We flew into LaGuardia Thursday morning, spent the day walking around Manhattan - saw Times Square, some of the bigger department stores and their decorated windows - Tiffany's was one of my favorites, plus we went inside to look at the big sparklers. Thursday night we saw Jersey Boys and ate dinner at Ellen's Stardust Diner - a MUST for any broadway fans! All the waiters have cordless microphones and they karaoke to hit tunes while walking around serving customers. It's 50s themed, so we enjoyed steak fries and *spiked* chocolate shakes (at eleven o'clock at night.)
Jersey Boys was so good - it's told in first person so whoever is narrating talks right to the audience, and we were in the 3rd row, so we had a great view! We loved hearing our favorite oldies.Friday morning Pete woke me up because he wanted to go running in Central Park (of course). I was a good sport and came along, but we might not have run enough for Pete. Here's proof that we actually exercised on our vacation (because walking 3-5 miles a day on the streets of NYC isn't enough).
We took the subway to SoHo Friday afternoon, looked in some great shops, got scared on Canal St (I wasn't mentally prepared), and walked all the way to Greenwich Village in search of Magnolia's Cupcakes - we found them, they were good! We got back to the hotel with plenty of time to rest and get ready for the Rockettes at eight. Pete went to the fitness center in the hotel (it's a sickness) while I stayed in the room and read/napped for a half hour (I'm going somewhere with all these details, I swear). We decided we wanted to leave the room at 6:45, to give us enough time to go see Rockefeller Center before standing in line to see the show. I was in the bathroom doing my makeup when Pete looked at the tickets to double-check what street Radio City Music Hall was on - he looked at the tickets and saw that THE SHOW WAS AT 7:OOPM!!! IT WAS ALREADY 6:30!! I feel I reacted very calmly at this point. I put down my mascara, asked Pete to get my shoes (2 1/2" heels), and put on my coat and scarf. Once we reached the lobby, I started running down the streets of Manhattan --the Rockettes were the whole reason we were there, I wasn't going to miss them now! I even slapped the hood of a taxi as it turned into the crosswalk when I had the light! Pete shouted at me to stop running that we would make it, so I did and we got there with 10 minutes to spare - luckily the line we had seen the night before was for people waiting to buy tickets, and since we already had ours we could walk right in.
The lobby alone is breathtaking - the ceiling is gilded in gold leaf, there is a giant Swarovski chandelier - made entirely of different crystal snowflakes, it was amazing. In the mezzanine they had two Rockette mannequins wearing old costumes, and the walls were covered with pictures of Rockettes - a different costume for every decade, and there were blown-up press releases from the 30s and 40s - we especially enjoyed the one about the 'new food' pizza.
The lobby alone is breathtaking - the ceiling is gilded in gold leaf, there is a giant Swarovski chandelier - made entirely of different crystal snowflakes, it was amazing. In the mezzanine they had two Rockette mannequins wearing old costumes, and the walls were covered with pictures of Rockettes - a different costume for every decade, and there were blown-up press releases from the 30s and 40s - we especially enjoyed the one about the 'new food' pizza.
The inside of the Music Hall was just as impressive - I couldn't believe how plush the red velvet seats were! They were widely spaced with plenty of leg room (we're long legged folk), the orchestra pit was raised and it was lined in red velvet and decorated with garland & the stage is enormous! The biggest proscenium arch I've ever seen! My Radio City Christmas Spectacular book (that I got for Christmas) says the stage is the width of a full city block and the auditorium is 1.8 million cubic feet! I settled down enough to watch the show - although I definitely missed the very opening part because the tears in my eyes were blocking my vision! I was so glad to finally be there and to see them live! The show really was spectacular - in the first number the Rockettes are dressed as the reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh - and then we had to put on 3D glasses - another first for me - to watch Santa fly though the streets of New York. I won't describe every number - Pete and I enjoyed the Twelve Days of Christmas (a big tap number) and the Toy Soldiers (precision like you've never seen) the most! We also liked the one live camel in the Living Nativity because he was chewing on something the whole time he was on stage. After the show we went by Rockefeller Center to see the tree and the ice skating before our dinner reservation.
We ate dinner at Joe Allen's on 46th street - when Pete and I went to Texas two years ago, I said we HAD to eat at Joe Allen's and he assured me he already had when he was visiting his Dad and Estelle in New York when he was in college - I argued that Joe & Sharon Allen didn't have any non-Abilene locations. So we ate at THIS Joe Allen's - you can't buy steak by the inch there, but Pete had a tasty fillet, and I got salmon. After dinner we decided we were too tired to do anything but go to back to the hotel and crash - which I did right after changing into my new shirt:
Saturday morning we slept in and then made our way to the Empire State Building. Visibility wasn't much, but it is nice to say we've been to the top.
Saturday morning we slept in and then made our way to the Empire State Building. Visibility wasn't much, but it is nice to say we've been to the top.
After that we made our way to Macy's - the Saturday before Christmas -it was hectic but fun, the first floor was decorated with giant arches of poinsettias and ribbon, and I wanted to show Pete the wooden escalators Rachael and I rode when she and I were in New York. ("mmm, Greetings Nerd") Saturday evening we went ice skating in Central Park at the Wollman Rink.
After that, we went back to the hotel and changed clothes before heading to Roxy's Delicatessen for dinner and Don't Tell Mamas for a night of singing. Nothing quite tops off a trip to NYC like staying in a piano bar from 9:30pm to 3:30am! We had big plans to go to St. Patrick's Sunday morning, but we didn't quite make it. Pete's voice still hasn't come all the way around. :)
Sunday we walked to the Garment District to eat lunch at Serendipity3 (yummy frozen hot chocolate) and learned how to tie a proper bow at the Container Store (i love that place!) We caught a taxi at 3pm to give us plenty of time to catch our 5pm flight to Chicago. Unfortunately, it kept getting delayed. We finally flew out of LaGuardia at 9:40pm, but (obviously) missed our connection to Lexington. So we spent the night in Comfort Inn Des Plains - it is definitely worth it to get a hotel for 5hours of sleep, a hot shower, and continental breakfast - and arrived home a little after 11am, Christmas Eve Day. We managed to gather our things enough to have a nice Christmas Eve hors d'oeuvre dinner in between church services and to take our annual picture:
Sunday we walked to the Garment District to eat lunch at Serendipity3 (yummy frozen hot chocolate) and learned how to tie a proper bow at the Container Store (i love that place!) We caught a taxi at 3pm to give us plenty of time to catch our 5pm flight to Chicago. Unfortunately, it kept getting delayed. We finally flew out of LaGuardia at 9:40pm, but (obviously) missed our connection to Lexington. So we spent the night in Comfort Inn Des Plains - it is definitely worth it to get a hotel for 5hours of sleep, a hot shower, and continental breakfast - and arrived home a little after 11am, Christmas Eve Day. We managed to gather our things enough to have a nice Christmas Eve hors d'oeuvre dinner in between church services and to take our annual picture:
Christmas Day was nice and quiet - we got eachother a few small things and did modest stockings, watched the new Harry Potter DVD, took a long nap, and had crab-stuffed salmon with roasted asparagus and rolls for dinner (I really didn't feel like makng a Christmas dinner for two after Thanksgiving). We had such a good time on our little vacation - it really was the trip of a lifetime!
