Last Christmas was very special to me as I celebrated Christmas in New York with my best friend, Johanne. Last summer we had started talking about travelling for quite some time the following year and decided to work the entire summer in order to save money for our trip. Then one day Johanne rang me and asked if I wanted to spend Christmas in New York with her. Why I even pretended to think about it I really don’t know, because of course I wanted to. So we worked like crazy during the summer, and on the 21st of December we were on the plane towards one of the most amazing cities in the world.
It was weird telling my family that I was going to spend Christmas in another country, but they were very supportive and happy for me. I ended up having such a good time that I absolutely do not regret going. I ended up buying some very nice Christmas presents for my family and boyfriend, so I think they were happy I went as well.
We stayed at the fabulous Roosevelt Hotel, which is on 45 East 45th Street. It was actually a gorgeous hotel close to Grand Central Station and only about a ten minute walk to Times Square. Even though we were extremely tired we still managed to go outside and spend a few hours walking the streets of New York. It was the perfect start to a perfect week.
This was actually my second time to New York but it didn’t make it any less exciting. New York has a special charisma and I was thrilled to be able to see it all again with my best friend. I have to admit that one of the first things we did was a small (read big) visit to the Macy’s. It is the perfect place to shop in New York as they have several floors filled with goodis. I used my credit card a few times there and to this very day I am still enjoying everything I bought on my trip. Even though I was going to shop Christmas presents for people, I decided that I was allowed to shop for myself as well. After all, we are talking about a woman’s right to buy Christmas presents for herself. And yes, I did indeed buy a pair of boots that I completely fell in love with, and to this very day they are still very comfortable to wear. I did indeed get my money’s worth.
There is more to New York than shopping. There is so much to see and take in and we embraced the cold weather and were proper tourists. We saw Wall Street, had a visit to Madame Tussauds, Time Square, 5th Avenue, saw the Statue of Liberty, had a small visit to Manolo Blahnik (no I did not buy shoes there, sadly), Chinatown and of course we saw the famous Christmas tree at Rockefeller Centre. And one thing we could not miss while in New York at Christmas was ice skating in Central Park. It was actually quite bizarre to be able to do that as that is something you only see in films but it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed every minute of it. Christmas Eve is the high point of Christmas in Norway so we decided to have a proper dinner at a fancy restaurant. After all, we are fancy ladies. So after talking to the concierge at our hotel and taking his advice, we booked a table at Benjamin’s steakhouse. It is located on 52 East 41st Street and was also close to our hotel. It was a bit expensive, but it was Christmas and totally worth it. The service was fantastic and so was the food. Probably one of the best steaks I have ever had. After a couple of hours at Benjamin’s we went back to the hotel where we finished the evening in the perfect Carrie Bradshaw style; drinking a cosmopolitan.
New York truly is amazing and I find myself dreaming about the city from time to time. I would absolutely recommend going but perhaps not during December. It was extremely cold and you do shop more as you don’t do much sightseeing because of the weather. Personally I think August is the perfect month. But I had the best time and I am so glad Johanne enjoyed everything as well. Both of us are huge Sex and the City fans and I felt privileged that she wanted to travel with me on her first visit to New York. Thank you, Johanne, for a wonderful Christmas with you. There really is only one New York.
Heisann,jeg slukte hvert ord du skrev jeg. New York... tror den byen kaller på meg også.Må være som å gå på månen.. fantastisk å uvirkelig. Er det skikkelig kaldt der i desember altså?! Fine bilder du viser også Camilla.9 dager igjen til julaften nå,det går fort.Kos deg! Klem fra Karin
ReplyDeleteDet var helt fantastisk! En helt utrolig fin jul. Jeg er så glad vi dro!
ReplyDeleteHei tante Karin! New York er virkelig helt fantastisk, det er nesten uvirkelig. Men desember er en veldig kaldt måned, var et par dager vi ikke klarte å være ute nesten.
ReplyDeleteJohanne, min kjære. Jeg er også så glad for at vi dro! Tar meg selv i å drømme meg bort og vil så gjerne tilbake! Vi får begynne å planlegge igjen ;)