The holidays are definitely coming when you see this rolling through the streets. Unfortunately no sign of the snow that we saw last year :-(
However, the local squirrels were getting in the spirit...
In early December Gem and I visited the Neue Galerie, an Austrian art gallery on 5th Avenue. In addition to the some famous Klimt paintings, they have a really great, authentic Austrian cafe. Gemma started with some gluhwein.
A bowl of goulash for me and liverwurst on toast for Gem.
We shared an amazing chocolate and hazelnut torte. It all reminded us of our trip to Vienna.
Dave and Carol arrived early December for a couple of days before jetting off on their Florida and Washington trip. Jasper was pleased with his new bed!
It was a good time to go and choose an Xmas tree.
We were surprised at how good the cats were with it...particularly considering Tilly's penchant for climbing!
Maybe she just prefers trees her own size!
Once the decorations were up we cracked into the Christmas Cake, baked by Marilyn and decorated by Gemma.
A busy day of walking around New York called for a hearty breakfast. This is at Brooklyn Diner, on 57th Street.
A bit early for cake although we were tempted!
We walked off the large breakfast in Central Park...
...before joining the Rockefeller guided tour.
St Patrick's Cathedral opposite. It is really beautiful inside too.
A seasonal Saks on 5th Avenue:
We took the express lift up to the top of the Rock for a glorious view over NYC...Dave's surprise wedding anniversary gift for Carol.
Looking down from the very top viewing level.
Back on solid ground, the Rockefeller tree in all it's glory:
After a stop at the very impressive Tenement Museum, Gem, Carol and Dave stopped for a bite to eat at Katz deli. Here they're enjoying a Reuben and a corned beef sandwich. The owner is (rightly) very proud of his establishment - he came over to chat, make sure they were enjoying themselves and brought over some of his pastrami to try.
Everyone has to visit the best knish place in NYC!
On Christmas Eve we enjoyed afternoon tea at the Plaza Hotel - the temporary home of Kevin McAlister in Home Alone: Lost in New York. It was very nice...as was the location, in the hotel's famous Palm Court.
Later on we attended Christmas Eve Mass at Trinity Church at the end of Wall St. You know you are in America when the priest is taking selfies with the congregation at the end!
Christmas Day arrived. In fact after a late night on Christmas Eve, we missed most of the morning and slept in until 11am!
The cats got presents too!
Got to have a prawn ring:
We prepared a ham for dinner, plus a leftover turkey breast from Thanksgiving. That's the gift that keeps on giving!
No Christmas is now complete without Gemma's rum cake. I think it beats any other cake and I could eat it throughout the year but I'm being limited to just the one at Christmas, unfortunately.
On Boxing Day we wanted to walk off the big Christmas dinner so we went up to Central Park. It was a lovely day.
I was keen to try out the GoPro that Gemma got me for Christmas (I had been dropping daily hints for about 9 months!)
This is at Tavern on the Green, located inside the park. A cozy spot for a Christmas drink.
At night by the 9/11 memorial:
New Year's Eve came around. We had some drinks in a local pub before heading halfway across the Brooklyn Bridge to watch all the NYE fireworks. It was cold...very cold, but there was a large crowd of people on the bridge so the atmosphere was merry. The fireworks in the background here are from Staten Island.
Here's to a happy 2015!
No comments:
Post a Comment