The Holidays in New York = Magical

So, I guess I feel off the bandwagon with my blogging about my diet! The good news is that I did not fall off the bandwagon of the actual diet! All told I have lost 5 lbs, which is not as good as I had hoped, but better than a sharp stick in the eye. I have cheated just a touch, on Saturday night, when Taylor and I went out for desert (so clearly, this was premeditated cheating, on my diet, not my husband). Anyway, I had a cappuccino and we split a piece of apply pie a la mode, but I was good and really Taylor ate 75% of it :)

Anyway, back to the purpose of this post. This weekend, I had some moments that reminded me why Christmas in New York is unlike Christmas anywhere else.

First, I emerged from our apartment at about 1:30pm on Saturday to realize that about half of the 20-somethings in New York had been up drinking since 9:30am for the annual "Santa-con." I don't know how I never heard of this activity before this weekend, but from what I can tell, it involves lots and lots of belligerent Santas wandering around the city all day. Here are a few shots near our apartment:

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

Later that night, still oblivious to the craziness that is Santa-con, Taylor and I went out for desert (the very trip I described above) and saw - actually we HEARD - one of Santa's Elves (ie. a skankily clad girl) completely drunk a couple of booths away from us. She was belting out the words to every song that came over the diner radio and kept yelling for more coffee. Then, after about 15 minutes, she stumbled out. Very interesting indeed.

The second fun New York City Christmas activity of the weekend was truly unique. The MTA, which normally stinks in every way, does something need on Sundays in December. They take out old Subway trains and run them on select routes throughout the city. I caught one on my way downtown to buy a present for my Aunt Sheryl (do you still read this, Aunt Sheryl??). Here's the train pulling into the station:

From Drop Box

The cool thing about this train ride is that it wasn't full of jaded, grumpy New Yorkers. Instead, everyone was like a kid in a candy store. No one really sat down, we just walked around looking at all the features of the old train, including the old-timey ads and everything. Here are a few more photos:

From Drop Box

They had ceiling fans and incandescent bulbs!

From Drop Box

Ads advocating violence, no big deal :)

From Drop Box

With accurate start/end points!

From Drop Box

The origin of the word straphanger (well, actually this is second generation, at one point they were leather!).

From Drop Box

I like this shot because the guy looks old-fashioned and then the yellow coat is so modern.

Hope you've enjoyed this!