Waayyy back in the year that was 2010, August to be precise, Mum, Dad, Mark and his girlfriend Jordana decided that they wanted to go across to New York for Christmas as my brother had purchased some time share usage of Jordana's Uncle's apartment right in the heart of Harlem. At that time I had no idea that I would be living in Vancouver, having established myself with a home and a full time job. What an inconceivable thought then, being just a short flight away from New York that I would not even consider going over to visit them. After all, I didn't know when would be the next time I would get to see them. They didn't know that though... so I decided to surprise them and head over. I booked my ticket back in September but told almost nobody except my new employers Flight Centre, (and Serena of course!) as I didn't want my surprise to accidently leak out. I really wanted to be able to surprise them 100%....... which I successfully achieved!
So I had big plans of arriving 12 hours prior to the gang and have the apartment all set up with Christmas decorations but the afternoon I was due to leave, I received an email from mum saying that they were just leaving and I did the math and realised that they would arrive before me and that Mark had given me the wrong date!! It actually worked out better as Mark had also told the girl at the apartment the wrong date and there would have been no one there to let me in otherwise!!!! So I rocked up at the front gate (hope to all heck that I had the right address as I was standing alone in the middle of Harlem!) pressed the buzzer to the apartment and the gate unlocked leading me to the next door and buzzer. I buzzed again still unsure if I had the right place and got dad's tired but very Australian voice at the other end. Putting on my best American accent I announced that I had a parcel for Mr James Downes, who said that he'd be right down. Being 8am in the morning, I knew that they would be fast asleep poor things but, oh well it would be worth the wake up call when he got down. He arrived at the door half dressed and with no shoes on! It was -4 degrees outside so instead of the 'oh Heidi what a great surprise' reaction I was expecting, I got 'Heidi, bloody hell its freezing get inside!'. But then got my kiss and hug!!!! Mum was still in bed, Mark and Jordana had just got up and were in the kitchen and dad had my bags infront of him. He said, wow they have big parcels over here and I walked in and jumped straight into bed with mum! The look of just-waking-up confusion on her face was classic and it took about 5 minutes before she started to cry! Mission accomplished!
We had the best 2 weeks eating our way through the whole city. We planned each day around where we wanted to eat for lunch and then dinner. Just your typical Downes family holiday!!! We spent a day in Greenwich Village checking out the groovey shops and even did a tour... yes a food tasting tour! We wondered the streets of Soho where we sampled the goods of Magnolia's bakery, ate at the best Bagel bakery in town called Essa Bagel, had dinner in a true American Style family restaurant, had breakfast in a real 1950's style Diner, walked the Brooklyn Bridge, went up the Empire State Building, had 3 days in Macy's and Bloomingdales checking out the sales and by the end of all the going in and out of the apartment we felt like the locals of Harlem. We knew the train system inside and out.
On Christmas Eve Mark and Jordana needed to go off and do a bit of shopping and so we went into the city to do our own thing and then met up with them in the afternoon and went to watch the Christmas Show with the famous New York Rockettes. We headed into Times Square for a drink where Mark then announced that he had proposed to Jordana that afternoon... and she said YES! There was excitement all round followed by flowing champagne and lots of phone calls to Australia to let family and friends know.
The next day we all got up and got ready to go out for lunch. Mum and dad had a booking at the Boat House in Central Park but unfortunately when I turned up to surprise them, we called to add one more but they were overbooked so we cancelled our booking and decided to just pop up to the Marriott for their buffet lunch. Only problem was, when we got there they actually didn't have a lunch only dinner!!! So we went down to the bar below at the W hotel and had lunch in their lovely restaurant which was just perfect. We then decided we would brave the cold and head to Central Park for a horse and carriage ride. Mum was praying that it would snow as we set off but no luck. Wondering back down 5th street and taking in the Christmas lights and decorations (and freezing cold) we eventually headed back to Harlem. Mum's prayers must have been a little delayed as when we woke up in the morning we saw light puffs of snow drifting down to the sidewalk. We were all so excited. We had a big day planned (all around food of course) and got dressed to head out to the Cotton Club - the famous jazz and blues band in Harlem. By this time the snow was really coming down and we had a ball walking there. Being Sunday, the Cotton Club had a Sunday buffet brunch and Gospel singers performing. It was so wonderful and felt like the real Blues of the past. When we finally emerged, half a metre of snow had fallen on the sidewalk and the whole place was shrouded in white. We braved the weather (having a ball of course) and headed back home to get ready to go out for dinner at the Garage Jazz Club. It was at this point that we figured that God had taken mum's prayers a little too far and we had a blizzard on our hands! So again, hitting the subway we went to the Garage and whilst eating our meal and listening to the wonderful old school music in the comfort of the warm Club, all we could see was a white out, outside! It turns out that it was the 6th biggest snow blizzard in New York history! We arrived home through about 1 metre of snow and made snow angels on the 'road' in front of the apartment. You must check out the photos on facebook (when I get around to putting them on there!)
So in the next few days we fought our way through thigh deep snow and wondered around Central Park to watch the kiddies having a ball sledding down the hills and the dogs chasing after them. It was a magical sight and something out of a fairy tale for us - apart from the bitterly cold temperatures! We were actually coping very well with the cold up until that point as we found that we layered too much and got too hot when we finally went back inside. It took us a few days of altering our routine of the amount of clothing put on but we got there in the end but that day in Central Park was bitterly cold!
New Years Eve was the next on our agenda. We all headed out that evening, all of us dressed in our new purchases from Macy's and Bloomingdales. Dad said he felt like a Bloomingdale advertisement as everything he wore that night was from there (except his undies and socks!). We had booked an evening on the Bateaux New York, a fully glasses ship taken from the Seine river in Paris and used to cruise the Hudson. The email told us that it was a Cocktail Affair so we women braved the elements and against our better judgements, wore short blingy dresses!!! Getting there was mighty cold but once inside it was perfect. We had a 3 course meal, the drinks flowed and a great band played and mum and dad actually danced together for the first time in about 38 years! At midnight we stopped in front of the Statue of Liberty, watched the fireworks and blew our whistles. It was another spectacular, magical night. Unfortunately going home, our transfer car never turned up so we trudged through the slushy snow in high heels and short dresses until we finally found a taxi to take us home!
Finally on our last day, we packed up and headed into town as dad's friends from Liverpool, Barbara Smith and Pam and Graham McGaffney had come in for the day off the Queen Mary 2 Cruise ship. We went and met them for an hour before mum, dad, Mark and Jordana had to race off to the airport for their flight back to Australia. My flight wasn't till later that night so I headed back to the apartment for the last time and to do the cleaning!!!
It was such a great holiday that we enjoyed so much and we have vowed and declared that we will go back again to New York as we only scraped the surface of the restaurants on the tiny island!! But next time we will go in summer.
