We started off going to Croxley's Ale House down on 3rd Street and Avenue B. Croxley's is a little bit further south in Manhattan from where we are used to. But they had a 20-cent wing deal and a huge beer selection that Charlie wanted to try out. He got the "Black and Blue" - which was a combination of Guinness and his favorite New York area beer, Bluepoint Blueberry Ale.
After lunch, we were on to the main point of going to Manhattan - shopping. We went to Grand Central Station for the Holiday Fair in Vanderbilt Hall. The Fair had many shops set up from local New York businesses. We got quite a few of our presents for our family from here - and Charlie got Katie's present, a winter painting of our next stop - the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center.
The tree is an annual tradition in New York City going back "officially" to 1933 (unofficially to 1931) - that has, of course, become more and more grand today. Every year, the Gardens Divisions searches long and far for a huge tree - up to 100 feet tall. Once selected, the tree is brought in by a trailer to be put up in the center of Manhattan in mid-November. The tree is then lit toward the end of November, and left up until January 6th. There is ice skating and a generally enormous crowd surrounding the tree every Christmas season.
We also saw the Saks Fifth Avenue Lights display nearby on 5th Avenue, and Rudolph took some time out of his busy schedule to get a picture with Katie.
We went back to Manhattan on Wednesday night that week for some more New York City Christmas spirit. We got tickets to the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, headlined by the Rockettes. This is also a Christmas tradition since 1933. It was a great show and we were glad we got a chance to see it this holiday season!
No comments:
Post a Comment