Today we are thankful for Macy’s and the wonderful parade they sponsor in New York City every Thanksgiving. This year was the 90th edition of the parade, and we joined 3.5 million others along the route to take in the action.

The festivities actually began last night when we attended the Inflation Party. Over one million people show up to watch the giant balloons get inflated in preparation for the parade. The massive event takes place on the streets around the Museum of Natural History, which is conveniently just one subway stop from our apartment. Surprisingly, it was a very well organized and a fun way to take a “behind the scenes” look at the parade preparations. Seeing the balloons on the ground, however, is nothing like seeing them in the air!

The parade runs 2.5 miles from 77th and Central Park West, through midtown Manhattan and finishes up at Macy’s at Herald Square at 34th Street. What you see on TV is filmed at Macy’s, and it’s nearly impossible to get near that location as all the seating is reserved for Macy’s VIPs. We opted to find a spot along Central Park West and enjoy the parade shortly beyond its launching point. Arriving at 5:30 a.m. we were not the first ones to stake out territory, but we were lucky to find a nice spot next to a mailbox, which gave us something to lean against as we waited for the event to begin.

On the parade route

We were also advised to take cardboard to sit on and that was a blessing! We had a warmer seat than on the concrete and then we had a cushion to stand on during the parade. All in all, we were well prepared, warm, and comfortable waiting the 3 1/2 hours in the morning cold.

In just over an hour and half we saw the iconic giant character balloons, 26 floats, 1,000 cheerleaders and dancers, 1,000 clowns, and 16 marching bands. Amid it all were celebrities including Tony Bennett, Olympian Laurie Hernandez, and the Muppets. We hope you enjoy all the pictures!

Tonight we are having dinner at Friend of a Farmer in Gramercy Park. While it won’t be the same as sitting down to a turkey feast with our families, we are looking forward to it. We have just two weeks left in New York during which we plan to see the Rockettes, the Rockefeller Center tree lighting, the Annual Train Show at the Botanical Gardens, and check out other holiday-related events. A stroll down Fifth Avenue to see the holiday windows is also on the list.

We wish you and your family the happiest of Thanksgivings!

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It’s hard to believe that two weeks have flown by since the marathon and we haven’t posted an update on our on-going Big Apple adventure. Here’s a rundown on how we’ve been spending our time since the big race.

The day after the marathon we took advantage of a 2 for 1 offer to visit the top of the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, One World Trade Center. The three story observatory (floors 100, 101, and 102 provides 360 degree views of New York City and into New Jersey. One World Observatory was a fun way to see the entire marathon course from above, sort of. We were lucky to be there on a sunny and clear day.

Once the marathon hoopla was over we settled into “normal.” Normal for us includes regular visits to the Westside YMCA and afternoon strolls in Central Park. You can see many of the photos we’ve taken of the fall colors and park scenes. We really believe we’re here at the most perfect time of year as the weather has been cool but comfortable, and the daily changing colors have been magnificent.

In addition to enjoying the city at a little slower pace, we’ve been checking a few other sites off the list. One day we went to the Museum of Natural History and took in the dinosaurs and space rocks. On another day we took the subway to the DUMBO section of Brooklyn and enjoyed the views of Manhattan from Brooklyn Bridge Park. This is also where we had the very best pizza so far at Juliana’s. Juliana’s is the mother restaurant of Grimaldi’s, which is now a well known pizza chain. The original stuff at Juliana’s, from a coal-fired oven, was awesome.

In honor of Dad, we attended the annual Veteran’s Day parade, which is known here as America’s Parade. It claimed to have 50,000 marchers and the procession went on for hours following a wreath-laying ceremony led by New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio.

We couldn’t come to New York around the holidays without going to the Rink at Rockefeller Center. Going earlier in the season was a little less expensive and easier to get in, so we went for it. While the tree is not yet lit, it was surrounded by scaffold and being decorated as we skated. We’ll go back at the end of the month to witness the official tree lighting. In the meantime, we went round and round with many others who hadn’t been on skates for years, if at all. Considering that neither of us had been on skates for years, we did pretty well.

A few times over the past few weeks we’ve taken in more of the fabulous entertainment available in this city. We were in the front row for a taping of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and we saw an interesting Broadway play called The Encounter. Tonight we went to the Shops at Columbus Circle to see a free performance by stars of Kinky Boots. Our goal is to catch at least one more musical before we leave and we’ll be entering the daily lotteries to try to score low cost tickets.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is in just three days and our next blog post will feature this iconic experience. Stay tuned!

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