New York City :: Day 4

NYC Day 4: Our last day here & had a leisurely morning. 

NYC was all decked out for Christmas by morning. 

(We literally saw crews putting up Christmas decorations on the buildings last night & putting up Christmas trees) 

We checked out St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

It is stunning...inside and outside.

We walked down to the Plaza Hotel (where Home Alone 2 was filmed) 








The Plaza was beautifully decorated:

 Loved the wreaths:

Inside The Plaza there is a shopping/food area:

 And, the tree in the lobby...just stunning:

I also loved the chandelier.

We took a carriage ride through Central Park, which was beautiful.

Central Park in late November is just gorgeous.

Beautiful fall leaves

Green grass & blue skies

I was in Fall heaven :)

The Plaza:

Our carriage driver Kenny was awesome.

In front of the "Friends" inspired fountain:

 Kenny said we had to have a photo at this spot:

 Our driver, Kenny has been giving Central Park Carriage Rides for over 35 years.

Central Park wasn't that crowded since it was Black Friday.

Pretty sure everyone was shopping on 5th Avenue.

We stopped at Tavern on the Green:

Outdoor eating area:

The bridge where the snowball fight scene from Elf was filmed:

I love Central Park!

Fall in Central Park is the stuff dreams are made of. LOL!
So peaceful to escape the crazy of the city and go to Central Park.

After the carriage ride, Kenny let Claire feed the horse (Roger) some carrots:

I highly recommend a carriage ride through Central Park, it was one of our highlights!

After our peaceful carriage ride we walked up 5th Avenue and headed back to Rockefeller Center.
Since it was Black Friday, the streets and stores were so crowded! 

We went to American Girl store (again!) You can design your own doll. My girls loved doing that.
 Note to self: Never go to American Girl store on Black Friday. Insanity. 

Went to the LEGO store...we waited in line for 15 minutes to get into the store, but at least we had a good view of people ice skating while we waited in line & could people watch:

All my kids love LEGO's!

 Loved the LEGO display of Rockefeller Center:

 So many pretty decorations throughout the city

 Finally has some New York Pizza. Delicious.

Went to Magnolia Bakery for cupcakes & their banana pudding. 

Can we talk about the Salvation Army Bell ringers?

The in NYC are at a whole new level of awesomeness. They sing & dance all day long. 

All of Salvation Army Bell Ringers  we saw were like this! AMAZING!

We walked around 5th Avenue looking at the incredible Christmas window displays.
No one does Christmas decorations like NYC, so fun to see all the lights, decorations & window displays.

5.7 miles & about 13,000 steps on our final day in NYC. 
We took a late night flight back to California & got home after midnight. 

You know it's a good trip when your girls wake up the first morning home & turn on the DVR so they can watch the Thanksgiving Parade again, but on TV. 
Kevin recorded it for us & this was the the first thing the girls did when they woke up Saturday morning :)

This is a trip I will never forget! I hope the girls never forget it either. 
So many great memories. Before the trip, I told them that this was their Christmas present, so they will literally have nothing to unwrap from us on Christmas morning but Luke will. I am all about giving experiences rather than gifts. They will get gifts from Santa & stocking stuffers, but this was their Christmas from Kevin & I. They were totally fine with that :)

NYC has ruined me for Christmas, they know how to do it right. California could take some tips from NYC on Christmas ;)

You can read about :
Day 1 HERE 
Day 2 HERE
Day 3 HERE
 
We could have done 1 more day in NYC. 
There are a few things I want to do next time we go back, but we just ran out of time. 
That list includes:
- Going to a Broadway Show (this wasn't a high priority for this trip since we saw the Rockettes and also because we see a Broadway show in SF once a year) 
- NBC Experience Studio Tour
- Tour of Empire State Building
- Try again to go see Jimmy Fallon. I'm not giving up! LOL!
 
We love you NYC & we will be back!  
Thanks for following along and enduring all the posts & massive photo overload about our trip!