New York City

December 18–20, 2015

On December 17 David Rorie and I took the Carolinian to Penn Station in NYC and came home on December 21. We attended the Davidson vs. Pitt men's basketball game on Sunday the 20th. It was my first time in Madison Square Garden and my first time to visit the city between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We conveniently stayed at the famous New Yorker hotel, now run by Wyndham.

On Friday we visited Rockefeller Center and walked down Fifth Avenue to see the shops.

Picured above is St. Patrick's Cathedral and below is Saks Fifth Avenue. Two of the most entertaining Salvation Army bell ringers were on our side of the street. I posted a video on YouTube. Not much of anybody was paying attention until people saw me shooting the video. I don't know that it helped contributions, though.

The rink's ice was being resurfaced while we were there, so we didn't see skaters until we got to Bryant Park.

I thought the best store windows we saw were at Lord & Taylor. We went in and briefly visited every floor.

One window used an animated Advent Calendar motif.

We turned right on 34th Street and headed to Macy's. Their windows used Peanuts characters, and I didn't find them particularly interesting. The interior decorations were nice, as well as the experience of being in holiday crowds. We didn't get to see Santa, but saw those in line to see him. On the way back to the hotel we saw a store across the street called Forever 21. David said that was where he needed to go. I suggested he must have wanted a miracle on 34th Street.

Our hotel room was on the thirty-second floor, with a view of the Hudson River and New Jersey across the river.
I'm relatively sure that during the Panthers' game we could see the lights on the stadium just right of center in this view.

We rode the Staten Island Ferry. It is now free in both directions. I got pictures of lower Manhattan, Ellis Island,
and the Statue of Liberty.

After dark we wandered around Times Square and rode the subway with the Friday night crowds.

On Saturday we visited the World Trade Center area.

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