exploring Manhattan

Devon and I had a lovely, if freezing, weekend after shooting Corinne and Geoff's wedding in NYC just before the holidays. Dev had never had the opportunity to spend time there before, and I've been enough times for fun, travel, business, etc, that it was really nice to be able to show him around a bit! I don't typically have a good sense of direction, but the NYC subway and street systems are so clear and easy to navigate that I proudly marched us all around Manhattan with minimal confusion.

We stayed in a nice hotel with a great view right next to the UN, which I had never seen before.



Which meant that our nearest subway station was Grand Central station! It was such a treat to come up into it after taking the train from Queens... it was decorated for the holidays with a big kaleidoscopic light show over that gorgeous ceiling. So pretty!



My beautiful husband and traveling companion:



I really loved the font on our room number!



And the view!... sigh...



Dev having a snack while I shoot through his reflection. I have to say, as fantastic as the view was, it was a little disconcerting that the window opened up wide without any screen or barrier! Devon was like, "look, I can lean out over the city!" and I was terrified of even walking over near that wall for the rest of the night. We were 35 stories up, and I guess I'm a little Sonoma County country girl after all cause... I kept thinking our room would just tilt us out that window!



We walked all over town - St. Mark's place/ the East Village, freezing and grey Battery Park, up the empty-on-Saturday way lower West side to the Park, down to Rockefeller Center to see the crazy crowds and a peek of the decorations, and over to Hell's Kitchen to eat delicious food. We also walked up and down Bleeker Street, ate a slice at Joe's, went record and toy shopping, and basically gave ourselves shin splints walking all over lower Manhattan. Fun!

Here we are at Counter near 1st Ave and 6th Street, delicious and vegetarian:



These strange, blue Santas had something, I think, to do with an Eastern European Orthodox church (? they were handing out pamphlets but we didn't take any) in Battery Park:



Here I am either trying to explain how to use the camera, or doing air guitar... I can't remember. So cold!









"Miss Liberty" looked quite stinky and gross:



Neither of us had ever tried roasted chestnuts before, so we paid a ridiculous price for some near the Ellis Island and Staten Island ferry terminals... to me they smelled like french fries and tasted like sweet potatoes but starchier. To Devon...









... they looked like teeny brains and tasted yucky. We laughed and laughed together... we're nerds.



Sadly this is about all the snow we saw:



Random architecture:



This reminded us of the secret of the ooze:



We reached a wintry Central Park just before sunset:



I felt stupid but also SO cold (I am such a baby about the cold now) in this layered look, but Devon told me I looked like a literal baby all bundled up like this:



Buildings, buildings, buildings:









I can't even describe how many people there were at the Rockefeller Holiday display area on the Saturday night before Christmas, but, sure, the tree was alright:





Next time we're coming to New York in the spring or fall! What a great and whirlwind weekend.