new york, new york!

back in december, j and i decided to go to NYC during the holidays. for the last two years, we'd gone to asheville, nc in the winter but since j had never been to NYC, i figured he needed to see it (especially all done up for xmas). since my dad was born in the bronx neighborhood and it's always so fun to see where he grew up, i was able to convince my mom and dad to come with us on our trip. we never had been on a trip with just the 4 of us and it was really nice (the double room was a bit cramped but we survived it)!

on the first day we arrived, we walked around times square, rockefeller plaza, and stopped by all the beautiful window displays on 5th avenue (bergdorf goodman - your windows were incredible)! we went into FAO schwartz and reminisced about the old clock tower that was torn down (we miss the ruby red slippers).

for dinner, we went to the east side to eat at katz's deli (establisted 1888). it was wonderful! i'm sure j and i would have loved it even more if we weren't vegetarian, but it was still a nice treat. we even got to have our great friend divya join us for dinner that night and then j and i went out for drinks with her afterwards. i wish we could have spent more time with her!

aren't my folks cute?

on saturday, we woke up early and headed to the natural history museum! we had the best time! after checking out all the animals and dinosaurs, we headed into central park. we went to strawberry fields so we could see the john lennon memorial (which was packed)!

saturday night, we met up with my dad's best friends, brad and jeanne, who are so much fun. we walked around bryant park and we were overrun by santas! little did we know that santa*con was happening the same weekend we were in NYC so there were over 50,000 santas in the city (all extremely intoxicated too)! we rode the subway to go to dinner at a lobster restaurant (no fun for vegetarians) and we got to see my great aunt gloria! she is an incredibly vibrant woman who was cracking more jokes than any of us. she's such an inspiration and i still think it's so cool that she used to be a rockette and was engaged to a man who was married to lucille ball!

sunday morning, we rented a car so we could drive all over NYC. we [my dad] ended up driving over 8 hours! first, we drove to battery park to see the statue of liberty (since it is currently closed to renovation). then we headed into the bronx to see where my dad grew up. we had to make our first pit stop at a local bagel shop so j could have his first NYC bagel (success - yumm)!

my dad showed us so many different amazing spots from his youth, like this building where he lived with his mom, dad, and sister on the 2nd floor corner unit. he showed us where all his friends grew up, where he went to school and college, and the assisted living facility where my great grandma lived until she was 103 (she would never leave the bronx)! we then drove to long island and saw my grandpa's old home before he moved in with us and the beach condo on franklin avenue where my dad spent his summers roaming the boardwalk and playing in the ocean. it was really awesome to be old enough to appreciate it all and have j there to experience it as well! my dad was so excited and lit up showing us all the places of his youth. it made me wonder what i'll want to show my kids when i'm older and how much will have changed by then.

we also got to see edgar allan poe's home in the middle of the bronx too!

lastly, we visited my dad's parents' gravestones*. my dad's mother passed away when he was only 23, so sadly we never got to meet her. from all the stories i've heard, i know it's really such a tragedy that we never got to have her in our lives. although my grandpa irving remarried after my grandma norma passed away and he's buried in another plot, they are still in the same graveyard in relatively close distance. here's a cool story about my grandparents, they were introduced at a dance by a mutual friend because they both had the same last name! since there was no relation, i think that counts as fate!

*for those that don't know, it is jewish tradition to place a stone on the headstones of loved ones when you visit them.

we ended our last night, by eating dinner at umberto's on albert avenue in the bronx. it's in the italian area of the bronx and the food was so good!

it was sad to see our trip come to an end, but it was such a nice treat to be able to see the big apple at xmas time and to share it with my parents. it's a trip that i will cherish for the rest of my life.

there really is nothing like NYC at xmas time!