No TubaChristmas!

No TubaChristmas this year! We checked into the lovely downtown Marriott Friday evening at about 3:00 PM. We had Pricelined a room for $61.00. Rack rate for this hotel was $445.00. I found a bill in our room left over from another guest and he had paid 295.00 a night. Anyways, they were lovely to us. Had them park our car (which was going to cost almost as much as we had paid for the room) and then rested up in the room for a bit. Then we went to our destination of choice, Macy's! It was just across the street from our hotel. We wanted to see the Dickens Village and the light show, but most importantly, we wanted to hear the Wanamaker organ.

The Macy's store is the former Wanamaker's department store which is on the National Historic Register. Reminded me of the Galeries Lafayette in Paris. Our local Macy's in Denton was so disappointing. It was just like Dillard's. But this store was very satisfying with lots of designer clothing and stuff I couldn't afford in a million years. A 385.00 Coach purse, for example. So much fun! Just like being in Paris. And so Christmas-y. Just like we had thought New York would be at Christmas time. But last year during our visit to New York everything was so crowded, cold and slushy.

We loved the Dickens Village. It was completely charming. You travel from room to room seeing animated figured (about three feet tall) in settings from "A Christmas Carol."  No details left out. The costumes on the figures were amazing as were all the shops and furniture. We loved it. I just said that, didn't I? I guess we really loved it. Then we caught some of the light show (see picture above) and then returned to our hotel to warm up a bit before going  to dinner. We ate at a diner (see picture) at the Reading Terminal Market. We toured the market a bit before eating. This market put the Lancaster market to shame. The Italian bakery had beautiful arrangements of Christmas cookies including our family's favorite biscotti. Michael says there was one aisle of just salmon. We both saw the largest shrimp we'd ever seen--maybe six inches long and an inch in diameter. It is almost impossible to describe the kinds of fare they had for sale there.

We did some shopping in Macy's and then got settled in (on the floor) for the organ concert. Alas, it was just the light show all over again. I was so disappointed. But as we were walking away, the organ cranked up. We rushed back and caught the whole thing. We went up to the second floor facing the pipes where you can feel the bass notes through the floor. You can also see the console. After the concert, you're allowed to tour the console. What a thrill! There's a whole percussion section of stops, and the ranks are color coded. How else would you be able to find what you wanted? I noted that the keys were made of ivory. We met the organist and bought a CD.

Sadly, we had heard intimations from many folks that the weather was going to turn very bad. We looked it up online at the Fedex center and we checked the weather channel. We made the decision to return home at midnight, making this the shortest hotel stay on record for us so that we wouldn't get snowed in. The young lady who had checked us in also checked us out. They didn't charge us for parking, I don't think. And if we hadn't already paid Priceline, she wouldn't have charged us for the room. We got in in the wee hours and it's as dry as a bone here. But we couldn't take a chance getting snowed in since my big Christmas program is tomorrow morning at church.

So alas, no Tuba Christmas this year. But Michael and I agree that it was one of the best mini-vacations ever.