We ventured out at around 7:50am for the parade. Thankfully the walk to 6th avenue was only 100 metres or so. We grabbed a great spot and were close to the front. Within 30 minutes though the crowd closed in around us. It was Ten deep when we left the parade at around 11.30am. 3,500,000 people attended the parade, that’s ten times the population of Canberra.
We stood for the three and a half hours in near freezing conditions, being rained and snowed on
The mood of the thousands of people around us was buoyant. People were singing Christmas carols and the kids were brimming with excitement.
We waited and waited, but at sound 9.45am the parade started coming past us. Wow. The balloons, bands and floats were fantastic. Snoopy, SpongeBob, Spider-Man, Kiss, Sesame Street, NYC bridges and roads, giant blow up animals, the Harlem Globetrotters and so much more.
Enjoy the photos.
We went back to our room to thaw out and will be joining Bob later tonight for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
We had a ball at the thanksgiving day parade.
After the parade we went back to our hotel. Shops were closed and there were people everywhere dispersing from the parade.
We relaxed for a couple of hours before travelling to the financial district to meet Bob and his family for thanksgiving dinner.
Bob lives in a high rise apartment with stunning views of the East river, Brooklyn and the Brooklyn bridge. We met Cathy, Cari, Keith and the wonderful Cody. We enjoyed a perfect turkey dinner, with sweet potato, stuffed mushrooms, string beans, biscuit and apple pie for dessert. Yum. Thanks Bob and family, especially Cathy and Cari for the cooking. Did I say it was yum. Yum
A great night.
We caught the subway home and watched the crowd in Times Square shopping or waiting to go into stores opening as part of the Black Friday sales. Black Friday marks the start of the holiday season and is called Black Friday because people feel businesses move from operating in the red, a loss, to the black, profit after Thanksgiving. Others attribute the name to traffic jams as its a hectic day on the road and therefore black, dark or difficult to travel. Either way it’s a massive day. We may brave the streets to experience it firsthand.
As we walked home though shops were beginning to open, it was around 10pm. The queue outside of Toys R Us was massive, it was opening at midnight.
We finally made it through the crowd and back to the AKA.
