New York City with the Gang

This blog post is coming straight out of New York City at the end of a fantastic trip to the Big Apple, shared with my cousin Neil, Ross, Emily and Kris. Neil has moved here in the last few weeks for a new role with Citigroup. He is living downtown near ground zero and the newly constructed 9/11 memorial. The rest of us took the opportunity to stay with him for a pre-christmas gathering and a sightseeing tour of NYC.

With Neil at work for the first couple of days of our trip, the rest of us took the opportunity to cruise the streets of New York for the usual tourist highlights. We saw all the sights that you would expect, including Broadway, Central Park with Strawberry Fields, Brooklyn Bridge, Madison Square Garden, Wall Street, NY Stock Exchange, etc. Neil joined us at the weekend for walking along the Hi-Line, which is a renovated disused railway line through the west side of New York with some amazing views. We also fought through the crowds to see the Rockefeller Centre with its famous Christmas Tree.

However, the real highlights were the unexpected events that you cannot plan on such a city trip. On the first day, we were wandering through Central Park heading for Strawberry Fields. On reaching our destination we found an impromptu band signing Beatles tracks and Imagine by John Lennon. We soon realised that the gathered crowd was there to pay homage to John Lennon on the 31st anniversary of his death. It was a moving moment to share and only footsteps away from where John Lennon was shoot. On day two, we made a bee-line for the Trump Tower as part our city tour and by pure coincidence Donald Trump was in attendance doing a book signing. We got close enough for a photo opportunity and to see the big guy up close and in person. On the third day, there was a theme of people dressed up in Santa Claus outfits on the streets - literally hundreds of and hundreds of people. They all seemed to converge at different public locations in New York and we saw them in all their glory outside the public library. Crazy scenes, but everyone was in good spirits and celebrating the Christmas mood. Also Kris, Emily and myself took the opportunity to dance on the Big Piano at the store FAO Schwarz, straight out of the iconic scene in the film Big.

These highlights aside, the real joy for me was spending time with the gang and sharing numerous jokes and laughs along the way. It was enjoyable catching up and hearing all the latest news, but simply ribbing and teasing each other over the little things was a key part of the fun. Good times, but we have now all separated and heading back to our different corners of the world. My next stop is Toronto for three days of meetings at head office, certainly less fun.