off on my travels...macy's thanksgiving parade

in new york on thanksgiving...what on earth do we do? run around the city getting glimpses of the macy's thanksgiving parade, that's what. it was the parade's 85th year and we liked that it had been started off by the macy's employees who wanted to give something back to their local community.

the fun started on thanksgiving eve (?) queuing up to see the giant balloons being blown up on 79th and 81st streets, just around the corner from our holiday apartment (via air b&b). there were a fair number of nypd's finest with road blocks and fences making us all feel safe and making sure we went round the streets in the correct manner. i'm not sure why they needed to be in groups of four mainly texting, chatting and snacking but perhaps that's how it is done over here.

on the day itself, we ran around new york like fools trying to get a good view of the parade that featured floats, marching bands, dancers, little balloons but we could never get close enough to see anything but the giant balloons bobbing around.

the smurf's bottom near times square

kermit...in the distance

we also stumbled across some green-outfitted dancers - at first i thought they must be irish dancers but their hats seem to say alabama boliviana or boliviana alabama so clearly not. the round metal things on their legs are bells...you could hear them coming for miles. and check out those shoulders pads.

where's everyone gone?

all jokey comments aside, it was an amazing spectacle and everyone loved it. i'd definitely recommend going if you're in NYC over thanksgiving but my tip is to get up early (earlier than us!), decide where you're going to watch the parade and sharpen those elbows!