New York City at Christmas
- Annie Hull
- Dec 26, 2022
- 4 min read
It’s the day after Christmas. This time last week, we were strolling through the halls of the American Museum of Natural History, gazing overhead at a life-size sculpture of a massive baby blue whale suspended from the ceiling.
I’m recovering from Covid - we got sick on our trip and had to skip the family Christmas dinners, which sucks (this makes TWO years now that we’ve had Covid over Christmas) but it was absolutely worth it.
We crammed a lot - and I mean a lot - into the short two and a half days we spent in the city. We left Nashville at 7:30 or so Sunday morning, had a quick layover in Washington D.C., and arrived at LaGuardia around 1:00 p.m. Immediately after we checked into our hotel, we got a cab and headed to Chinatown.
One of the fascinating things about New York City is its immense size and the distinct neighborhoods that are basically a city unto themselves. Walking through the streets of Chinatown was nothing short of magical. The streets are far cleaner than in more densely crowded areas like Times Square, and less crowded.
We walked at a leisurely pace past open-air fish markets with fish and squid on ice, through a beautiful park where groups of elderly men sat playing mahjong or Wei qi; and delicious smells wafted out of every restaurant we passed.
We visited Alimama Tea, which was first on my list. I got the Royal milk tea with mini boba, which came with rose petals and edible gold flake on top. It was as gorgeous as it was delicious! I love boba tea because it’s just mildly sweet and refreshing.
We got a black sesame mochi donut (which was good, but looked better than it tasted) and some chocolate munchkins (which were SO AMAZING I forgot to even get a picture until they were almost gone!). I’m not sure what the munchkins were exactly, but they were hot and fresh and deflated almost as soon as you bit into them - they literally melted in my mouth! Our friend, Andrew, joked for the rest of the trip he’d go back to Chinatown just to get more of them.
I wanted to get some pork buns at Mei Li Wah bakery, but the line was down the block (because their food is just that good) so we kept walking. Another spot I would have loved to have eaten at was the Nom Wah Tea Parlor, the oldest tea parlor in Chinatown (they’ve been serving inexpensive dim sum since the 1920’s!) but again, the line was backed way outside the door and it was FREEZING, so we kept going.
We ended up stopping in the first place that looked good and wasn’t crazy crowded - Shanghai Deluxe, on the corner of Bayard and Mott. The steamed dumplings and noodles were fabulous.
We headed back to Times Square and the Rockefeller Center. I wanted to see the light show at Saks Fifth Avenue and the tree at the Rockefeller Center. INSTANT regret. It was more crowded than it’s ever been on Christmas. Granted, we haven’t been since 2019, before the pandemic rocked our world; but it was a shock.
It wasn’t just shoulder-to-shoulder, it was full-on mosh pit cattle herding. Pressed in on all sides, we got separated and just had to shuffle our feet in the direction we wanted to go. We watched the light show, snapped a couple pictures of the tree, and escaped into St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
The next day we walked out of our hotel and saw this giant inflatable rat in the back of a pickup truck - and thankfully, that's the only rat we saw the whole time we were in New York!
We ate breakfast at the Boqueria (great ambiance and delicious food, but overpriced and tiny portions), then took the subway to the American Museum of Natural History.
It was breathtaking, but not as fascinating to me as the Metropolitan Museum of Art (which is one of my favorite museums of all time and is just a short walk across Central Park). The exhibits are so informative, it’s hard to really absorb all the information.
We got lunch at a random, out-of-the-way place called Made in New York Pizza and honestly, the pizza was SO GOOD (especially for the price) I don’t know why it’s not talked about more often.
That night we had tickets to see MJ on Broadway, a show about the life of Michael Jackson. We ate dinner at Hama Sushi (so good. SO GOOD) and then headed to the Neil Simon Theatre. We were blown AWAY by the show!
I’d read some negative reviews about the play, but I thought they were totally unfounded. I’d say it’s definitely in the top 5 of all musical theatre performances I’ve ever seen, and it’s definitely my favorite show I’ve seen on Broadway. Cody and I are big time Michael Jackson fans, and this show was phenomenal. Even with nosebleed seats, we were enthralled!
After the show, we had to get some halal - when in New York! You can’t not get any! - and a milkshake, despite the frigid temperatures. Let me tell you, that was some of the best food we had the whole trip!
Tuesday was our last day, so we got breakfast at Cafe Cello (a hole-in-the-wall breakfast spot with delicious food and good, cheap coffee) and then walked to the New York Public Library.
The grand stone building is really more of a museum - the books and maps are reserved only for serious research - but the exhibits were phenomenal. We saw ancient texts (Hebrew scrolls that were hundreds of years old, Bibles from the 1600’s, an intricately illustrated Quran, a Gutenberg Bible), WWII-era relics from concentration camps and resistance factions in Nazi Germany, and more. My favorite exhibits were a pair of pointe shoes worn and signed by the late George Balanchine’s wife, and the original stuffed animals that inspired Winnie the Pooh!
After the library, we briefly visited the historic Macy’s - again, total nightmare right before Christmas! - got some more mochi donuts and pastries, and headed to the airport.
It was such a fun little getaway. We walked around 12 miles each days we were there - TWELVE MILES! I did not feel one bit guilty for all the sugary, fried food we ate!
There were so many more things I’d love to have done, but we made the most of our quick trip! Next time, though, we’re going in warmer weather (and not during flu season!).
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