Welcome to volume three of “Amateur Learns Aperture” where I take advantage of living in New York City to get outside while learning to use my camera.  Tonight, I brought my camera out to dinner at Winter Wonderland at Pier 15 in the Financial District.

I have to say, I picked the perfect time of year to begin this project as New York is really pretty at this time of year.  I have so many things to choose from and the pressure to see it all before I leave for vacation in three weeks, really inspires me to get out of my apartment.  This has been wonderful for my mental health.

Back to the topic here – as the title says, Winter Wonderland is located at Pier 15 down in the Financial District.  It is a bunch of glass (plastic) houses with a Christmas theme, complete with a view of the Brooklyn Bridge in the background.

Apparently this place exists full year round and is Christmas themed at…wait for it…Christmas!  The hostess told me they do different holidays throughout the year.

I purchased a ticket HERE.  You have a few choices, depending on if you want to eat dinner or not. If you want to eat dinner, you cannot purchase tickets for an odd number of people, has to be multiples of two.  I was okay with that since I am going early enough in the year, and on a Monday, so the price was half the price of a weekend later in the year.  #amateurphotographermath?

I was surprised when I was offered (and I rejected) a second entree since I had paid for two people, and was told I could take it to go.  So I now have macaroni and cheese for lunch tomorrow.

HERE is the menu. Either don’t come hungry or come prepared to spend even more money on top of the tickets if you want an appetizer or French fries.  You do get a free hot chocolate with your meal.

I got a Rudolph’s Nose mocktail and it was delicious.

The bar sells smores and they have a fire pit for you to make them.

The views around the glass (plastic) houses is incredible.  But you are sharing a house with other people, unless of course, you pay for a private one.  So I didn’t want to be too instrusive trying to get photos of the view outside.  My table was closer to the entrance to the house than to the view.  If I were a tourist and this was a once in a lifetime outing, I would purchase a private house and cross my fingers I was on the same side of the pier as the bridge.

The walkways between the houses are prettty narrow. There are servers in the way of each other. Then add in the general public with cameras and cell phones, and taking photos was kind of frustrating. Especially if you do not know how to use your camera and have to keep changing the settings.  Cell phone to the rescue!

Santa:

I am not sure if this was worth the cost.  Actually I know that for me it was not. You can see everything without spending a penny, just by walking on the pier.  But if you are a tourist, then yes – it may be worth it to do it just to say you did.  I would absolutely do this if I saw it offered in another city.  But doing it again in NYC as a local?  Nope.  If I want a $75 burger, I will lose $75 in a casino and get a comped burger that tastes like loser.

Camera photo of the Brooklyn Bridge:
Much better colors with my cell phone:
Brooklyn across the way with my camera:
And better color with my cell phone:

It is so frustrating that I cannot take better photos with my camera, but that’s why I am taking photography classes.  Tomorrow is week THREE.  Calm down with your “Wah why can’t I master my camera” bullshit.

Maybe next year I can go back and take this photo with my camera: