A Snowy Excursion in New York

I’m a summer girl at heart so it’s safe to say that winter excursions are not typically on my agenda. But with a change of attitude comes a change of adventure and that’s just what happened this weekend. Mathew and I have now been home from our first RTW adventure for just over 3 years and from our second one for just over seven months.  Each time we’ve tried to follow the sun and that’s what has always made my heart smile. Our holiday travel has only ever involved shorts & flip-flops (thongs). If you can believe, this is the first time in twelve years that we’ll be spending December in a cold weather climate. Adventures with my husband are the best and with one planned to be travelers in our own NYC this weekend even the snow didn’t stand in our way.

New York in winter is not one I’ve experienced a lot in these many years of living here. Hibernation traditionally sets in until summer and warmth return. Snow was falling from every direction and our footsteps instantly disappeared. Flurries arrived, shoppers shopped and a white blanket fell over Central Park covering the steps of runners while lighting up the faces of the sledding kids and pups rolling their noses in the white fluff. Depending on the area there were crowds of holiday shoppers, locals running errands, tourists taking in the sights of NYC and shopkeepers trying to keep their entranceways clear of the snow and slush. Oh, and I can’t possibly forget those heading to ‘Santa-con’ dressed in all sorts of holiday ‘style’.

It was a wintery snowstorm just one week shy of winter’s arrival and New York City was covered in a sea of white. We hit the Soho area for a stroll down Wooster Street where there are so many delightful adventure-packed stores known for marketing “exploration” at any turn.  After wandering through laneways and window shopping our way through the streets, the trusty subway took us across town to our favourite Australian pie shop, Pie Face, for a delicious afternoon lunch of Aussie pies, sausage rolls and Mathew’s most beloved coffee, a ‘kick my arse long black” barista style.

With free entrance passes from our local library and a jump on yet another subway we headed to The Guggenheim Museum for a break in the wintery weather and some modern art culture in a building whose style and shape alone is impressive. Before we went inside we were greeted by a humble man with a beautiful voice singing jazz with a smile as passersby dropped appreciation in his bag hung up high to avoid the soggy mess beneath our feet. Interesting art, an amazing spectacle of architecture from both the bottom and top and a spot of warmth in a snowy day gave us a bit of time to stop seeing our breath in the air as we breathed. 

It was cold enough to be annoying but thankfully we had rugged up appropriately and even for these sun lovers a stroll through Central Park was too hard to pass up. Flurries continued to fall and people continued to go about their day. Dogs and their owners, kids flying on saucers down hillsides that my Aussie husband got to witness for the first time in his life (thirty years without seeing snow is a fabulous statement in life) and hardcore runners still finding a path to put their feet scurried along as policemen drove through to check on park goers. The park was beautiful in the snow, which is rarely a sentence that would escape my lips.

If not for photographic evidence, friends wouldn’t believe the outing. An Australian boy and an American girl who will travel to the other side of the world to find sunshine, we avoid activities that make us shiver with cold. Our day was wonderful and only partially done as we traveled to Park Slope, Brooklyn for a holiday party at an Aussie style bar and then a visit with family that would end with a few hours of babysitting our fun-loving niece and nephew in the morning.

A change of attitude, warm clothing, the right accessories and a love of adventure anywhere you can find it set us out on this snowy day. We didn’t give up a day on the beach for a museum and we managed to stay toasty and dry throughout. Not sure that we’re ready to tackle a full winter style holiday as of yet, but it’s nice to know we can do it. Adventure is anywhere you look and is available if you believe you can and try to make it happen. More often than not, you’ll still find us in search of sun, sand and summer escaping to the southern hemisphere in the northern winter, but if there’s an adventure to be had-we’re there. Now we feel a bit more comfortable keeping Antarctica and her penguins on the top of our to see list-but I think we’d still journey there in the ‘summer season’.