Tuesday, December 5, 2017

The Kindness of Strangers and Christmas Markets

Who says people in New York City are cold.  Not true.  When unpacking after our arrival Mac discovered he'd left the charger for his MP3 player at home.  He needs White Noise to help him sleep at night and has to charge the player each day.  So I quickly Googled where we could get a charger, Best Buy was the closest and we headed downstairs.  Got directions from the doorman, left and left again, and we were quickly on our way.  Entering the store I saw an employee (Quentin), explained our problem and asked for help, he asked to see the MP3 player and quickly showed us what they had in the way of chargers and pointed out the cheapest one ($20.00) and we headed to the cash register, but he caught up to us, handed us a charger and said it'd just been laying in a drawer and would have soon been thrown out, so Merry Christmas, no charge. How nice was that!
The next night as we headed back to our hotel when we/I decided that  we/I needed something sweet to eat, so seeing Dunkn' Donuts we went in and I asked for 2 plain cake donuts.  The clerk said no, you need 4 and gave us 4 for the price of 2.  It was nearing closing time so again we got something that would have been thrown out, for free.  And they were delicious.
Everywhere we went I unashamedly asked strangers for directions, guess I could have looked them up on my phone, but how much fun is that. Everyone was helpful and the security guard who said Mac was right about the direction we should be going laughingly warned him not to be too smug about it.
The day before we left I couldn't connect to the WiFi in our room and so I asked the desk clerk for help (Jasmine).  She not only confirmed our airline reservations she printed our boarding passes.  Turns out she wasn't a native New Yorker, but was from Stuttgart, Germany, a city we had lived in and that her father was from Izmir, Turkey, also a city we'd lived in.  Had a great conversation with her.
So don't believe the bad things you hear about New Yorkers, they were great to us.

Now Christmas Markets, we went to 2, a smaller one down at Union Square near the wonderful Strand Book Store and a larger one at Bryant Park (if you watch Project Runway I know you've heard of Bryant Park, I kept looking for Tim ).  We had breakfast there one morning and went back at night to see it all lit up.  Lots of heavenly smells and some very different gift ideas.

We had waffles and coffee for breakfast, can you believe it was warm enough to eat outside?

The Badger thought the waffles were mighty tasty

There was a large skating rink at Bryant Park

And a Christmas tree that they lit up on Friday night

Loads of beautiful street decorations

A Merry-Go-Round at Bryant Park, loved the frog, watched a little girl ride it and she was just in heaven.


Can you tell we had a wonderful time?  Can't wait to go back again.

27 comments:

  1. We went to NY soon after 9/11 and everyone was so friendly and pleased that we were there.Loved it and would love to go back one day.

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  2. I’ve been to NY several times. Both occasions everyone was very helpful and friendly. Such a wonderful city. B x

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  3. Meeting kind and helpful people during a vacation can make all the difference in the world to your enjoyment.

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  4. I guess Christmas is a good time to visit New York. Sounds like you had a great visit.

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  5. How kind everyone was, I bet it made your trip.

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  6. Don't you notice, folks are pretty kind the world around. I've never read a bad report from you.

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  7. Except my x everyone was nice to me when we went to NY ! I am happy you had such a great time.
    I have found Best Buy service always nice. They seem to hire great people.

    cheers, parsnip

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  8. You make me want to visit New York...I thought I'd never ever say that. Every time you go there and share what a good time you had, it makes me want to pack and go.

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  9. Merry Christmas, no charge...what wonderful words!
    Richard and I also found that New Yorkers were kind and welcoming. Made me proud of my fellow Americans in front of my English husband!
    Oh, and those gorgeous angels at Rockefeller Square...I think I remember reading that they were designed by a Brit! :-)

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  10. I love stories like this! You two are braver than I am. I cannot imagine trying to find my way around New York City. I guess I'm just a small-town girl.

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  11. Its refreshing to read that people are friendly, no matter what the season or what the city. Hope you get to return to New York sooner than later!

    betty

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  12. What a delightful time. It so nice that you encountered so many friendly and helpful people. I think they must have seen something in you and Max to know what good folks you are.

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  13. There's so many people quick to point out negatives of people and places, it's so refreshing to hear how friendly the people were in New York, I can tell that it made a difference to your trip. I love a good Christmas market.

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  14. It's good to know that there are still some kind and thoughtful people out there, it sounds as if you had a wonderful time:)

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  15. I agree with Rosie - yes there are still kind people in the world. Thanks for the memory-jogging photographs.

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  16. I imagine that the courtesy that you received was mainly due to your own politeness because as is said over here 'What you put out is what you get back'

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  17. I think Heron is correct above. So many people are rude when they speak to shop assistants and then complain when they are rude in return.

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  18. How wonderful to meet kind and helpful people - unlike the 4 people taking up the whole pavement (sidewalk)the other day - as I walked past I said loudly "don't move, I'll walk on the road ...... after a stunned silence, one of them shouted "we would have moved if you asked"!!

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  19. Enjoyed hearing about your trip to NY, and glad to hear about the nice people there. It's easy to be nice to nice people, like you and Mac.

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  20. I have never been there but have always wanted to visit...at least once...especially at Christmas time. It certainly goes to show you that nice folks can be found anywhere, if we only keep our eyes open!

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  21. There are some wonderful friendly and helpful people around ...
    Lovely seeing all your photographs.

    All the best Jan

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  22. I think if you give off friendly vibes people will usually be just as friendly back. That's probably why you encountered so many nice ones. Glad the badger enjoyed his NYC waffles!

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  23. Your great post reminds me of helping each other anytime anywhere.

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  24. Sounds like you met some marvelous people! It is wonderful when people are kind and helpful:)

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  25. I'm sure all these examples of kindness made your trip enjoyable. I think people usually respond well when we approach them in a friendly and interested way ourselves. You saw some varied sights and it was good you could eat outside on occasions. I like the street decorations and the skating rink.

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  26. Glad you had such a great experience in New York. My ex-sister-in-law and her three kids went there recently, too, to experience NYC at Christmastime. Your probably crossed their paths.

    Isn't it amazing how you can run into strangers and have an immediate connection with them? Like the woman from Stuttgart, with the father from Izmir. They have a saying in Germany about this, "The world is a tiny village." Your experience just confirmed this.

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