New York Christmas

Well, the family said they wanted to go to New York City, in December,
to see the Christmas decorations.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The big tree at Rockefeller Center...

I said..."well, what about the grand-daughter ?  
Can she handle all the walking we'd do in a New York trip ?..."

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The front face of Saks Fifth Avenue...

"...and what about the cold ??...it will be De-cem-ber...??..."

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

"Window dressing" at Saks, which is just across 5th Avenue...

...from Rockefeller Center.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

But the little one was a champ.  Handled all the walking,
and her mom had her bundled well.
She handled the near-freezing cold as well as the rest of us.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Skating Rink at Bryant Park.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

...including some tiny beginners...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

More "Christmas windows" at Macy's...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Rather popular with the passers-by...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

A holiday-decorated model train store...
...in Grand Central Station.  Very popular with the kids.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

And...the little one got to see snow for the first time !
And it was the perfect amount of snow...a light accumulation,
which never got to be a mess on the roads.

All in all, it could not have worked out better,
logistically, weather, things we got to see, everything.
We had fun !

Y'all take care,
-Mark

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

A quiet moment…

…in the middle of Times Square.

No, I wasn’t there at some odd hour, when no one was around.  As I understand, there are no moments like that in Times Square, the center of activity, at least tourist activity, in New York City.

No, I was there on a Monday morning, at about 10 am.  It had been raining, but it had stopped.  It was snowing the evening before, but that had blown through.  The square was full of people, hundreds of them.

I had taken a walk, by myself, a break from the activity of our vacation.  Just a short walk in the cold morning air, no need to hurry along, nothing to rush to, just a moment to stand, and look, and maybe take a photo.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

But I noticed, as I stood just about in the center of the open area, an eerie silence.  Just before, as I had walked along 7^th Avenue, several of the store fronts had music blaring, and one lady hawked with a megaphone, “Discount Tickets!…Everybody gets a Discount!”, as they competed for attention from the passers-by, competing in that flashing, light-filled, usually very noisy space that fills Times Square.

There were people all around, but they were taking photos of their own, or talking just to each other, barely audible.  Traffic was heavy, but with hardly any honking horns (people in India just won’t get that…”how can city traffic move, without the power of those horns ?”).

No, there was just an eerie silence, maybe just coincidence, just a few seconds when the voices, and music, and horns, and cars were quiet for a moment, when that fellow with a jack-hammer up the block took a break.

But then, I heard the sound of an ambulance siren, heading just past me, a policeman’s whistle joined in, telling drivers to get out of the way, a bus driver jumped on his squealing brakes, the jack-hammer guy went back to work, and there she was again…“Discount Tickets!…Everybody gets a Discount!”

(…never did make it into that huge Victoria’s Secret store…maybe next time!)

- Mark

12-Dec-2016

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin