The big apple; the city that doesn’t sleep; the concrete jungle where dreams are made of…. we came, we saw, we conquered! This was our second time to New York City and an NYC Christmas was a travel dream we put on our list years ago, so when the planning for this year’s trip began we had this on our itinerary pretty early on. As we usually do, we shared our itinerary with peeps at home hoping someone would join us somewhere, and the USA leg was quickly snapped up by Jane and Melloney (Rhi’s mum and sister) with Mell’s fiance Dion.
After six months away from family and friends it was incredible to open the door to Jane and Mell after their long (and drama filled!) journey from Brisbane. A missed flight, some quick talking to get on another flight, and an overpriced uber trip had not dulled their spirits on arrival as we picked up where we left off in June, and Dion joined us all just a few days later.
It’s a wonderful experience to return to a place in a different season and with different expectations, and so rewarding to see it again through the eyes of someone who is seeing it for the first time. Jane’s excitement at seeing the city featured in so many movies, shows and photographs has been infectious, and it was Dion’s first time to the US too. Even though the rest of us had experienced it before its a dynamic city that has so many secrets and corners to explore, and its impossible not to be caught up in the Christmas cheer and lights at this time of year.
We started our adventure in Brooklyn, one of the five boroughs of NYC, renting a cosy apartment in a traditional brownstone for 5 nights. With clear skies and temps in the range of 5-11 degrees we did a lot of walking exploring the neighbourhoods of Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo, Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant, making numerous stops for coffee, hot cider, food, shopping and pics. Seeing Manhattan from this side of the river is stunning and certainly helped build the anticipation of getting over to the island.
The Brooklyn borough is suburban and grungy, not the high rise jungle of Manhattan – it kind of felt like a Surry Hills/Redfern/Potts Point hybrid with some pretty kooky residents too! We ate and drank some awesome things here, including our three course Christmas lunch in a winebar where the owners were having their own family Christmas lunch on site – we felt part of the family! Even the corner store/delis were little treasure troves of fresh produce, coffee, juices and wine that made it very easy to cater a few meals at home so we could avoid being out in the cold on a few nights. Christmas night in with a cheese platter, wine and a movie was perfection!
We did manage to leave Brooklyn for a day trip to Manhattan on Christmas Eve to soak up the festive spirit, and a slow walk up 5th Avenue gave us our first glimpses of the Flatiron, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler building and Central Park – a teaser for what we would explore once we transferred to our Manhattan Air BnB apartment after Christmas. Thankfully we had a few quiet hours here and there in Brooklyn to catch up on the last six months of life and allow the travellers to get on US time, because Manhattan was a completely different ball game……
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