Things I learned about New York City

In no particular order:

1) Everything is decorated at this time of year. I never got sick of all the lights. Lights on trees, lights on buildings, lights in store windows. I especially appreciated the smell of chocolate pumped onto the street by the Sony Store. Yummy. I also loved the giant red bow on the Cartier Store.

2) It's difficult to grasp how huge this place is. I think there are more and taller buildings in Queens than there are in downtown St Paul.

3) I loved that Christmas trees and Menorahs were arranged together and the end caps at the CVS was dedicated to each holiday.

4) The traffic is composed of 80% taxi cabs, 5% cars from Manhatten, 5% cars from New Jersey and 10% carriages and pedicabs.

5) People are really friendly in New York, but they move fast, especially at the deli.

6) I could get a slice of pizza or a slice of cheesecake within 2 blocks of our hotel 24 hours a day.

7) Children are up at all hours in this city.

8) I saw people wearing a LOT of knitwear, and most of it looked hand knit.

9) The crowds at Rockefeller Plaza are massive.

10) Despite the fact that there are signs posted with a speed limit no one follows them, as proved when our taxi zipped down 71st at 50 miles an hour between parked cars on either side of the street. I'm just glad I was not in the front seat.

11) Red lights are optional, as shown when the M5 went through 6 of them in a row on our way to 34th street.

12) Purchasing a metro card is the best investment of $7.50 you will ever make. Mpls/ St Paul could learn a lot from NYC Metro Transit by putting up route info at ALL their bus stops.

13) A gentleman wearing a thoub, gutrah and ogal has no interest making small talk with the woman in the plane seat next to him.

14) Jenny has become an amazing musician! I was completely entranced by her performance.

15) The Vienna Boy's Choir should stick to traditional arrangements and leave out the "salute" to modern music by singing "Bridge over troubled water", "Stormy weather" and "New York New York". It's just wrong.

16) Doris Roberts wears a LOT of make-up in person.

17) Central Park is massive. There are tons of little parks, green spaces and playgrounds all through the city.

18) There are a lot of dogs in the city and people are pretty good at cleaning up after them. Wish I could say the same for the horses.

19) Garbage is collected every night in the city and there are bags and bags of garbage along every street, every night.

20) The temp in NY was going to reach 61 degrees on the day I was flying home to -5 degrees in St Paul.

21) No one in my family eats during the day and I cannot start my day with nothing but coffee. I get pretty cranky by the time we get to the Met.

22) Street vendor hot dogs make a pretty tasty mid-day snack and the pastrami at the Carnegie deli is fantastic! One of their cheesecakes weighs more than my cat.

23) There is no such thing as a bottomless cup of coffee in New York.

24) If you take a cab it will cost you $10 minimum no matter the distance.

25) They still use traditional gas lamps at John Lennon's apartment building where he was killed. (72nd and Central Park West)