The Bite of the Big Apple for Thanksgiving

So much to do and so little time... New York truly was a winter wonderland.  As we arrived after Thanksgiving and before Christmas the city was decroated from top to bottom.  Every shop was adorned and no tree escaped bedecking.  For me the hightlight was actually the Christmas decorations...how sad is that.

Decorations aside there is so much to do in New York that even seven days is too little.  Our tour included ice-skating in Central Park, visiting the Empire State Building, a trip to Ellis Island, Battery Park, Groud Zero and Wall Street.  A stop off at the Guggenheim Museum and a jaunt across the Brooklyn Bridge to visit the temporary loacation of MoMa.  Unfortunately temporary location was a bit of an overstatement and we didnt actually get to see any modern art.  Since then I have visited NY again and on that occasion MoMa was closed (Monday)but I hear it is well worth the visit.

For me the hightlight was actually the Christmas decorations...how sad is that.

Out evening activities included a visit to N in Soho to Rathner and Lanskys Speakeasy.   E.J's diner on the Upper East Side on a Sunday morning is not to be missed... a real American experinece.  We also visited the Blue Note Jazz Club which was excellent if not a little packed.  Get there early or book tickets in advance.

Our biggest surprise was waking up one morning to see a few snowflakes fluttering from a very ominous looking sky, a quick breakfast and two trips to Starbucks later the snow was more than ankle deep and by that evening the drifts along the pathways were almost to the knee.

The one and only downside to our NY trip was as a direct result of the snow also and classified as an 'Act of God' for which we were not insured!  Following an early morning rise and a subway ride to JFK we were told that no flights would be leaving from JFK for LA that day but we could if we wished travel to New Jersey and catch a flight from Newark. The only problem with this plan wa that the airport shuttle was not in operation due to the snow so we took a taxi.

The journey was so long I managed to have time for a nap!  Anyway one hour later and 100.00 dollars poorer we arrived at Newark, where the only flight scheduled to depart was ours...how lucky you might think!  At least thats what we though, that is until we boarded the plane, strapped ourselves in and proceeded to sit there for five..yes five hours, listening to various excuses for why our plane was still on the groud.

Eventually,  we taxied back to the gate and were asked to disembark only to discover the airport was closed and all the staff had gone home.  We managed to book into a hotel in upstate New Jersey... not the best choice and we promptly booked back out the next morning and took ourselves to the Holiday Inn were we spend another day watching movies and taking trips to the gas station for supplies.  (Apart from the airport, gas station and the hotel there didn't seem to be much else in New Jersey).  Two days later and a lot of dollars later we did get a seat and a flight to L.A.