December 9-13, 2011
We decided it was time to take my parents and aunt to New York City. Christmas was coming up and we’d never been there in the winter, so we booked flights, got an apartment in SODO through VRBO and headed east. I didn’t feel like carrying around my heavy DSLR, so all these photos are with an iPhone 4 or 4s. Not great quality, but they caught the moments.
Here’s a photo looking west from our apartment window on Bowery.
The first night we took the subway to Times Square and documented that they actually were in New York City. 
After Times Square, we walked through midtown to 30 Rock to check out the Christmas lights and the ice skating rink.
The next day we had breakfast and then took the subway up to Central Park.
We walked south to the Apple Store on 5th Ave (a must-stop for me). B&H photo was a treat, as always. We then hooked up with our friends Randy and Chris and their two kids. It was a short meeting, but very nice to see them. Next stop: Grand Central Station and the brand new Apple Store. The entire mezzanine shown below is the store.
A santa flash mob was just departing when we arrived. There were a lot of Santas and we saw them for the rest of the evening, all over town.
The next day we walked south to the Brooklyn Bridge, then southwest to ground zero and the new construction.
Touring ground zero was amazing, especially considering the last time we were here, it was a hole full of twisted metal and soil. They are doing an INCREDIBLE job here. It’s very powerful and we very much enjoyed the visit and had heavy hearts for the people who were lost and the loved ones they left behind.
The next morning Heidi found a Belgian waffle truck in Soho while shopping. 
One night Heidi and I met up with our friends Lee and Tiffany and spent a few super fun hours at Duff’s bar in Brooklyn. It’s a famous hard rock/heavy metal bar that was quite interesting. We had a great time!
Random photo of the Flatiron building.