Photos from a Packed New York City Weekend
The holiday season is upon us!
Hello and welcome! If you randomly stumbled upon this newsletter, I write about daily life in NYC. Today I’m sharing my weekend recap filled with iconic festivities and IPAs. If you’ve found your way over but are not yet subscribed, let me help you with that:
I’m convinced the baby is going through a sleep regression. Like clockwork, she wakes up every three hours to feed, which wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t stay awake for two hours afterwards. I think the baby is drunk with power but those 3 am smiles hit different, so we power through.
Speaking of sleep, we read to her every night and this is probably the only children’s book I re-read with delight 3.5 months in.
That said, this new curve ball has thrown a wrench into our weekend plans! Take Saturday morning, for example. We wanted to get to the holiday market at Bryant Park right at opening (10am) to beat the crowds, but by the time we arrived at 2pm the crowds were too intense to manage with a stroller.
We pivoted to the New York Public Library to admire the grand Christmas tree instead. Thankfully the library was much less busy than the market. The tree is absolutely stunning this year, by the way!! Full of snowy owls, bright-red cardinals and giant sugar pine cones, every inch is covered with whimsical details.
We weren’t quite sure what to do after the library (re-visit Grand Central Station? Grab a quick lunch at Los Tacos?). After mulling over our options, we decided to head back to our neighborhood to escape the crowds and grab a beer at a local pub. It was a nice way to unwind after the excitement from the holiday market.
On Sunday we didn’t have the luxury of a late start. The reason? We wanted to catch the Holiday Nostalgia train, which runs a tight schedule.
Do you know about the holiday nostalgia train?
It’s remarkable! Every Sunday in December the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) partners with the New York Transit Museum to offer New Yorkers a chance to travel back in time by running vintage trains from the 1930s on the Q and F lines.
Everything is original, from the endearing era advertisements and ceiling fans to rattan seats and incandescent light bulbs - it’s completely worth the effort!
Eager to catch it again this year, we popped into the subway at the northernmost starting point (East 96th Street) and rode it down to Times Square, where we caught a train home.
We swung by the house to feed the baby before heading back out to the Grand Holiday Bazaar for some Christmas gift shopping. and then routed ourselves to an Irish pub for a proper pint of Guinness (on draught - hard to find!!) before wrapping the weekend in earnest.
It was a great holiday weekend. I’m more excited than ever to check off even more Christmas sights before we fly west to visit family next week. Feels like time is working against us this year, but we’re doing our best to lean into the chaos of it all.
Cheers!
Antonina
So lovely to read about you weekend and see all the beautiful holiday pictures 🫶🏻