Saturday in Santaland

Yesterday we took our annual [last year was the first year, but someone told me two years makes it a tradition] trip to NYC to do all the touristy things people do when they visit Manhattan in December. It was just Erin, me, and Gavin. Molly is still too small so she stayed with Grandma and Grandpa. We'll take her to see a local knock-off Santa. But the real Santa doesn't even seem to be the big draw. For Gavin, I think the train ride is the best part of the whole trip, but we go through the motions of doing all the other things as well, because, you know, we took the time to go all the way into the city.

Again this year he was thrilled with the train. As soon as we got a seat he started asking if we'd be going through a tunnel. By the time we reached Newark I think everyone in our car knew there was a tunnel coming up, and there was a little boy who'd be pretty psyched once we got there. Anticlimactic if you ask me considering the tunnel takes all of two minutes and, you can't see anything outside the train anyway. But he was happy.

The day started out on the eighth floor of Macy's, in Santaland, home of the real Santa. If you're a kid and you're reading this, stop now. There are at least eight Santas up there. They keep the line moving at an incredible rate and an elf meets you and escorts you to your real Santa, keeping the kids preoccupied all the way. But there I was trying to count how many alcoves they had that could be hiding additional Santas. Ask any of the elves how many are back there and they'll tell you, "just one." I tried last year too. The line was just starting to build when we arrived so we made it to the big guy in about 15 minutes. The train city is way more sophisticated than the one I remember from my childhood, but they still have the staples. And I am sure it took longer to get through the line back then.

After Macy's we started walking up toward Rockefeller Center. We cut straight across on 34th and noticed a really long line across the street; I mean we're talking New Kids on the Block in the Solomon Ponds Mall circa 1988 kind of length. Turns out it was a line to go up to the observation deck of the Empire State Building. I am happy to say this was not in our tourist itinerary. I know what the city looks like from up there, I have seen it from a plane. I don't need to freeze on a platform after waiting two hours in line and squeezing into an elevator with forty other people to get there. But hey if any of you guys think that sounds like fun, go for it.

We ultimately decided to go have lunch early - one because Gavin was asking if he could have something to eat every time we passed a street vendor (mid-town on a Saturday during holiday shopping season that translates to two per corner, minimum), and two because last year we waited an hour for a table at around 12:15. We made our way to the Heartland Brewery after taking a couple pictures in front of a fountain on Sixth Ave. I'll put all the pictures up on the Shutterfly site, with captions.

After lunch we finally made it over to the tree. I think they need to make the city a little bigger; particularly around Rockefeller Center, and the Fifth Avenue store fronts, in December. There were so many people there we actually found ourselves, at times, unable to move from our spot. I'd imagine it's a lot like the elevators to the observation deck of the Empire State Building, only minus a destination. The tree is a little gappy this year, if you ask me. That is to say, it has a lot of open areas between branches. I wouldn't tolerate that for my tree, but then again I don't have to find an 80 foot tree while hanging out of a helicopter.

After the tree we headed up toward FAO Schwartz. Talk about an efficient line: that thing starts around the corner, almost as far across as Madison, and you're in the store in less than ten minutes. We had to make a quick stop at Bergdorff Goodman, but we didn't buy anything. When we finally got into FAO it was straight up to the piano where Gavin got to do his best Tom Hanks, and then out. It's this gigantic toy store and for two consecutive years now we have gotten in and out without so much as touching anything that resembles a toy.

We caught the worst cab in NYC right out in front on Fifth and were on our way to the train station. Gavin fell asleep in the cab, which was very impressive considering the accelerate, brake, accelerate, change lanes, honk, brake pattern our driver was following. It was also unfortunate in that his brief nap on the way to Penn Station was enough to keep him awake the whole way home on the train. And since the tunnel is the beginning of the ride going home, after we came out on the NJ side everyone was subjected to repeated requests for another tunnel that was never actually going to be reached.

A good day. And officially a tradition.