Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end.  We woke up on Day 3 sad to be leaving the Big Apple, but excited to get home and see Ashley.  And I think Van was ready to get out of the cold and go back to the doctor, since he still couldn’t hear!  One thing that I really wanted to do while we were there, was to go to Macy’s.  You just can’t go to New York at Christmas and not go to Macy’s!  We only had half a day before we had to leave for the airport, so Macy’s was all we had time to do.

Throughout our trip, we had taken cabs or walked as our mode of transportation.  So we figured, why not try the subway this time?  It was a lot cheaper than taking cabs.  We just had to figure out which “line” to take.  The concierge at the hotel said to take the “R” line to get to Macy’s.  Easy enough.  So we got on the “R” line.  We were riding along, thinking this is cool.  We can do this.  We’ll just “blend” in with our pea coats and leather gloves.  Ha!  It didn’t appear as though we were going to get robbed, so we thought we were doing good.  Then we noticed that the subway was going North, towards the Bronx.  The WRONG way!  Oh schnikees!  What do we do now?  The next stop was Queens, so we got off there.  We stayed below and got on the “R” line going the other direction.  Then we were good to go.  Geesh, I didn’t know they went in both directions!  Guess that’s what happens when country comes to town.

Anywho, we made it to Macy’s and it was wonderful.  The store had 9 levels and was decorated beautifully for Christmas!  One of my favorite decorations was a tree that was decorated with giant cupcakes!  Ah yes, I’m a cupcake fanatic.  Some of the elevators were really old and wooden and appeared to be the original ones.  So that was pretty neat.  I wanted to get a picture of Santa Claus but there was a 1 hour wait and I wasn’t about to wait in that line!  Unfortunately, he was in his workshop so you couldn’t see him without waiting in line to go inside.  After venturing around Macy’s, it was time for lunch.  We found a neat Irish pub called Jack Dempsey’s and ate there.  I didn’t get a picture of the outside, but I did take a picture inside.  It was really neat, quaint, and warm!  They had a fireplace going.

Then we headed back to the hotel to get a cab to take us to the airport.  Overall, it was an amazing trip!  When we first got there and were in the cab going to our hotel, the first thought that came to mind was the movie Coming to America.  We drove over a bridge and could see the tall buildings from afar.  I thought about when Eddie Murphy first arrives in Queens and was in awe at everything.  That was exactly how I felt.  It was so exciting to see the “big” city!

There was so much to do though, that we weren’t able to get it all in.  So Van said we should make it a yearly trip and just go to New York every year at Christmas.  After all, it was a short flight and we got a good deal on airfare and hotel.  It was a great place to go for a short getaway.  I couldn’t agree more!  Let the countdown begin.  Only 364 more days to go…