Union City

Saturday was the last day of shopping before Christmas. Trace and I were up early and headed to the supermarket to get Christmas dinner organised and then we headed towards Chelsea, Noho, and Greenwich Village. These districts are in between the southern end of Manhattan and the main shopping area at the southern end of Central Park. It was a gloriously bright and sunny day and the shops weren't overly busy.

We visited a number of shops including American Eagle, Espirit, Crate & Barrel, Barnes & Noble, and others. The boys called in for a burger at one of the local Noho shops and decared it the best burger they had ever tasted.

By this time the boys decided they were worn out and headed back to the apartment while Tracey and I went on to Union Square and the Flatiron district. We headed up to Union Square Park which had a neat market and some cool shops. With all the walking we have been doing we invested in some walking shoes before heading further up towards the Flatiron Building.

This is another iconic New York building. It is built on a small triangle of land and with 22 floors was one of the first skyscrapers. It opened in 1902 and is still used as an office block. This is a nice end of town, some good shops but not as crowded as the main shopping district. It is a few blocks south of the Empire State Building and you can see its triangle shape in some of the photos I took.

Trace and I then headed back to the apartment to organise dinner for the hungry hordes.

We decided to try Chinese for dinner tonight so we wandered up Canal Street and over into Chinatown which is only a couple of blocks away. New York's Chinatown is much like any other - loud, crowded, and very in-your-face. We spotted a restaurant called 456 that looked OK (and seemed to be full of locals) and went in. The food was excellent - chicken & corn soup, spring rolls, chicken and cashews, beef and veges, and shredded pork - all for $70 including tip. We were in there just before 6pm but by the time we left there was a queue. I took a photo of it so I could remember the name though the lady did tell us 456 are meant to be lucky numbers.

After dinner we wandered around Chinatown for a while and then headed back to the apartment.

Tomorrow it is ho-ho-ho!

NOTE: I added some photos to Tracey's entry on 12 December, she and Ewan went to Central Park Zoo.Read more