Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas!

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!











Three days before Christmas! Weatherwise it is not really "Christmas-like", no snow, not even frost, more "spring-like", warm and partly sunny. Nevertheless, our stollen is half-eaten, our Christmas tree and decoration are all set up and tomorrow we'll pick up the goose for our Christmas meal. We are listening to Christmas songs on AFN 360 Internet Radio and trying to get things off the table still in 2015.

Also, we started planning our next trip starting on Feb. 17th to Anchorage/Alaska (a first!) and through the Northwestern part of the U.S. ending up in San Francisco. Though it certainly will be cold up there, we are looking forward to some new experience! So, stay tuned...and, Happy Holidays!

Farewell to NYC

After almost two weeks in NYC, spent at our friends' home in Harlem, our feet were hurting and our brains got exhausted. There is always so much to see and explore, that you never ever have enough time and always feel sort of unsatisfied not to have done/seen this or that in addition. The trip from Harlem to Newark International Airport (EWR)on Monday took us almost two hours though all went smooth. Had to change from the subway to the train at Penn Station and then to the AirTrain, which brought us to the terminal. Our plane (United Airlines B767-400) started about 30 min. late, but was on time in MUC. We were fortunate to be sitting in one of the front rows (Economy Plus), so that we had a little more leg space and less motor noise than further back on the plane.

With only about 7:20 flight time we didn't even try to sleep, instead watched some TV series (mostly culinary) and worked on the laptop, which is thanks to electric outlets between seats easy now. Arrived on time and, of course, it was much colder (about 34 F) in Munich and foggy and wet. Just what we expected for our welcome to Germany!

A place to remember: The 9/11 Memorial Site

Having visited the impressive, highly emotional 9/11 Museum last year – a real "must“! – we had the One World Observatory on our agenda this time. We encountered long waiting lines on Saturday morning in front of the building for the 9 am (first) entry (tickets are time-framed), but controls and elevator trip to the top were efficiently arranged and fast.


This observation deck is only open for a couple of months, situated on New York’s highest and new "signature tower“, 1 WTC, occupying the place of the old World Trade Center. It’s one of three observation decks in town - the others are on Rockefeller Center and on Empire State Building. We've been warned that it's rather "disney-like", but this was not true, or, at least not to an unpleasant degree: the space on the top deck is airy and roomy, windows floor to ceiling, views towards the islands and piers and to the North are gorgeous, and the few "show elements" (like a historical projection in the elevator or a video upon arrival on top) are short and instructive.


The new transportation hub for PATH (operating as a hub for trains to New Jersey) is a phantastic building with a wing-like construction (see pic below) and was designed by famous spain architect Santiago Calatrava. It is expected to open in 2016, after a couple of delays. Will see. While 1 WTC tower is rather plain and not really exciting from its architecture (planned by SOM), the PATH building is spectacular, and, also, the architecture of the 9/11 museum (which is underground) - the wavy, low building shown on the photo with the white rose - is an architecturally interesting building.


The footprints of the former twin towers of the World Trade Center form the "heart and soul" of the "9/11 Memorial": huge basins with waterfall-like fountains with engraved stone plates, citing the names of all the victims of the terrorist attacks. A park surrounds the two basins.

To us, it is still depressing to visit here, knowing the old towers well, having been up on top of them, and having visited NYC shortly before and after 9/11/2001. Now the area is packed with tourists; not sure whether all of them know about the real significance of this place and about the fact, that many New Yorkers aren't able yet to visit here because of all the emotions and memories involved. "The Sphere“, a sculpture by German sculptor Fritz Koenig, which was originally standing between the towers, only suffered minor damage on Sept. 11th and is currently set up in Battery Park (see picture). Possibly it will later be moved to the 9/11 site.

The former World Financial Center, closeby, is now called „Brookfield Place“ (named for the new owner). Good thing is, that the formerly pretty inattractive center, which was mostly known for its palm court and its views towards the Hudson River and the marina, was modernized and updated inside. Now a new French Food Hall, called "Le District" was installed, with bakery, butcher store, cheese vendor, café and other deli departments. In addition, a food court with top-notch food stands, "Hudson Eats“, is inviting on the upper floor.



After our visit to the WTC Site, we walked to the southern tip of Manhattan, to Battery Park, with the new SeaGlass Carousel (see pic), the new Pier A, historic Fort Clinton and the popular promenade – one of the best places in town to watch the water traffic at the confluence of East and Hudson River; many tourists are boarding the ferries to Liberty and Ellis Island here.

Exploring neighborhoods

Time was flying. Friday to Sunday we spent exclusively in Manhattan's neighborhoods, in the Village (Greenwich or West and in the East Village), in Midtown, but we also we explored a little more of Harlem (picture of the mural was taken on 125th St.) and revisited a couple of museums in the Upper East Side along the so-called Museum Mile.




One of them was the Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, which was just reopened after an extensive renovation. This museum is well-worth being visited, always shows great exhibitions in an unusual ambience. The art collection was founded in 1896 by the Hewitt sisters and it is located in the Andrew Carnegie Mansion, a gorgeous Georgian-style mansion built from 1899 to 1902 with 64 (!) rooms. With the renovation they also introduced top-notch electronic equipment, fancy electronic pens, with which you can play around on computerized tables, design patterns and, also, it's possible to scan information and later load it down in a personalized version by using the code on the ticket.


Afterwards we stopped by at the Metropolitan Museum and the Guggenheim (see pics) and then jumped on a bus (for lack of a subway line on the western edge of Central Park). It took forever to get down to the Village in the dense traffic of Manhattan.

The Village, our next stop, has changed considerably since our first visit and is still changing. This formerly hippie/gay/a little weird neighborhood is nowadays much more "settled" and appears "renewed" and a bit sterile. Old institutions, restaurants and shops, are gone and there are only spots (like St. Mark's Square) where the old colorful and screwed-up feeling is still there.

At Washington Square (pic) with its famous huge arch (pic) and street performers every day, we enjoyed a short break in the sun before we had lunch in a hole in the wall called "Arepa Factory", serving arepas and cachapas, both venezuelan street food, here in an excellent fresh and creative variety.

Fifth Ave. was packed (pic), and, so was the department store Macy's (which is famous for it's eleborate, always changing window decorations, this year, scenes from the Peanuts, see pic). The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are the time when most people shop for good deals. Even around and in St. Patrick's Cathedral (see pic) huge crowds were gathering and it was especially hard to get close to the famous Rockefeller Center Christmas tree (pic).

Contemporary Art in Queens and Hipsters in Williamsburg

Dry and rather warm weather again from Wednesday on. Instead of visiting the Bronx, as originally planned, we took the subway to Queens this morning, to check out part of the borough for its touristic appeal. One highlight is the waterfront in Long Island City with its large, historic Pepsi Cola neon sign, surrounded by huge modern condo buildings now. The old railroad iron constructions to load train wagons on ferries are still there, and, the view across the East River towards Manhattan – with the large complex of the United Nations in the center - is spectacular!

Queens is spread out and it's sort of hard to get around. One of our favorites in Queens is the contemporary art branch of the MoMA, called "P.S.1", always showing highly innovative and creative modern exhiitions in an unusual setting: a former schoolhouse.


We spent quite a bit of time in the museum and therefore skipped Astoria - the Greek neighborhood of Queens - and drove straight on to Greenpoint/Brooklyn (a predominently Polish neighborhood) for a little walk and then to Williamsburg, the "hipster heaven" of NYC. Couldn't pass "Mast Brothers" (a small chocolate producer) and our favorite whiskey shop to get a bottle of local rye whiskey (Breuckelen Distilling) for Christmas. More and more fancy shops, restaurants and bars coming up in this neighborhood, rents and real estate skyrocketing. Murals on the pics below were taken here and in Greenpoint.

From hip Williamsburg to sophisticated Brooklyn Heights, an area consisting of beautiful brownstones and big mansions along the waterfront, elevated and therefore with a great view. The Brooklyn Promenade (see pic) is still one of the very best points to watch the sunset - including the Statue of Liberty - and that was what we did. Directly below the promenade is the new Brooklyn Bridge Park, former piers transformed into playgrounds, nature areas and parks, a development still in progress and a great addition to the formerly rather inattractive waterfront.

Santa is coming to town...

Monday started with a business appointment at NYC & Co, which took longer than we expected. Being in the area, we checked out Midtown afterwards, with Times Square - with all its hustling and buzzing, it's legendary neon signs and screens and all its tourists.





At Rockefeller Center the famous Xmas tree was not yet decorated, but its ice rink in operation. Another rink is in Bryant Park - see pic -, surrounded by one of several Christmas markets in town, and, there is Christmas decoration along 5th Ave.(see pic)and in many other places.

In the early afternoon we attended the „Radio City Christmas Spectacular“ in the Radio City Music Hall (part of Rockefeller Center), which is one of New York's old Christmas legends. The Rockettes, a famous dance group, consists of about 80 dancers in total and is renowned for their „high kicks“ and for their very precise choreographies. More than 30 dancers are on stage at the same time and it's amazing how unisono and accurately they perform their formations, sometimes in heavy costumes. Four to five shows take place every day between 20th November and beginning of January, about 200 shows in total!

During this fascinating, fast and colorful 90 minute-show several scenes take place with very elaborate costumes and set decorations, from „Here Come Santa Claus“, with ice scaters, teddy bears and dozens of Santa Clauses, to „Santa Flies to NYC“ including video projection in 3 D-format, from the Nutcracker Suite to Snowflakes with GPS-controlled snowballs moving on the theater's ceiling. Highlights of the show are (from the very beginning in 1933) the superb „Parade of the Wooden Soldiers“ - with a slow-motion fall scene (see pic) and a nativity scene (crèche) with real camels and sheep.


Radio City Music Hall is a richly decorated and perfectly renovated art-déco theater with a famous hydraulic stage and a Wurlitzer organ. The Christmas show was first shown here in 1933, but the dance group was already founded in 1925 in St. Louis/MO. Wearing our (sort of silly) red Santa's hats during the show, we were in the right Christmas mood when it ended, and, what would have ended a great day better than another wonderful meal? This time it was a Mexican restaurant - Hecho en Dumbo, in the Bowery - where we enjoyed a very generous dinner with our friends Magdalena and Michael, creatively prepared authentic mexican food in a colorful, pleasant atmosphere.

Next day it rained and it was cold and our Turnstile Wall Street food cart tour became a bit of a challenge. In this weather we were the only ones taking part and got plenty to eat at different types of food vendors, little carts, larger carts and food trucks along the streets and on the boardwalks. Ate our way through falafel, pizza, chicken, tacos and halal food, standing in the rain and wind, and learned a lot about different permits and regulations, laws and rules for these food vendors on NYC's streets, which sell much more than just the well-known hotdogs, bagels or pretzels. Later, we passed by at Federal Hall and checked out the new SeaGlass Carousel at The Battery (see pic), the Southern tip of Manhattan, where a lot of construction and landscaping is going on right now.


Wednesday: rain again, but warmer. Planned to get on top of One World Observatory, but postponed it because of "Zero Visibility". Checked out Little Italy (really "little"), Manhattans shrinking Chinatown and a couple other neighborhoods, went to the Essex Street Market (one of many markets in town, but one of the more "down-to-earth", authentic ones) before we met Susan, founder of "Enthusiastic Gourmet Tours" and had lunch with her (mexican, again) to catch up with news in the restaurant business and in the ethnic neighborhoods. After all, this was our day of meeting friends. After some more walking in the rain, we met our Philadelphia friends in Bryant Park before we headed out for the famous hockey derby Rangers : Islanders in the Barclays Center. At the end we had a 14-hour-day until we got back "home" to Harlem.