Is there anything like NYC for the Holidays? Well to be honest I didn't know for sure, but Sara assured me that it's something special. So this year we took the plunge and went out the visit NYC in early December. Apparently this is peak season for the Big Apple - and while airfare wasn't bad - hotels were sky-high. The Mid-town Hilton, where we usually stay for sentimental reasons was over 3 times its usual rate, over $700/night. After a considerable amount of leg-work Sara was able to find us reasonable accommodations at the Hotel Roosevelt.

We had a great time - and between activities and meetings w/ friends & family this was definitely one of the most fun-filled trips I've ever had to NYC. I was exhausted - and well fed. We did a lot of the traditional holiday things like the skating rink at Rockefeller Plaza, the Nutcracker at Lincoln Center and a tour of the Holiday Windows (see photos) but my personal Highlights included:

Late Night Noshing at the Stage Deli - We landed in JFK hungry, and by the time we were checked in to the hotel we were starving. But it was all for good cause. We were saving ourselves for a late night nosh at the world famous Stage Deli. This is a throw-back to my childhood when my dad would always insist on taking us here on our first day in NYC. Lucky for me I married a Jewish girl! The borscht soup w/ sour cream still warms you up, just in time for the beautifully sinful and stacked hot pastrami on rye with a side of potato latkes.

Design Life Now at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum - Every 3 years, the Cooper Hewitt National Design museum hosts a showcase of contemporary design across everything from electronics, housing, furniture and industrial design. There are some obvious ones like the iPod, but some wacky contraptions as well - like a robot that thinks like a lobster.

Avenue Q - Think of it as "Subversive Sesame Street". Mix in muppets with black humor songs like The Internet is for Porn, Schadenfreude and Everyone's a little bit racist and that's Avenue Q - my kind of Broadway musical. Admittedly its not for everyone - an elderly out-of-town couple next to us got up and left after the "muppet sex." Oh well different strokes for different folks (ahem!).

Brooklyn Heights Promenade - Thanks to Sara's cousin Cyndy we found the perfect way to spend our last day in NY, a walking tour of Brooklyn, courtesy of New York magazine. After a few days in Manhattan during the holiday crush, it was a relief to see a quieter side of New York and walk the Brooklyn Heights promenade, which offers an uninterrupted view of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan.

Sara and I took an evening at Wade's Shooting Range with our friends Ed & Annie. Ed used to be a Marine and keeps a nice Glock around for just such occasions. I've posted my first session at 20 feet. I'm told its pretty good for a first time - all 10 shots hit the target and I even nicked the bullseye. Sara did even better she hit the bullseye twice, but afterwards was so traumatized she wouldn't shoot the gun again. All those hours playing Halo paid off!

Just a quick note that for those of you who haven't checked it out yet - the new Bond delivers! Daniel Craig portrays Bond as a thug with a veneer of style in the Sean Connery tradition - not the foppish dandy that Moore and Brosnan played. Casino Royale takes Bond back to his roots - rebooting him for the new millennium. The gadgets are there, but they take a back-seat to the man and his skills. The obligatory card game is also there - but redone with a twist.

Its not perfect - about 80% of the way thru the movie - the pacing changes significantly and the plot loses its way IMO, but still the most fun I've had at a Bond movie in over a decade!

This is about as sexy a hybrid as I've ever seen. Only a concept car, but still perhaps a sign of things to come. From Toyota of course.

Link to Autopia