New York City! It's Christmas Time In NYC!

We stayed at The Standard, High Line all three nights. It is a very modern hotel that gets most of details right, and I'd just be nitpicking if I mentioned the ones that were wrong (though I will just say that even one towel bar or hook would be nice). We had a city view that was stunning even through the clouds. The hotel had an ice rink and holiday village sponsored by Chanel which was quite charming and could be observed from the living room area, which serves drinks and a limited but perfect menu. While didn't get to experience the rooftop lounge Le Bain or Top of the Standard as they were both booked for holiday events, nor the Biergarten as it was always way too crowded, The Standard Grill was on point though exceedingly spendy. 

As it turned out to be everywhere in NYC this particular weekend, The Chelsea Market was decked-out for Christmas and was insanely busy- the holiday festivity was full-tilt-boogie on a Friday afternoon. We practiced patience and managed to squeeze into a fair taco joint and an impossibly perfect donut shop before finishing off our market tour with a fancy tea. We'll need to go back next time for a more thorough visit. 

We intended to visit several holiday markets peppered around town, but only made it to the one at Union Square. Like the Chelsea Market, the crowd was difficult to navigate but with patience we ended up seeing much of it. There were over a hundred vendors selling mostly of one-of-a-kind items, made locally. It was one of the best markets I've been to in terms of quality items, and I regret not buying a few photos I loved, though I am happy to report I'm now the owner of a handmade leather wallet with an image of an octopus stamped on it.

 On a building across the street is a public art installation called Metronome which was a fun discovery and has a Wikipedia entry worth reading while you're there. Spoiler alert! it does a thing twice a day. Unfortunately our timing didn't allow us to see the thing happen. 

I'd challenge even the most seasoned traveler to go to New York City during the Christmas Season and not go see the spectacle that is Midtown at least once in their lives. We got swept up in it a few times, and with the exception of almost being crushed in a wave of people at Sak's, it was kind of magical. 

The Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center was... giant. And incredibly lit. Throngs of people were taking pictures, many of which we ruined as we wound our way out to the mezzanine above the ice rink and to the best spot for a picture of the tree with Prometheus. 

Times Square is bright. Maybe we're much too naive about NYC to understand what interesting things are happening there, but at a glance it seems M&M's and Disney own the show. We hit up the TKTS stand to get last minute discounts to something good, we especially wanted to see Dear Evan Hansen, but the whole endeavor was a bust. We should have gotten tickets in advance. After striking out, we headed down Broadway to Caroline's Comedy Club where funny people made us laugh.

I've always loved the way Radio City looks with all that art deco neon wrapped around it's corner. When it's gussied up for Christmas it's even better. We wouldn't normally spring for tickets to the Rockettes, but since we couldn't see a Broadway show, and this was the big CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR! we went for it, and we're glad. It lived up to "SPECTACULAR!" and gave us another big hit of holiday spirit.

On our way back to the subway, we got a little turned around and ended up in front of Sak's which was a huge rookie mistake. At this point in the evening there were thousands of people taking in the Sak's Frozen 2 Light Show. We went from simply walking along with a crowd to suddenly being in a crushing mass of humanity without any control over our forward motion. If this is how things are for a light show, it's scary to imagine what it must be like on New Year's Eve.

Live jazz in the village. It simply must be done. We waited too long to get tickets for a show at The Village Vanguard and everything was sold out, so we ended up at an aptly named basement club called Smalls. And we're glad. As was our luck almost the entire trip, we got above average seats at the bar for a great performance. Very sultry and smooth and exactly what you're probably imagining a late night jazz show in Greenwich Village would be.  At an Italian restaurant afterward just as we were finishing up, the band arrived and were seated nearby. We sent over tiramisu and cannoli and thanked them for a lovely evening. 

Greenwich Village was very walkable to and from Chelsea, and we did it each night of our stay. One night, we tried to get Comedy Cellar tickets, but again discovered that we waited too long. We ended up at a lesser known comedy club, which was just ok that particular night. We'll be getting tickets in advance for the things we really want to see next time we go. 

The High Line is a 1.5 mile long park that was once a spur line of the NY Central, built to serve the meatpacking and produce districts. It's got a very rich history worth learning about, and a walk along it on a nice day is a must-do when visiting. 

The Whitney is adjacent to both the The Standard and The High Line, and was a perfect stop for our last few hours in NYC before heading to the airport. 6 floors of installations within a manageable footprint if you have a short amount of time for perusing. The Whitney was a perfect way to end our trip.