I Love New York... in Winter

I've always loved New York, I have. But lately, I think because I'm often given to looking at it from an outsider's perspective -- that is, from your perspective, gentle readers -- that I notice more of the things that I love about it. Oh, and because I had a couple of cocktails last night, and was happily tipsy.

Here then, in no particular order, things I love about New York in the wintertime.

I love the smell of roasted peanuts from street corner carts, the giant cyrstal snowflake that hangs over the intersection of 57th Street and Fifth Avenue, the smell of Christmas trees being sold on the sidewalks, bare trees decorated with white lights, the wreaths around the necks of the lions in front of the main branch of the public library, and the decorated topiary dinosaurs on either side of the main entrance to the Natural History Museum.

I love ice skating in the park under an open sky, meeting friends for holiday drinks, hearing a lone saxophonist playing "Silver Bells" as I drive by warm and comfortable in a cab on my way home, outdoor holiday markets in the public squares, and the window displays at Lord & Taylor's, Bloomingdale's, and Macy's.

I love hot chocolate.

I love when it snows, and they annouce that "alternate side of the street parking rules are suspended" because no one can move their cars beneath a heavy blanket of snow. I love watching kids drag their plastic sleds along the sidewalks to get to Central Park, and seeing them go swooshing down the hills around the Met. I love looking out the window in my apartment and seeing a perfect layer of snow on each band of the fire escape, and ice carefully encasing the branches of trees.

I love not having to shovel.

(and I'm sure there's more I love, but my new laptop just arrived and I can't put off opening the box any longer!)