Sometime in November I got word that I was going to need to be in New Jersey for a work dinner on the night of December 11th and then an all-day meeting on December 12th. Given the dinner was on a Monday night, I was either going to need to fly on Sunday afternoon. Never wanting to miss an opportunity to be in NYC, I chose to fly out on Saturday and spend the day Sunday in the City.
My plane landed around 7pm at JFK. It had been snowing all day and was still lightly snowing when I arrived. I took the subway to my "normal" Hotel 32|32 - I stayed at this hotel 4 different times in 2017. I walked towards midtown and stopped at Macy's at Herald Square on my way.
The windows were a NYC-themed scene.
This is the inside of Macy's...
...and it closed to the outside.
My view while eating dinner at the Whole Foods at Bryant Park.
After eating I walked toward Rockefeller Center and the Tree.
This is Rock Center built out of legos.
The Saks windows were a Snow White theme this year.
On Saturday night after I got back to my hotel I got a text from my mom that Zoe had died at about 11:30pm AZ time. I had gone to say goodbye to her Saturday morning before I left - she had kidney failure since June 2015 and hadn't been eating for about the 5 days prior to Saturday. Saturday night was a rough night being alone in the hotel room - I didn't get much sleep.
Sunday morning I slept in - no one gets an early start in NYC anyway, especially in the winter.
I walked through Madison Square Park on my way to Union Square for breakfast at
Hu Kitchen.
Tried a new coffee shop in Union Square and also walked around the Christmas markets.
I then went to Astoria to get my nails done at Athena's Nails.
From the manicure I went to Columbus Circle and walked around the Christmas markets there.
Then it was to Grand Central...
...to take a train to dinner.
"Spaghetti" and meatballs and bone broth from
Springbone. I had been following them on Instagram for a while and wanted to try their food. It was excellent.
Sunday night I was back to my hotel by about 8pm as I was getting up early to get on a train to New Jersey. Made it out of Manhattan just as
this explosion was happening.