Christmas Time in Manhattan

On the 22nd my brother and I ventured into Manhattan, which, in retrospect, was not the best idea. It was WAY too crowded for me, which caused some problems, but otherwise was a lot of fun. The main draw for us to go was to see the Rockefeller Plaza Christmas Tree, and see the ball in Times Square since it was uncovered and lit up...but it was so much more than that. One of my favorite parts...possibly THE favorite part...was an unexpected trip to the NHL store!

I ended up taking over 600 photos, which I will not be posting all of here, but as usual, you can view them all on my website: Christmas in Manhattan.

Here are some highlights:

 giant balls across from Radio City Music Hall

 Christmas tree at the Fox building

 NHL Store! It was really awesome.

 the NHL shield rotates. Each of the three local teams have their own pylon. (photos of each in album)

 The world's largest stick sculpture

 As you can see from the reflection, I was dressed appropriately.

 The Hockey Fights Cancer jerseys mean a lot to me because cancer took my Dad.

 Trust the Gorton's Fisherman!

 They actually had stuff that would fit me (unlike the NBA store) but at $300, it's still hanging in the store and not in my house.

 And here's the tree!

 It is actually smaller in person than I expected.

 My first time seeing a Zamboni in action in person!

 My first time seeing someone skating in person. I think it's the same guy who was driving the Zamboni, actually.

 Love the Taxi shoes.

 The NBC building is quite large.

 Saks Fifth Avenue

 St. Patrick's Cathedral

 Nicely sculpted statue.

 I don't know if there is anything more iconic about NYC in this time of the year than this.

 Couldn't get into the Lego store this time, but we will in the future.

 A duplicate of the tree's star.

 I didn't expect to see classic vehicles in the middle of Manhattan, but...I did. Plural.

 Inside Grand Central Station

 They had a model train display, which is only set up at Christmas time.

 When we were there in January, I forgot to get a photo of the iconic sculpture on the top of Grand Central. I fixed that yesterday!

 Some sort of Russian Christmas parade.

 We ended up in the Hershey's Store, unfortunately my photo of the centerpiece came out blurry.

 That was a very cool place...but as a diabetic, very dangerous!

 Didn't see the actual Rockettes, but I've always thought they were cool.

 Times Square was the most crowded place I've ever been in my life. The walk back to the car was NOT fun but had to be done...and you can't even see the ball yet.

 Definitely did not expect to see a 30s car in Times Square! Actually, I think it is a taxi.

 I don't know what this ball is...

 but I sure recognize this one!

 And here's a shot that shows not only why I brought my camera with 42x optical zoom, which I usually don't use, and also a shot showing how crowded it was. And this was at an intersection which lessened it some.

 Lifesize snow globes were set up In Times square.

Although I don't watch DC's tv shows, DC Comics has always been a huge part of my life so I had to photograph the billboard.

Now, of course I made some purchases in the NHL store...one pack of cards, 4 post cards, a Rangers mini puck keychain (which will be hung on my wall, not actually used for keys) and a Golden Knights logo for our Adventure Magnet wall (well, 'fridge side) Since there were only three cards in the pack I bought, 2018-19 Synergy, I will show them all.

First card out is a parallel of Connor McDavid. This is actually the Bounty parallel, which has a scratch off code on the back. If you collect all 50 veteran player cards, you could get a special mail in bonus, but since that will never happen, mine will be unscratched forever.

 Next up was a blue parallel of Dominik Kahun, which is SN! (barely visible on his leg). On the base cards (which are SN to only 18 copies for veterans and 8 for Legends, 19 or 9 for rookies- so, very rare) and all the parallels, the bright parts are actually clear plastic. Red and Blue are both pretty common. Green is available but not as common. There are purples that are numbered to their jersey number, and the base cards are actually just clear.

I also pulled this Carey Price insert. Before this pack I had only one card from the entire 3-year history of Synergy, which was a red parallel of Price from the first year of it, which somebody sent me...I think Bevans of the Trading Card Database. So now I have 4 cards from Synergy and half are Price!
The stated odds are 1 Red per pack, while the blues are one in 8 packs (but I suspect actually more based on how easily available they are) and the Last Line of Defense 1 in 6 packs.

I realized this morning that they had team sets for Parkhurst, but I forgot to go back and buy either of them! My local stores have refused to carry it since the 2016-17 season.  For some reason, they had only the Islanders and the Blackhawks.  I wish I had remembered because I really like the Parkhurst set design, I liked last year's and the year before as well, but I have been unable to collect them. Frustrating.

The store also had special store branded post cards, which I think you know by now, I purchased one of each!

 This one is from last year's Stanley Cup. Although it's not specific to any year, it has a 2018 Stanley Cup Hologram.

 Just the logo on a black field.

 This one is my favorite, all 31 logos. I wonder if they will produce new ones when the Seattle team joins the league?

and finally one with the Statue of Liberty and the Big Apple logo.

Other than the crowds (I have problems with crowds) it was a very good trip. Then, on the ride home, my brother's car lost power and started shaking violently. (it actually started shaking right before we parked, while in Manhattan, so we decided we were already there and had the trip anyway) and it was quite an apprehensive ride home. It really got bad in Garrison NY which is almost 40 minutes from home. We were able to nurse it to within sight of our garage, where it sputtered and shook and shut itself off. Luckily, it turned out to be an easy fix (two spark plugs had failed) and is already back in working order. We may even go on another adventure next weekend....although not to midtown Manhattan. I can't handle that again for a while...