NYC at Christmas (the ups and downs)

Hey there!

Merry Christmas everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts lately . I returned to Ireland last week and if you’ve ever been away, you’ll know what it’s like to try and get your life back in order! On top of that Christmas was fast approaching so I really had no spare time on my hands at all haha.

Before returning to the Emerald Isle, my last stop in the USA was New York. The name NYC is iconic in itself not alone the place. Countless of movies, book and TV shows have been set here – Sex in The City, King Kong, How I Met Your Mother….should I even go on? It’s a place everyone needs to see, even for that one experience.

Even though New York looks great on paper or in pictures it has it’s down sides as well (for me anyway). I have anxiety issues. I’m not as bad as some people and I make an effort to not let it get in my way, but sometimes it can escape from the butterflies in my stomach and threaten to suffocate me. We only had 24 hours in NYC (literally 24 hours) so we were rushing through the Christmas crowds, to try and do and see as much as possible. I was there with my aunt, her husband and two kids, but in the future I’d limit the amount of people I would go with. You see I’m the person in the group who does a head count every five minutes, and battling through the crowds making sure everyone was kept together and accounted for stressed me out to no end!

In my eyes crossing the  street was like going into battle.

On one side a mob of people come to a standstill at a busy New York York crossing area, they eye the crowd of pedestrians across the way. Both parties wait for a little man to flash, signaling to them that they may enter the battle zone. All eyes are focused on him. Feet twitching they tighten their grip on their Macy’s bag, clenching on to the hands of loves one’s. Waiting. And when he does appear on the screen in all his white glory the congregations march towards each other all with one goal: to get to the other side. When they meet in the middle the shoving begins, everyone man, woman and child for themselves. No one wants to be left in the middle… in no Man’s Land where the yellow Monsters Of Noise will eat you alive, their impatient barks edging closer and closer to you.

Sorry got a bit dramatic there!

On with the blog!

So with the crowds, the looming skyscrapers, the constant noise of traffic and frustrated drivers it was a bit overwhelming. But New York doesn’t wait for you to accept it, it just expects you to swim in the deep end and deal with it.

We hit the usual touristy stops- Time’s Square, Broadway and Rockefeller Center (that hosts the Christmas Tree’s of all Christmas Tree’s).

The next stop was The Empire State Building, this was where the nerves started kicking in. The thing with me is that I’m ok with heights once I’m up there, it’s the thought of going up there that scares me. So the prospect of going to the 86th floor of a skyscraper was pretty daunting! But like I said, I don’t want my anxiety to get in my way so I knew I had to do it (I also dragged everyone all that way so there really wasn’t a choice!)

I could try and explain the view from that height but the only way I can describe it is that the city is alive, it breathes and pulses energy and it gave me shivers to think I was part of that.

The next day we made a trip out to Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty. Ellis Island is a place of true history, it’s where the emigrants who had their eyes set on the Land of Dreams, first landed after spending weeks upon weeks on a boat. In this building their details were recorded and they were checked for any diseases that they might bring into America. This place held a special interest to me because many Irish people had set sail to the USA during the famine, and Ellis Island would hold an important place in their lives. It was fascinating, moving and also sad to hear the story of the emigrants and the conditions they had to put up with. Definitely something worthwhile checking out if you’re ever in New York.

So that was my trip to New York! Though it had it’s ups and downs its a place I’d like to go back to as there’s so much more I’d like to see and do!

I’d love to hear you guys opinions on The Big Apple. Have you ever been? Do you want to go?

Also how was your Christmas? I hope it was a fun and happy one however you spent it

Bye for now

Rearranging Stars

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