Christmas Lights

Okay so has anyone hear the song "Christmas Lights" by Coldplay?  It came out a few years ago and I got into one of my constant repeat song obsessions.  Enjoy it here

Now onto the city lights that fit so well with this song.

On Saturday last weekend Dan, Mandy, and I bundled up and headed into Manhattan to do some shopping and to see all the Christmas shop windows and light displays.  Our first stop was Union Square where they always have a little holiday village set-up with various independent businesses in cute little booths selling unique items at Manhattan prices ($$$).  We just explored - and got a soft pretzel to share.

We wandered around for awhile looking for lunch and did a bit of small shopping.  Then we headed uptown to 34th street to see the decorations at Macy's.

Inside the store they really only decorate the first floor but we wandered all the way up to the 8th floor where they had Santa's workshop all set-up.  Of course the line was crazy long so we just looked.

Dan wanted his picture taken with the Lionel Trains - apparently he was a fan as a kid.

One really crazy interesting thing was the old wooden escalators that are still in use at Macy's.  I was totally shocked they were still in working order.  

Outside we squeezed through the crowds to see the window displays.  This year they were related to the planets and there were all kinds of animatronics. 

We continued along shopping (Dan was such a sport to accommodate us girls) and snapping pictures when we came across cool displays.  Lord and Taylor's had really lovely little picture windows with wintery scenes that doubled as jewelry displays.  

We stopped for a break and a treat and then continued walking north as the sun was setting.  By the time we got to Saks Fifth Avenue it was dark and the light show was playing.  Enjoy!

The decorations inside Saks were amazing - way better than Macy's and the windows were crazy gorgeous too.

Our last stop before our final destination (separate post later!) were the giant ornaments and lights along Avenue of the Americas.  By this point it was getting crazy crowded but we got a couple of great shots.

Manhattan at Christmastime is just so festive and full of holiday cheer.