Now if you are a Tourist don't get all huffy about the idea of a Tourist Trap -- I mean that is what you came here for right? To experience the city as a Tourist. No one comes to NY trying to have a "real NY Experience" because lets face it, it's not so fun -- and it's certainly not pretty. This is not Italy, nor is it Paris, so give yourself a break: YOU CAN BE A TOURIST HERE and we NYers, as much as we complain, actually prefer it that way. If you are our friends we get an excuse to be a Tourist too! Alternatively, if we are not your friends we get to keep you at a nice, safe distance. Yay.
So if you are a Tourist and you are planning to visit the Big Apple, let me tell you when the perfect time is: NOW! THANKSGIVING DAY! Besides the fact that you can see the Macy's Day Parade LIVE (someone has to go!), this is perhaps the one time when Native NYers won't mind your fanny packs, so much. Indeed, with this being the only Holiday that all Faiths share, most Nyers have left town for Turkey with the Fam! The one's who are here (myself included) are surely not at the Parade unless they have newly moved here, or, alternatively, are newly engaged/wed (for some reason marking these occasions with tons of trash and tons of people pushing to see giant balloons makes it all the more "real"). So that means you can have full reign on the city -- as long as you don't go to the movies later -- but of course you read in your guide that it's impolite to go fill up the movie seats in a foreign city, right? RIGHT!
That said, wherever you are, enjoy the bird that's in front of you this season; be it a turkey or a large yellow bird named, "Big", and see my To Do list below for your Itinerary.
TOURIST TO DO'S: Ten Things To Do Thanksgiving Day
1. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Shop at Macy's after to get the full effect! (if they are open, that is. I have no clue)
2. Thanksgiving Dinner or Lunch at Ellen's Stardust Diner on 51st Street and Broadway! They are open.
3. Holiday Window Gazing all along Fifth Avenue, starting at Macy's and going all the way to 59th Street. Bergdorf's are always a winner. Macy's are fun too.
4. Ice Skating at Rockefeller Center -- also see The Big Tree!
5. Go over to Columbus Circle and take a carriage ride in the Central Park.
6. Get some burnt nuts at 59th Street Park Entrance after the carriage ride in Central Park.
7. Get some hot cocoa at Starbucks on 60th Street right after you get the Burnt Nuts.
8. Walk up to Rosa Mexicano and get a fantastic Margarita at Lincoln Center, if they are open. If not go up to 72nd and see if Gray's Papaya is open and get a hot dog. Yum.
9. Now walk over to 72nd Street and Central Park West and see The Dakota on the corner, where John Lennon lived. Stop to take a picture of the guards -- make note that Lennon was shot right there on the sidewalk where you stand. Now walk into the park and bear to your left and go to Strawberry Fields to see his Memorial. Someone will be there strumming a guitar. Take a Picture.
10. Go back to your HOTEL to watch a MOVIE on Pay Per View.
That's All. Chow Chow!
I walk along the parade route daily and for the first time noticed that all trash cans in the surrounding areas were removed from the streetcorners by 12 noon Wednesday and hadn't been replaced yet by Thursday afternoon. This was as far north as 86th St. I don't know how far south it went. And of course the next day the streets had no people on them but looked like a garbage strike had hit the city. What a mess.
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