This might be the city that never sleeps, but I can confirm that it does close.  Well, at least streets, and paths, and subway exits, and restaurants, and stores.  I think you get the point though.  This morning we were up and at it around 7ish before leaving the room to stake out our spot for the parade.  Across the street from our hotel, obviously, is a Starbucks and that is where everyone steeled themselves with caffeine and calories.   Since the Thanksgiving Day parade passed within a half-block of our hotel, we thought it wise to take the subway uptown towards the park.  In theory, this would have worked well, but at the stop all of the exits were closed and blocked by cops who told us to turn around and use the passageway.  Not knowing what this meant, we joined in the exodus and plodded out of the station only to end up several blocks from our desired location.  All we wanted to do was to get to Central Park, but since this was not an option, we stood in the middle of a street along with 2000 of out closest friends.  All we could see were the balloons and that wasn’t unobstructed.

After dealing with the parade crowds with their nonstop bumping into us, standing in front of us, and everything else, we had had enough and left.  In fact the only time we really saw the parade was when we got back to the room and it was on TV.  So, yeah, kind of a bust.  We figured we could take a train from 59th street up to 81st Street or, at worst, 86th.  We hopped on the train that was to take us there only to realize that we had gotten on an express.  Next stop 125th Street.  Probably a bit too far north to walk back to the park.  We got off that train, switched platforms and headed back to 59th street.  What the signs didn’t make especially clear was the holiday schedule and to be honest, given the crowds, a reduced train schedule probably wasn’t prudent.  But then, nobody asked me.  Eventually, we made it to the park and began meandering around.  It was pleasant, cold, but nice.  We thought we’d take one of the paths south and end up at the Dakota.  Problem was, the path we wanted to take was closed.  I mean seriously, who closes a path???  After even more backtracking, we finally made it to Strawberry Fields were everyone was paying their respects to John Lennon by standing on, sitting on, or pointing at the Imagine mosaic.  At least it wasn’t closed.

By now we were all starting to get hungry so we began heading towards our lunch reservations on Columbus Ave.  We were early, but they were able to seat us.  I’m not really going to go into too much detail on lunch except it was fine, the service a bit off, and the price a bit much for what we got.  But, I didn’t have any gluten issues, so hooray.  We gave the girls the option of heading to the Plaza Hotel or back to our hotel for a rest.  They chose rest, and while they rested, I was able to watch the parade.  The same one everyone else watched without having to fight the crowds.

After a brief rest, we headed to the Empire State Building.  We figured going up to the top might be fun.  It seemed that most everyone else had the same idea because it was crowded getting in.  The line moved fairly quickly though and soon enough we were at the top.  Since it was dark, we really could only see the lights of town.  I thought it was neat though and after spending a few minutes on the observation deck, we got in yet another line to go back to the ground.  Food choices around the Empire State Building were scarce and the girls were starting to complain of needing food.  We thought, heck, Grand Central Station had a food court.  Surely, they can find something appetizing there.  Nope.  Closed.  Not the whole station mind you.  Just the food court.  So after admiring the terminal much the way Clark Griswold admired the Grand Canyon, we went to McDonald’s.  Yep, McDonald’s .  Nothing says happy thanksgiving like a coke and fries from the golden arches.  And that, dear friends, is how we spent our Thanksgiving in New York.  In crowds, on trains, and chasing down inevitably closed places.  I guess that despite all of the aggravations, the most important thing is that I spent it with the most important people.