The Whole World in one Place: NYC

Back to NYC, the "Big Apple", a 8,5 mio. metropolis consisting of five cities on its own (officially called "boroughs"). It is not just another American city, but the whole world in one place; it's not your typical U.S.A. at all and it doesn't consist exclusively of Manhattan with its famous skyscrapers and museums - there is much more! It's a universe of its own, multi-ethnical, multi-lingual, multi-everything.

We were welcomed warmly at Heidi's & Tom's brownstone in Harlem (see pic), a beautifully restaurated house in which they live and rent out four guest rooms. It took us a while to get from Newark Airport to Harlem by train and subway. With heavy luggage you soon start to curse all the narrow turnstiles and stairs. We were pooped when we arrived, but glad to be "home", in our large room with a view down to the still-green little backyard garden.

Wednesday was an unusual slow day for us. We went grocery shopping first, to get some breakfast items and drinks, then we walked the 125th Street (the main axle of Harlem with the famous Apollo Theater), chatted with Heidi and Tom and the mixed crowd of guests (French/Italian/German) and in the afternoon departed to see the balloon blow-up at the Museum of History closeby Central Park for the Thanksgiving Parade. We walked through Central Park to Columbus Circle, all decorated for Christmas already (see pics). In the park we noticed, that trees still have quite a few colorful leaves - amazing for this time of the year!

We took the subway down to Herald Square/Penn Station later to pick up our media credentials for the top-notch hockey game Canadiens:Rangers in the Madison Square Garden. Great game and great show before the game, too.

We definitely dressed much too warmly in the early morning of Nov. 26 - Thanksgiving, a holiday, which is more important in the U.S. than Christmas, a big family gathering. We were out early to see Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Did it before in 2010 and, boy, it was cold then. This time, about 60 deg. F. (15 C) and sun, a perfect day for a parade!

The tradition of having a parade on Thanksgiving was started in 1924 by the department store Macy's for their employees. Figurative balloons were added constantly, corresponding to current "fashion", starting with Mickey Mouse, to Sponge Bob, Shrek, Hello Kitty, Spider-Man, Snoopy, Happy Hippo, Ronald McDonald and - newly added this year - Scrat the squirrel from “Ice Age” and Red from “Angry Birds".


More than 8,000 people participate in the parade, including clowns, balloon handlers and marching bands, while 3.5 mio. people line the streets along the 2.5 mi long parade route - it gets bigger each year. 17 giant character balloons, 27 floats, over 1,000 cheerleaders/dancers, over 1,000 clowns, about a dozen marching bands, many celebrities, and Santa Claus at the end, who rings in the Christmas season. Despite of fears of terrorism and heavy police presence, it was a peaceful and fun event.

We celebrated Thanksgiving in the afternoon in Brooklyn with our friends Paula & Gail (pic of the neighborhood) - not with turkey, but with pork roast and all the fixings (and, of course, with Manhattans). It was delicious! We bacame a little "nostalgic", too, having stayed there so many times since the late 1990ies and having enjoyed many meals there. It was a perfect day.