You may or may have not heard. Thanksgiving is a pretty big deal in New York. The big event, obviously, is the Macy's Parade. So, the big question for us was whether we would try to see the parade live or not. Approximately 3.5 million people flock to the route. For any of you who know us, you know we don't find crowds fun. But everyone says that the parade is worth seeing at least once if you have the chance.
So we did it. Big time. One of the interesting things about being in a place for just a year is how it affects what we are willing to do. If we were only in town for a week I doubt we would make the time commitment to see an event like the Macy's Parade. Other sites and experiences would be more important. And if we lived here full time it would be easy to assume we'd have another chance some other time. But we're here for a year. We know it's not likely we'll have a chance to do once a year events again. But we have enough time to not be worried about fitting other priorities in. So we are much more likely to put in the effort to experience big events like this in our current circumstances. And in this case am so glad we did.
The celebration really starts the day before Thanksgiving, on Wednesday. The Little Lady's kindergarten class at PS 267 had a pot luck during the school day instead of regular lunch. The school event began with all the kids making a turkey craft (pictured above). Then we ate turkey and many other things. After the meal we turned the Little Lady over to my parents who were in town for the week. We were, and the Little Lady was especially, happy that they were able to visit us. It's not a short trip from Illinois. And after early dismissal on Wednesday the grandparents even took her on a carriage ride through Central Park. What a great experience!
After we finished up at work, we went over to the upper west side to see the balloon inflation for the parade. As a reminder, the Macy's Parade includes several large balloons that float down the parade route over the streets. And it's not a small task to inflate those big balloons. They do it the night before around the American Museum of Natural History. It used to be a sort of secret event for those in the know. It was an event really only attended by New York natives and it was pretty informal. That is no longer the case. Thousands attend, security is necessary, lines are long. When we got out of the subway and saw how long the line was, especially in the cold wind, I was wondering if this was such a great idea. It was packed with people, as you can see from the queue pictured below.
But the line moved pretty fast and we were able to see all the balloons in various states of inflation. It was cool to see them up so close. But even during the inflation viewing it was hard to get a sense of their scale because they were anchored low to the ground on only partially inflated for the most part. Here's a quick sample:
And it was COLD!
The Little Lady was very good at helping Grandma and Grandpa learn to use the Subway effectively:
The real event, of course, is Thursday. The parade starts at 9, and people begin staking out viewing spots as early as 6. I was unwilling to do that, so attempted to scope out places as far north in Central Park as possible on the east side of Central Park West, the street that the parade travels at the north end of the route. I had heard that it gets more crowded the farther south you go. And I heard that access to the east side of the route in Central Park was somewhat limited, so our ability to walk from the east side through Central Park to a viewing location here could be beneficial. We left the apartment a little after 7 and had a nice brisk walk with views like this along the way (fall comes a little late in Central Park).
We arrived to our first viewing location only to be told almost immediately that the area would be closed during the parade and we had to leave. I was very glad I was not the people who had already been there for a long time before we arrived. The effort they put in to identify and secure those spots put them literally out in the cold for a long time. To have to relocate so close to parade time was clearly very frustrating to them. We did not waste much time in finding another nearby location. While not ideal since it was partially blocked by some trees, we still had a pretty good view.
The very first balloon was Olaf from the Little Lady's favorite, Frozen. We could hear the bands very well. And nearly every bad was actually playing when they arrived at our location around 70th street. I highly recommend viewing as far north as possible. All the participants are much fresher at the start of the parade. It's not a short walk from 77th street down to 34th with a block to the east in there as well. The crowds are not as big to the north because the performance venues are to the south. In fact, we were able to catch about half the performances after we walked home from our viewing location. The parade was over at 70th street while the parade was still very much underway at the end of the route. It was really a great setup. It was certainly cold (but the weather was pretty good for this time of year). It was a bit annoying to trek over to the other side of the park so early and with so many crowds. But we found a relatively calm spot to watch from. And it was a great experience. We were amazed at just how big those balloons were as they came down the street. The pictures and coverage on television simply cannot effectively convey the scale of those balloons. They are a sight to behold floating down the middle of usually busy New York City streets. And if you've ever wondered, the traffic lights along the path can be rotated out of the way to allow the balloons to float by unimpeded. If you ever get a chance to see this parade in person, you should do it.
After a couple hours of recuperation at home, we went out for Thanksgiving dinner. Usually Jana and I would have been in the kitchen. But between the small kitchen space and the logistics of seeing the parade, we thought all would be better served by going out. Thanks to Dad for funding a great meal at one of our local favorites, Tavern 62. We had a great meal with great company and it was so much more relaxing than a meal at home would have been this year.
This is the best Thanksgivings I can remember. And Thursday was just the start. Just as the Macy's parade starts with themes connected to Thanksgiving and as the parade goes on the floats and balloons change their focus to Christmas, we also began to make a shift toward Christmas over the weekend. I'll make that my next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment