Winter Wonderland

I woke up this morning to the lovely sounds of scrape scrape scrape. Yep, it snowed in NYC last night. I love walking to the subway, the sun is just peeking in the sky, and the world is covered with a new layer of pure white snow.

Back in December I asked you all what you'd like to see in NYC during Christmas and winter. A few of you responded and since I am so belated, I thought I'd take the time to post a few photos.

I took this batch of photos before Christmas the day after our first huge snowstorm. I also had some Christmas shopping to do so I grabbed my camera and headed out.

If you're in the city during Christmas, head over to the outdoor shops. This one right near Central Park at 59th Street. Obviously they hadn't shoveled yet. It was funny to see people manouver around the piles. I myself tripped a couple of times:
After snagging a few gifts, I headed into the park (I hope you enjoy some of these Real Librarian!).That is the main road where people jog and bike. I love that once you step into the park the city goes very quiet. Well, relatively quiet.Since this was the first big snowfall, the park was very crowded. This happens on our first nice sunny and warm day in the Spring too.

It's a bit hard to see with the lighting, but there were kids (and some adults) crawling all over these rocks:

I had to snag a photo of these two taking photos. I loved their matching Santa hats: I absolutely adored all the little children sledding that day. I've been searching and searching through Google Reader trying to figure out who else took pictures that day. They said that NYC gave out free hot chocolate and sleds that day. I think I read that. Anyway, isn't this adorable?
One of the things I love about Central Park is the bridges. I don't know why. I just love them. You can just see the horse drawn carriges going over this one:There was this Dickens dressed character with cape and top hat singing Christmas carols underneath. I didn't have any change so I didn't want to take a closer picture:
This is one of my favorite ones. This is the back of the bridge:But if you go around, you get one of my favorite photo stops in the park (Al, I hope you like this frosty pond photo): Once over the bridge, you can head down to the pond. I love this pond. There were these adorable little poofed up birds in the trees. It was so cold I felt bad for them but it looked like they had a nice fluffy coat to keep them warm:And I just love the lamp posts in the park. Although you really have to watch coming up and down the snowy stairs:I was starting to get chilly so I headed back into the city.I grabbed some breakfast and coffee at Cosi and took a few photos with my phone. I just loved the streets with the piled snow on the sides:I find that New York has some gorgeous decorations during the Christmas season. This gate was open so I popped in briefly to snag a photo: I thought this building was awesome with the huge candy cane:

I ended up meeting my husband over at Union Square where there is another Christmas market. I took this as the sun was starting to set:Hope you enjoyed some of thes photos!

**Thank you to all who gave me advice in what to take photos of. I'll try to keep taking more and will keep you all updated.

A Real Librarian asked for "wintry Central Park pics"

Al from Publish or Perish asked for "the pond in Central Park on a frosty morning"