Tag Archives: NYC

Christmas Time in NYC

A Visit During the Holidays

This year we took a short trip to New York especially to see the holiday decorations. It’s a 750 mile drive from Grand Rapids, MI to New York.

Here’s a rather lengthy picture story of our early December visit to New York.

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Here is are driving in Ohio. This is the halfway point from Grand Rapids to New York City.
We arrived in Tarrytown, NY by crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge (actually the Mario Cuomo bridge). Locals refer to the bridge as the Tappan Zee. The bridge crosses the Hudson River about 30 miles north of New York City in Westchester county. I grew up in New Rochelle which is close to Tarrytown. During our visit we stayed in Tarrytown since the hotel rates are way lower than in New York City.
The easiest way to commute into the city is by commuter rail. The Hudson North line conveniently takes us from Tarrytown to Grand Central terminal in about an hour. This is the station in Tarrytown.
The commute from Tarrytown passes by several small villages and cities along the Hudson RIver. Here we are crossing the Harlem River between Bronx and Manattan.
Here is my wife Kris and tree of the grandkids in the iconic and spacious Grand Central terminal.
Our first stop was at nearby Bryant Park where the city sets up a skating rink for the winter.
In addition to the winter skating rink, Bryant Park is filled with dozens of small vendors selling holiday decorations and gifts.
While our granddaughters are past the doll stage, they wanted to visit the American Doll store.
Here are the skaters that braved the cold at the famed Rockefeller Center rink. Unfortunately we didn’t see the Christmas tee lighting that took place a few days after we visited.
Some of the nice holiday decorations at Rockefeller Center.
We visited St Thomas Church on 5th Ave
The peacefulness of the church is such contrast to the hustle and bustle of the city.
This “look” stopped us with curiosity. It’s the Louis Vuiton building being restored with a suitcase covering.
Here’s another striking storefront belonging to Louis Vuiton. Amazing showmansip.
This spiral staircase take you down from 5th Ave into the Apple Store. The store was crowded with holiday shoppers.
Outside of the Apple Store was a mirrored sculpture. Like many others, we wanted to get a selfie.
This colorful storefront is Dior. It seems like many of the stores are trying to outdo one another with creative and amazing designs.

Just a few blocks away is Central Park. It was filled with visitors and locals enjoying the sunny (but cold) weather.
This area in Central Park is known as Bethesda Fountain. As you can see from the crowds, it is a popular gathering place.
Across from the south entrance to Central Park is Columbus Circle and the Time Warner Building. This is photo from its wall-to-wall windows.
The Time Warner Building as many full service shops. Upsatairs is The Tintinary a nice lunchs spot which we often frequent.
You can find a cool gingerbread house in the building’s shopping area.
The next day we drove a few miles from our Tarrytown hotel to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. This place is noted for the fictional story of the “Headless Horseman”. BTW, we didn’t catch a glimpse of the so-called person.
Sleepy Hollow was originally settlled by the Dutch. Many of the headstones date back to the 1600s and are difficult to read due to the aging.
The subway took us from midtown Manhattan to Chinatown.
The windows of Chinatown are filled with roast duck, chicken and pork ready for purchase.
We walked from Chinatown to Little Italy where we met family and friends for a small celebration. The food and service at Il Cortile was fantastic.
Outside of the restaurant was this wooden soldier to help decorate the holidays.
The MET is New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, which houses one of the largest art collections in the USA.
One of the Met’s many paintings from the 17th century
A statue in the Met’s Asian collection
The next day we crossed over from New York City to New Jersey. This is the George Washington Bridge.
We wanted to visit the Statue of Liberty and took the ferry from the New Jersey side to Liberty Island.
From the docks in Jersey City we had a great view of the Manhattan skyline.

One of our granddaughters plays for Stevens Institute in Hoboken, NJ. We finally were able to see her play that evening.
Here we are after her game saying goodbye before we were on our way home back to Grand Rapids.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been in New York during the Christmas Holiday Season and the first time for three of the granddaughters.

While the weather was cold, it was clear and sunny the whole time we were there. We had a short but enjoyable visit.

Written by:

Arnie Lee

A New York City Visit


<br /> New York Visit<br />

Granddaughter’s First time in New York


While I’ve lived in Michigan since 1972, I still consider myself a New Yorker. I grew up just outside of the city in nearby Westchester County where I spent my formative years learning and enjoying the exhilarating pulse of the Big Apple.

One of our granddaughters wanted to travel to New York to see the sites that she’s heard about from her family for so many years.

 


Tarrytown is a small village north of NYC along the Hudson River. Historically it’s famous as the setting for Washington Irving’s story about the headless horseman in “the Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. As a teenager I spent time exploring the cemetery in Sleepy Hollow.


 


The following day we took the commuter train from Tarrytown to New York City. The ride to the city takes about an hour with stops at towns in Westchester county and the Bronx with familiar names – Irvington, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson, Glenwood, Yonkers, Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvill, University Heights, Yankee Stadium – before the final stop at Grand Central Station.


 


The walk from Grand Central to Central Park takes us through mid-town Manhattan. During the day the streets are filled with workers, pedestrians and visitors. It’s takes about 30 minutes to walk the mile to the park.

 


 


A cab ride to westside Manhattan took us to Hudson Yards.

 
 


The next day we wanted to take in some culture. So it was a car ride into NYC to visit the MET – Metropolitan Museum of Art – which is adjacent to Central Park.


 


One last visit before the long drive back to Michigan. We wanted to visit New Rochelle , the city where I grew up.

 


It was a short visit to New York but our granddaughter finally was able to see some of the sites that we have told her about over the years.

Written by:

Arnie Lee

Gung Hei Fat Choy

Chinese New Year – January 31

Chinese New Year typically falls during late January or early February.

The Chinese calendar is partially based on the phases of the moon and is also referred to as the Lunar New Year. It’s celebrated in countries where there is a large population of Chinese. Having been raised in a large, extended Chinese family, we’ve always known the celebration as Chinese New Year.

In China, the full celebration lasts a full 15 days. However growing up in New York we didn’t have the luxury of sitting it out for the full holiday.

Our’s was an acknowledgement of our Chinese heritage. We would drive from our home in the suburbs to Chinatown in the heart of New York City to experience the colorful dragon dance and ear-shattering fire crackers. We hosted a gathering with as many relatives that were able to travel to my Grandmother’s (Paw Paw) house. Paw Paw would prepare two or three special dishes unique to the holiday. We trekked in a small procession from the house to the cemetery carrying a boiled chicken, oolong tea and burning incense to honor our deceased ancestors. The chicken and the tea came back to the house and were served with a dozen other traditional home-cooked dishes at an elaborate family meal. Afterwards, the elders passed red envelopes containing dollar bills or silver dollars as gifts to all of the unmarried children. As children we were elated.

Delicious dishes like this one would grace our kitchen table as dozens of relatives surrounded us younger kids. These dishes were only for special occasions.
The adults gifted the children these little red envelopes filled with dollar bills and/or silver dollars.

This was a time to visit with uncles, aunts and cousins. This was a time for hugs and kisses. This was a time to leave the bad fortune behind. And this was especially a time to wish good fortune to everyone.

For us, January 31, 2014 is no different from other years. We continue to celebrate Chinese New Year as we have since I can remember. And while Paw Paw passed long ago, the food aromas from her kitchen of fifty or more years past remain familiar to me today.

It’s our sincere hope that good fortune will continue to bless our grateful family and all of our friends during this new year.

So to all of our relatives and friends in the year of the horse – “Gung Hei Fat Choy.”