"Our first real glimpse of New York city was the Yankee Stadium and then we crossed the bridge into Harlem"

If your bus trip from Washington DC to NYC passed by Yankee Stadium, well that's some odd routing!

Be glad it only took 6 hours as Friday was a "gridlock alert" day and projected to be the busiest traffic day of the year.

Enjoy the rest of your stay here.

I think the OP miswrote--they began the day in Boston.

Ha ha, thanks ellen, we did indeed start our day in Boston. I'm so travel weary now that I'm forgetting which city I'm in!

Kwaussie - The black squirrels in DC aren't native but 18 of them were imported to Washington DC from Canada during Teddy Roosevelt's time in the early 1900s. They are more aggressive than the native gray ones and are migrating outward from the city and becoming more predominate in the populations. We live just outside of the city and 20 years ago a black squirrel was rare, now they are just part of the population.

Loved seeing the US thru your eyes. Thanks for the Trip Report.

excellent report from a Melbournian..now back to "strian"

egg-shner:...when it's very hot outside, turn on the egg-shner.

aye-tin: number between 17 and 19!

The folks at the Ford Motor Plant in Geelong taught be a bit of 'strian...and they couldn't understand my Bostonese very well (even though I've lived in California for 55 years)

stu...enjoy the Vegamite in DC! If you can find any!

Thanks for the info on the squirrels KensingtonGirl. We've become quite fascinated with them, especially the changing colours in different parts of the country.

Very nice 'strian tower- my vowels are a little 'duffrunt' from being married to a Kiwi for so long!

Today we went on a mecca of another type- the uptown NY shopping hub of Park Ave and 5th Ave.
Taine and I had a sleep in while Geoff went for a run in Central Park this morning so we were late starting our day. Old hands at the subway now, we caught a train to 59th St and started our window shopping at Bloomingdales. We had a brief look at some ridiculously over priced stuff (the scarf in the pic below was $250!) and stood on the sidewalk in a brief snow flurry. Hardly the stuff Christmas cards are made of but we can definitely say it snowed while we were here.

Next stop was the Yankee's supporter's shop and then into the queue to get into FAO Schwartz, largest toyshop in the world (apparently) and home to the giant floor piano. Yes, I did say queue, our first ever experience of lining up to get into a shop. I'm glad we don't have a toddler with us because the stuffed toys in FAO are just amazing. We followed the line of people through the store, briefly stopping to grab something for Taine's little Christmas stocking and then lined up to get OUT of the store as well.

We bypassed the Apple store ( who also had a queue), figuring we are already maxed out on iProducts. Following the trail of the fur coats, we popped in to Tiffany's, only to discover we didn't really like the look of their jewelry so we left without making a purchase ;-) Then it was on to the Trump Tower for a meeting with Don. He was a no show so we stopped for a Starbuck's and an ogle at the golden furnishings of the foyer.

On the way to the Rockefeller Centre we popped into Swatch (another present for Taine) and Lindt (presents for me). When we got to Rockefeller the queues reached a whole new dimension. The line for the Lego store went all the way round the block and when we eventually got in and out of the shop we found ourselves in a crush of human beings coming from four different directions. I reckon the entire population of Mortlake (where we live) would have been swamped by this mass of people on just one city intersection. Luckily, festive spirit is alive and well in NY, even in the crowds and queues and there was very little pushing or shoving. Everyone just shuffles along trying to keep hold of their own group until , just like car traffic jams, the side walk magically opens up and you can move forward.

After another journey on the subway and a brief respite back at the Dumont, we went next door for Chinese food. The food was ok but the restaurant was SO hot. This is something we've found really odd in the North. You have to be very rugged up to be outside but the insides of shops and restaurants are ridiculously warm. I find myself de robing at the entrance of every building and carting my gloves, beanie and coat around over my arm till it's time to leave.

To walk off dinner we went down 5th Ave to Macys who are open continuously for 48 hrs before Christmas. There were thousands of people in the store, many of them carrying dozens of red bags. It's commercialism gone crazy. Despite traipsing up and down all 8 floors we found nothing we wanted to buy. I think we are shopped out!

Do you think we all should write to The Donald and bring him to task for missing you at the towers?

Still enjoying your trip, thanks.

kwaussie, a friend of mine in NYC says that in order to see the windows without all the crowds, they take a nap then go out in the middle of the night!

I admit that there were just too many people for me the last time I was there at Christmas. I admire you for braving the crowds.

Kwaussie, this TR is so much fun to read. I do think people tend to make neighborhoods no matter how large the city. I expect, also, that people get a somewhat skewed view of America if all they see is NYC! Most normal of us wouldn't stand in line to get into a store either. LOL

More soon, please!

emalloy, I think you should. So rude of him to be out when we'd called especially to see him!

This morning we got up while the kids were still in bed and hit the street early to look for extra luggage. As opposed to every hour of the day from noon till midnight, the shops were quite empty at 9am. It was great! We found some terribly cheap roller duffle bags (thanks Fodorites for this suggestion) and a KMart with a tiny little tree for our hotel room.

With the tree, complete with $2 LED lights, installed and decorated with the baubles we have collected on our travels, everyone was feeling much more festive as we jumped on the subway and made our way down to Chelsea. Away from Downtown, New York is quite lovely. The architecture is varied and fascinating and there's room to walk on the pavement. I could live here.

We walked the Highline, a disused railway become parkland. This is a magnificent recycling of land with great views of the city and a lovely, Sunday walk feel to it. It's definitely on my NY 'must do' list. We had a yummy lunch at the Crumbcake cafe and then walked to the Flatiron building. Although it was cold, the sun was shining and there was no wind today; New York at its finest.

Despite my pedometer saying we'd already walked 20,000 steps, after a short shower break we headed back downtown to the Radio City Music Hall for the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. And spectacular it was. Lots of high kicking and a tapped version of the 12 days of Christmas. Singing with feet! Santa took us on a 3D trip around the world and a little girl learnt about Christmas through a video game. WT?

On the way home we stopped at Bryant Park for hot chocolate, wandered the market stalls and watched the ice skating. Have I mentioned before that this whole trip feels like a dream? Never more than this evening.

Nice to hear you have a little Christmas tree/cheer set up in the room. Great stuff that.

We are heading up to my cousin's - 30 minutes away - for a Xmas day brunch - and they will have it nicely decorated for their 3 year old twins and other relatives who have come into town, plus they are serving three types of Quiche - along with the traditional Christmas ham, etc. My wife is taking her great Banana Bread and my sister is bringing ??. Oh yes - some fairly good Champagne. :)

Have always wanted to get over to the Highline and walk it - but just haven't yet.

Hope you get to wonder around Greenwich Village, my favorite area. Very easy to get to on the subway (Union Square - or along 6th Ave - Bleeker St (by Washington Square - another great place to walk around) - wherever - http://tinyurl.com/btowj4c, and walk around some.

There is a fabled Chocolate store - where the chocolate is not cheap - but at least they make a very good cup of hot chocolate at the counter - and they have a dining area. It's just south of Union Square at 841 Broadway - called Max Brenner: http://www.maxbrenner.com/

But there are other upscale chocolate shops in the Big Apple. see http://nymag.com/nymetro/urban/strat...ocolate/10186/ and http://gonyc.about.com/od/shopping/t..._chocolate.htm

And also hope you get over to the Natural History Museum - on the West side of the Park, where as you know - they made the first Night at the Museum movie. :) Here is the children's book it was based on - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_at_the_Museum and the movie itself: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477347/

Always love catching the rerun on TV, as well as the sequel at the Smithsonian - with the ever lovely Amy Adams, who stars in Leap Year - which would be good "research" for your future trip to Ireland/Europe. :) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1216492/ Leap Year starts at my favorite Irish village - Dingle - on the Dingle Peninsula.

And if you need a Pizza "fix" - some of the best pies are in the Village.

I like the old/authentic places such as Joe's and John's - and others along Bleeker Street - and then of course, there is the "original" Lombardi's . http://www.joespizzanyc.com/ and http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/3/30929/...zeria-New-York and http://www.firstpizza.com/

Some also like the more upscale Keste: http://www.kestepizzeria.com/home.html

But the best Margherita I had was a few blocks over in the East Village area - at Motorino's. They had a big pie and salad special for lunch - and I took half of it home - and my sister was visiting with a friend - in Greenwich Village - and they enjoyed the other half. :). http://motorinopizza.com/

They are all good truth be told.

You report is interesting but I think you're a little confused about areas and directions.

In Manhattan MIDTOWN is 59th St down to 34th St (or 23rd St if you prefer). From 50th Street to to about 110th -125th St is the upper east or west side - north of that is Harlen, then various areas of upper Manhattan.

Downtown is a bunch of different areas below 34th - or 23 rd St) including Chelsea, SoHo, East Village, Greenwich Village, Financial District, Government Center and the Battery.

And the higher the number of the street the further north you are. Manhattan runs north and south - sort of - it's very narrow from east to west.

And yes, there are a lot of people. About 9 million in the city itself but about 25 million if you include the residential suburbs. And yes, the megalopolis from Boston down to DC is about 60 million people - but there are a lot of areas of open/farming land even so - it's a BIG country.

Sorry - there is a lot of BAD pizza in New York. Not ghastly like Domino's or something - but really not good. We have 2 or 3 favorite places - since we find many don;t use the best ingredients (best oil, freshest cheeses, etc).

Tom, we were hoping to get pizza today but never got round to it. I am captivated by Godiva chocolate stores. Brenner is good but we have them in Melbourne as well.

You're right NYtraveler, I'm completely confused about areas and directions! South feels north to me and when I go right I feel like I'm going left. When I referred to downtown I was meaning the middle of the busy part of Midtown rather than Downtown as in the area and direction opposite to Uptown!

The Central Park we see on the movies is inevitably the scene of a grisly murder or a kidnapping. I didn't see any dead bodies this morning, just acres of beautiful parkland set against the towering background of Manhattan. While Geoff ran 10 miles around the perimeter and Sophie ran a few of the internal tracks, I admired the scenery and Taine played mountain climber on the rocky outcrops near the skating rink. It would take days to explore the park properly, I just felt privileged to have experienced the tip of it.

Whilst doing some last minute Christmas shopping on the way back to the Dumont, we experienced some Julia Robert's style 'Pretty Woman' shop attendance. Sophie has had her heart set on a Michael Kors watch and we've been looking at different styles over the last few days. We went to Bloomingdales because it was close to the subway but the attendants weren't at all interested in us. Despite standing expectantly at their counter for several minutes, they continued with their personal conversation and completely ignored us. Clearly our sporting attire and un-made up faces flagged us as unlikely buyers! We've actually experienced this phenomenon a few times in New York. Luckily we've also experienced the opposite and so to buy the watch we traveled all the way to Union Square to a shop where the assistant had been very helpful earlier in the week.

We made a lunch time pit stop to Skype Jaime & Xavier at home in Aus on their Christmas Day morning. It's the first time I've been away from any of my kids at Christmas so that feels a bit strange & I'm certainly missing our own special seasonal rituals, however this is a Christmas that none of us will forget! The time difference is such an odd thing but at least I understand now how Santa manages to get all around the world. It's a very long time between midnight in NZ & Aus and the time he finally gets to New York!

This afternoon we went downtown and across town on the subway to get to Brooklyn. It was too early for pizza so we just walked our way back to Manhattan. The views from the bridge are to die for. There was lots of cloud today so everything was shrouded in grey but nevertheless the harbour and the skyline were amazing. Tourists on the bridge do have to be careful to remember that one lane is for bicycles. I nearly got collected a couple of times when I wandered over to take a photo.

We called back through Union Square to get the aforementioned watch and to pick up some supplies from Wholefoods. What a crush! Just like in Australia it seems everyone is buying enough to survive a holocaust when in fact most of the shops are only closed for a day and in NYC a lot of them will still be open tomorrow. In the end we grabbed some salad and then topped up with Christmas beer and pretzels at the Duane Reade drug store across from the hotel.

As I type, we're watching snowflakes drift past our window on the 36th floor. I don't think it will be a white Christmas but it's enough snowy stuff to get us excited! I was hoping to get to a midnight church service tonight but I don't think Taine's going to make it. The stress of wondering whether Santa does hotel visits has completely worn him out.

Hope you have a White Christmas after all and poor Taine: Hope Santa finds him. :)

And LOL: I will make you a great deal on the Brooklyn Bridge. That's one of the oldest scams/sayings of all - selling a tourist the Bridge or a "share" of it.

About 15? years ago - I actually drove across it on a Sat night (not by design - I was returning from Providence, Rhode Island - to see my niece at Brown U) - and fortunately - the traffic was moving just fine, and I was albe to reach the Hilton Millenium (next to the then Twin Towers) with no problemo.

And if you have an obnoxious clerk in a store - just make yourself known (verbally) - or go back to where they appreciated your business - as you did.

For NY Traveler: I know from other posts you have high standards - so perhaps you could share your Pizza recommendations with us? :)

And keep up the great adventure reports, pleez.

For NY Traveler: What I meant when I said about the Pizzas "there are all good" was about the ones I noted in Greenwich Village - (which I should have more clearly specified).

As noted - my favorite - made in an authentic/specially built brick oven - old Napoli/Firenze Italian style - with San Marzano Tomatoes http://www.pizzainyourbackyard.com/r...zano-tomatoes/ in the sauce, topped with fresh "Buffalo" Mozzarella - and fresh basil - artistically arranged on the pie - was at Motorino's, in the East Village. http://motorinopizza.com/ :)

Don't worry, Kwaussie, no one expects you to be direction savvy--you're just visiting. I always got turned around in Savannah Georgia. Often the water is to the south but that wasn't the case there.

I'm annoyed on your behalf about the poor service at Bloomies. As a white-haired person, I am often ignored. Once I timed it--20 minutes before someone finally did acknowledge me with a "Did you need help?"--well of course I needed help--I demanded a supervisor and suggested they change their ways. I never returned to see if my rant worked.

The high line is a "to do" for me also. Very much enjoying your TR. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Fodorites!

Luckily Santa was able to find us this morning, even though we're a long way from home. We've had fun over the last few weeks finding 'small' presents to fit in our travel and we had lots of fun unwrapping them this morning. My Pandora bracelet is now a testament to our trip with charms reflecting each of the cities we've visited :-) We also stuck with our tradition of bacon and eggs for breakfast, even though cooking them created havoc with the smoke detector and meant someone had to continually wave a towel in front of it while Geoff kept cooking!

Around lunchtime we wandered down to the subway with no real plans in mind but to spend the day wandering the city. With most of the shops shut the streets were much quieter, a very strange phenomenon indeed. The quiet ended at the Rockefeller Centre. We thought we might do the Top of the Rock but so did every other tourist in the city! The queues were much longer than normal. Likewise in Central Park where I think Christmas Day might be the busiest day of the year. As for Times Square and the M & M shop...complete chaos.

The homeless are hard to ignore in New York. It's so sad to see so many people doing it tough, especially in the cold weather. Taine has been particularly affected by the cardboard pleas for help and so today he decided to cash a few days of his spending money into dollar bills and we let him give away as many as he wanted. I know it's not possible to donate to every beggar in the city but it felt so much better than our usual head down, walk fast approach and it was gratifying to see so many people being genuinely appreciative of his little presents.

We had delicious salad and pasta at Fresh & Co for lunch and pretty ordinary turkey burgers at the Tick Tock diner tonight. I'm pining for some pork crackling and plum pudding so maybe we'll have a post Christmas feast when we get home.We met some other Aussies on the train going uptown and coincidentally we ran into them again on the train home. Then we found out they are staying at the same hotel as us. It really is a small world.

Tonight we had pre booked tickets to the movie of 'Les Miserables'. After doing the production with our school kids a few years ago, this musical has been one of our favourites so we were really looking forward to the movie. We certainly weren't disappointed. It was stupendously wonderful.

"To love another person is to see the face of God"

It was the perfect way to end Christmas Day.

Glad you enjoyed it 0 it's one of the few days the city is quiet.

But you're mistaken about Central Park - it's way busier every weekend in the summer than what you saw on Christmas Day.

As for giving dollars to the homeless - obviusly you can do whatever you want. But you should know that there are shelters that many of the homeless won't stay in, partly due to not wanting to follow specific rules and partly since many of them are mentally ill - off their prescribed meds and self-medicating with alcohol and street drugs. There are one or two in my area that I will give food to (tell them to go to the deli and get a sandwich on me, arranged in advance) but I never give cash since it usually goes to cigarettes, booze or drugs.

Really nice, Kwaussie.