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Published: December 29th 2010
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I prayed for snow, but i never expected a snow blizzard. We experienced the largest snow storm in New York City (NYC) since 1996. When we walked outside our hotel to stroll along 7th avenue from west 29th street on Boxing Day, Pete and I thought it was just a typical winter's day in NYC. Wrong. NYC was declared a state of Emergency - and we were oblivious to the whole thing.
Like so many other tourists, we walked through knee-high snow, made a snowman, threw snow balls at each other and stopped at every cross srteet to take a photo of the fall. We marvelled, while New Yorkers stayed indoors and abandoned their buried cars.
Apparantly we were in the middle of a winter nightmare. News broadcasts dubbed it as the 'snow storm' of 2010. Countless cars and yellow taxis were buried. Schools closed. Universities closed. The three airports closed. Most roads closed. People were stranded on trains up to 8 hours. For New Yorkers, a travel hassle nightmare. "A menace" according to news broadcasts.
Teeth-chattering, bitterly cold winds swept across the east coast of the USA on Boxing Day. I got my white Christmas but at
an expense of a nasty cold & flu which has kept me in lockdown today in our hotel room while Pete explored the American History of Natural Museum.
It's -5 outside, but the wind gust is -12. It's the wind burn that torments. The snow is delightful and fluffy when it falls until the gust burns it across your face. Strands of my hair turned into icicles on Monday evening as we walked home after watching Chicago, a good Broadway show. It was worth it for premium seats at half the cost from TKTS.
Overnight, Central Park got 20 inches of snow. The sixth-highest total ever recorded. Mounds of snow piled up in Time Square 2m high. New Yorkers are using their skis to get to work, while tourists are bringing out their sleds to enjoy the snow in Central Park.
It's difficult to trawl through the sidewalks if they haven't been ploughed overnight by unemployed, desperate New Yorkers picking up extra work to make a buck. NYC has depoloyed more than 2000 pieces of equipment, including 1700 ploughs and 365 salt spreaders.
Some of the bus and railway lines remains suspended until cleared, but good
Ch 7 broadcast live from Macy's
Live up-to-date news broadcasts about the snow blizzard news for the New Yorkers the snow has stopped falling. The slight break from the cold brings some release to the locals, while us tourists continue to enjoy and explore this winter wonderland.
Seeing Times Sqaure, the city of lights, for the first time during sunset, is one of my favourite moments during our 10 days in New York City (NYC). I was awe-struck at the magnitude of the advertising, glitz & glamour and hustle & bustle . When your standing on the corner of Broadway&42nd street you know you're in NYC! Times Square truly is the spot where the pulse of the city can be found. Eventually, this tourist haven of town becomes tiresome, but there's nothing like seeing something for the first time and Times Square lived up to its reputation and more.
It's hard to believe Central Park lives inside this biggest city in the world. The serenity of walking through 840 acres of parkland surrounded by a city that never sleeps with its bustling crowds and incessant car-horn honks is an anomaly to me. Pete and I shared a Horse-drawn carriage ride through the park on Christmas Day, but 20-minutes into the ride and
$50 later, we realized its probably not the most romantic way to see the park when your horse is part of a typical route which follows a dozen other carts shared by thousands of other tourists and 8.3 million New Yorkers. Previously, it was nice to celebrate Christmas morning in the largest decorated gothic-style Catholic Cathedral in the United States and walk along the world-renowned fifth avenue afterwards.
The original wooden escalators and christmas decorations at Macy's department store made getting through this 10-floor maze and the Boxing Day sale crowds worth the effort. Bumping in to many US-Croatians for the first time and the purchase of my new Calvin Klein pyjamas, CK winter coat and CK jeans meant i could enjoy the experience better too :-)
If i could live in NYC, I'd live in Greenwich (midtown towards downtown). It has a village atmosphere, is centrally located and its architecture of terrace houses is warm and inviting.
On Thursday 30th December, Pete and I toured Columbia University (uptown NYC) and had breakfast at Tom's retaurant, a quintessential American diner also the infamous site known as Monk's Diner from the hit sitcom Seinfeld. it's amazing to feel
like you're walking into the set of Seinfeld. So I ventured in to meet Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer but ordered instead the best cheeseburger and pistachio milkshake in New York. Pete order chocolate, of course! It was one of the best meals i had in New York. Pete's 'beef gumbo' soup from the infamous Soup Nazi on west 55th street was a close second. Al Yeganeh's original Soup Kitchen has not closed down. It was a treat to see all the famous Seinfeld icons, including where Jerry used to live.
Walking over the Broklyn Bridge, the longest bridge made, in 1833 was very romantic... even in the cold. Seeing the city's skyscrape from Brooklyn made you realize just how different NYC looks without the twin towers. The view of the Empire State Building from the Rockefeller centre, 19 buildings constructed from 1914, was pretty impressive too.
Most of all, but not least, my favourite experience was ice-skating in Central Park. We had never roller-skated before, so it was pleasant to keep my backside off the rink (and funny watching Pete fall!)
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Chris and Nikki
Chris
Cool picture.