New York City is one of the largest cultural centers in the world. There is always something going on, and often it is limited to New York. When I was a kid my parents would always take my brothers and me to the Thanksgiving Day Parade, as well as to see the balloons get blown up the night before. Once we moved to Westchester, we stopped going so I hadn’t been in a long time. This year a friend of mine was visiting from England and I realized that The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is a New York tradition and I had to take him to see the giant characters float between skyscrapers. The dorms are only a few blocks away from the parade route, so it was incredibly easy to just walk over on Thanksgiving morning. There were huge crowds of tourists and New Yorkers alike when we got there, but we were actually able to get pretty good spots! I will say that there are a few advantages to just watching the parade on T.V. though; no frozen toes for one thing, and the announcers telling you who the celebrity on the floats are can be helpful.
New York is home to several amazing wintertime traditions. There is ice skating (at Rockefeller Center, Bryant Park or Central Park), the lighting of the giant Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center, seeing the amazing department store windows, and snuggling up with a piping hot mug of hot chocolate (Sarabeth’s anyone?). But they are all distinctly New York so don’t miss out!
–Emily–