire singer should be able to do anyway, but what do I know? Ahem!

We left the crowds because it was just too crazy, and stumbled across the entrance to the Empire State Building, completely by accident! Since that was absolutely on our 'to do' list, we decided to go up and enjoy the view. It was super windy and cold up there, but I took some great pics!

I'm gonna wrap up day one here because I'm posting lots of photos! I'll be back soon with part 2! :)