No Longer the Tourist

Once you've played tour guide in a new city, you no longer feel like the tourist. You feel grounded. You feel a bit more like your actually there. I had such an opportunity with my mother's visit to NYC around Thanksgiving.

From our first night, we hit the city hard. Which I was happy about. With all the work lately, I have not had the opportunity to try many new things around the city. So I was more than pleased to galavant around Chinatown and Little Italy on our first night. All the Italian restaurants had just put up their Christmas displays for the season. Quite a site. We shared a delectable Italian seafood dish at Trattoria Canta Napoli on Mullbery. I also ate my weight in bread. I always overdose on the oil and balsamic vinegar.

After the meal, ma had to do some shopping of the unsavory sort. Although I feared for my life, we did, in fact survive.

We then journeyed uptown to see the night-turned-day monstrosity that is Times Square. Besides just taking it all in, we met some fantastic characters. One of them even tried to take advantage of my mother. We also had to use a public bathroom. Which would have been a problem were it not for the Charmin NYC Restrooms where we couldn't help but to "Enjoy the Go."

The next day was more getting around the city, seeing what there is to see. We started at my favorite grocer here in the city, the Union Square Green Market. The weather is getting cooler and a few of the farms have packed up shop for the season, but I can still find everything I need at this wonderful one-stop green shop.

We also just so happen to catch the opening day of the Union Square holiday market as well. Local retailers, human and dog alike, set up shop for the month of December to make Holiday shopping all that more convenient and not to mention fun! Oh and it was here that I had my first Waffle and Dinges treat, drenched in Nutella, an unhealthy but savory morsel.

The rest of our day consisted of visiting Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and then heading up to 76th street and Central Park West to watch the Balloons get blown up for the Macy's Parade the following day. That was quite a site. Seeing Kermit the Frog bent over in front of the Energizer Bunny. However, that was a great pre-show to our next destination, the musical Avenue Q. Parental discretion is advised.

The following day was a highlight of my mother's visit. The Macy's

Thanksgiving Day Parade. We woke up quite early, but it paid off as we got a solid spot standing right outside of Carnegie Hall to watch the floats and Balloons as they turned down 7th Avenue. My parade highlight reel would include Spiderman and some other rock'n balloon, Yo Gabba Gabba having their own float, the Roots (with Jimmy Fallon, who I could take or leave), and finally Cindy Lauper in a pretty pink castle.

The remainder of my mother's days in NYC were sprinkled with some work schedules that I couldn't ignore. However, we did take the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty, saw the play Our Town, and took a trip upstate to see the theme-park where I was employed this summer. Overall, I was a successful tour guide if I do say so myself. But whether I was that great or not, just lovely to spend some time with me mum.