New York! New York!

Yesterday we got back from a fab trip up to New York City. We didn't make it up there this summer so fancied some time in one of our favourite cities over Christmas, so that we could take in the lights, the excitement and the buzz of it all.

We stayed up there for one night in Chelsea which was a new area for us to explore. We did lots of walking (I have a blister to prove it!), ate some good food and saw some of New York's finest sights. Our hotel room overlooked the Empire State Building which at night was lit up in green and red and looked very festive. Lucy loved looking out of the window at it and decided that it was a castle - Beauty and the Beast's castle no less. She thought the whole trip was really exciting, loved the idea of staying in a hotel room, and sharing a room with Mummy and Daddy. Going to bed was a bit of a drama as the hotel had annoyingly not got any cribs left....so after Joe had words and insisted they get one from another hotel, we finally got her into bed and asleep by 10pm. I reckon I was asleep before she was after all that walking!

The weather was just perfect - mild and sunny on Sunday, dry but cold on Monday - so it made walking around that much more pleasant. We were amazed at the crowds on Sunday though, and every toy store on Fifth Avenue had long queues outside to get in! We skipped all but American Girl Place which we knew Lucy would love, so queued fro thankfully quite short time and headed up to the top floor which was the quietest (though still jam-packed) where the 'Bitty Baby' collection is. My British readers will now be in disbelief that there exists such a thing as a baby doll called a 'Bitty Baby'....American readers not familiar which the Brit comedy show Little Britain, just Google 'little britain bitty' and watch one of the many YouTube videos to find out why!

Even so, Lucy loved the baby dolls and had a great time pushing one around in a pushchair for sometime. The store is amazing - top to bottom with American Girl dolls which are actually really nice. You can even buy ones to look like your own little girl! I can only imagine going back in a few years time with her and giving our credit card a good outing!

We explored Chelsea for the first time and went to the Chelsea Market. It is in the old Nabisco factory (where Oreos were first created) and is a warren of brick-paved 'streets' lined with yummy bakeries, cafes and NY eateries. The Christmas lights in there were stunning. Books of Wonder was a great little children's bookshop that I had read about so we enjoyed a visit to that. Lucy pickled out allsorts of books and we really treated it like a library for half an hour to stay out of the cold and keep her amused! Perhaps our favourite find was The City Bakery, also in Chelsea, which is a fab eatery serving the most delicious cakes and cookies, bagels and breakfasts, true NY-style. Next time we'll go in for lunch as we were there when they began laying it out and it looked yummy.

The City Bakery

Lucy and Joe playing house in The City Bakery's very funky and vintage kids area

We also hit Central Park and showed Lucy where we got married in 2006 - the Old Dairy at the south end of the park). See the top photo for the exact spot where we tied the knot. Since our visit on Sunday, Lucy has been talking about getting married and saying she wants to get married too....mmmm, please wait a few years Lucy! On Sunday Lucy was napping in her pushchair and who did we walk past but her favourite friend Elmo. Doh! We took a photo of her with him, even though she was fast asleep and knew nothing of what was going on around her.She has been enjoying the photo though...

It was a long trip home as we got stuck in traffic, so we had a few Lucy meltdowns in the car - a mixture of tiredness and boredom I think. I moved into the back to sit next to Lucy and that helped...as did the bag of Goldfish crackers and the toy NY Yellow Taxi that I had secretly bought on the way to the station earlier in the day.

We will definitely go back in the summer again as there are so many great playgrounds we have read about and want to explore. It is such a great city and we always enjoy our time there. It's given us a change of pace for a few days and recharged our city break batteries which get low after a while :)