Well this past weekend was certainly a fun one, and
absolutely FULL of New York City Christmas magic! Just a little FYI, this post is lengthy. Feel free to skim and look at the pictures, I won't blame you!
J
As I mentioned in my last post, one of my best friends from
college, Rachel, came to visit for the weekend. I was so happy to have a
familiar face around and couldn’t wait to experience New York with her. I
didn’t do much planning, because I wanted to be able to do all the things she
wanted to. Fortunately, there were lots of things Rach had on her handy dandy
flow chart that I had never done before either. (And yes, it was an actual,
handwritten flow chart you’d have to see to believe!) So, there were lots of
new things I did this weekend that I’m so excited to share.
Rachel arrived late Thursday night and it was quite surreal
to have one of my best friends standing in my apartment in New York City. I
mean, she was always over at my place in College Station, but we both agreed
that something about this was different. This was MY home…the one I pay for
every month and decorated just to my liking. And she was there, in MY home! It
was one of those moments where we were both just like, holy crap we’re real
adults!
The next day I had to work, but Rachel’s younger sister goes
to NYU and didn’t have class. So, they got to spend the day together exploring.
I met up with them for dinner before they headed off to see School of Rock, one
of Broadway’s newest musicals. The report back was that it was a very fun
musical, and fans of the movie would love it. I’m sure Rachel will be posting
all about it over at her blog,
Curly Girl Thoughts, so you should definitely
check it out.
On Saturday morning, we woke up, got dressed, and headed
straight for the Brooklyn Bridge. If you remember, last summer when my parents
visited was the first time I’d ever been to the Brooklyn Bridge. My mom and I
only walked to the first arch before we called it good. Dad on the other hand,
was determined to go to the second arch, so he sojourned on…alone. This time
around, I made it to the second arch! If you’ve never been to the Brooklyn Bridge,
I would definitely recommend it. It’s so old and has so much history, but it
also offers amazing views of the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty.
Besides the fact that it’s a free activity, which is always a plus.
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Brooklyn Bridge selfie |
Once we walked back down, we headed to the TKTS Booth at
South Street Seaport to purchase tickets for a Sunday matinee. If you’ve never
heard of the TKTS Booth, it’s a place where you can purchase Broadway show
tickets at a discount. Each day they put up a list of shows they have tickets
for and how much of a discount the tickets are being sold at. There is a booth
in Times Square, at South Street Seaport, down in the financial district, and
over in Brooklyn. While the South Street Seaport location isn’t as convenient
for those staying in the Times Square area, it’s worth it to go down there
because they begin selling next day matinee tickets right when they open at
11:00 AM, whereas the Times Square booth doesn’t start selling them until 3:00
PM. So, you’re more than likely going to end up with a better seat. J
Rachel and I were hoping to get tickets to The King and I,
but it turns out, even at the TKTS Booth, they’re still quite pricey. So, we
went with Rachel’s second choice, Finding Neverland. Yes, I’ve seen it before.
You’ll remember me gushing about it a few posts ago. I was MORE than willing to
see it a second time around, so we purchased our tickets and went on our way.
We popped into a little restaurant right next to the TKTS
Booth called the Trading Post. The outside was decked out in Christmas décor
and it had a very old school feel. The interior was very nice, and looked newly
renovated. I assumed, given how close it is to the water, that it was flooded
during Hurricane Sandy and had to be fixed up after the storm. Nevertheless,
it’s quite charming and the food was delicious. Rach and I got two small plates
to split between us, pork belly sliders and lobster mac and cheese. Both were
absolutely yummy!!
Next, we took a walk down Wall St, where I showed Rachel the
New York Stock Exchange, the site where George Washington took his oath of
office, and the Trinity Church, which is seen in the National Treasure movie.
We then made our way towards the 9/11 memorial and museum. When we arrived, we
looked at the reflecting pools, before heading to the ticket lines. We realized
they were selling tickets for entry two hours later, so we decided to purchase
tickets for the following morning. Note to those who may be traveling here and
are interested in going: purchase your tickets in advance. J
Then, I decided to expose Rachel, who is a major lover of
bargain shopping, to the amazing department store, Century 21. I think I’ve
talked about it before, but just think TJ Maxx, but with better and more
designers and WAYYYY more stuff! It can be kind of overwhelming, but you can
find so many great things for some really fantastic prices. There’s one in the
Financial District and one on the Upper West Side, for those who may be
interested. (The FiDi one is MUCH larger!)
Once we were done perusing the store, we hopped on the
subway and emerged on 34th Street so Rachel could go to Macy’s! Now,
I’ve come to learn that while Macy’s is normally always crowded, it is even
MORE so at this time of the year. However, you have to see it! Outside the
store, there is the giant ‘Believe’ sign hanging in lights. The store windows
are decked out with animatronic characters from Yes, Virginia and The Peanuts
movies. The inside is also completely decorated, and if you head up to the 9th
floor, you can completely immerse yourself in Christmas! Anything you may need
to decorate your tree for Christmas, you can find up there! Once finished
there, we headed back to my place so we could get spruced up for the evening.
Rachel and I headed back out, took the subway one stop and
then took a stroll down Fifth Avenue to see all of the amazing Christmas window
displays. This is definitely a must for anyone in the city at Christmas time.
The big designer stores go all out with their lights and displays. Tiffany’s,
Harry Winston, Bvlgari, Bergdorf Goodmans, you name it! They’ve got something
for you to look at. This year however, the real winner of Fifth Avenue is, of
course, Saks Fifth Avenue. Their theme is Winter Palace, and while the window
displays are truly works of art, the lights on the side of the building are the
real crowd pleasers.
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Bloomingdale's has a very fancy photo machine where you can
take a festive photo, then download it online! |
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Oh, Harry Winston... |
We noticed the closer we got to Saks, the more congested the
sidewalks were getting. Then I noticed, they actually put barricades up along
the sidewalks to prevent people from standing in the street to watch the light
display. So there were a ton of people all crammed onto the sidewalk, trying to
get closer and closer to Saks. It was an absolutely MADHOUSE like nothing I
have ever experienced. Of course, it was kind of worth it…because the lights on
the side of the building perform a light show, synchronized to Carol of the
Bells. And it isn’t just your basic lights, they are in the shape of a giant
castle! It doesn’t sound like much, but it really is quite fantastic to see!
Even if you’re crammed between, like, ten people you don’t know and feeling
like your personal space is being extremely violated! (Going to try and post a video of this to my Facebook account soon!)
Once we finally squeezed our way out of the crowd, we found
ourselves right in Rockefeller Center, where we got a perfect glimpse of the
giant Christmas tree. A few days before, I watched the tree lighting from the
30th floor of 30 Rock, but this was my first time seeing it all lit
up at ground level. And IT. WAS. MAGICAL. Even if there are a disgusting amount
of people all around and they have to shut the roads down on either side to
have enough room for all of the foot traffic. It’s spectacular! It just really
feels like Christmastime when you’re looking at it!
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Rockefeller Center |
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Selfie with the tree! |
I obviously had to bring Rachel to my favorite pizza place,
John’s Pizzeria, where we had a delicious margarita pizza and a carafe of red
sangria. Then, we headed back towards the madness en route to Radio City Music
Hall, because we had tickets for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, starring
the Radio City Rockettes!!!! (I hope the exclamation points tell you how
excited I was!) I’ve always wanted to see the Christmas Spectacular and now I
was actually getting to! In New York! In Radio City Music Hall! The same place
where the Tony Awards take place every year, and so many music legends have
performed to sold out audiences!
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Magical! |
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Can we talk about that chandelier... |
After going through security, we made our way to our seats
and were absolutely ecstatic to find out they were REALLY GOOD seats! Having
browsed the Christmas Spectacular website, neither of us really liked the
prices, so we decided to try and figure out an alternative. We wanted good
seats, but we didn’t want to pay a whole lot of money. I decided to try
SeatGeek, because I’d recently used that site to get tickets to a Houston
Texans game. I stumbled upon some really good tickets for $60/piece in the
orchestra. After doing a little more research to try and figure out exactly
where those seats would be located in relation to the stage, I realized they
would be really good and we probably wouldn’t find anything that good for less
anywhere else so I purchased them. Let me tell you, they ended up being
phenomenal! A full view of the enormous stage and close enough that you could
see faces and details.
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Our view of the stage |
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Selfie in Radio City |
The show as a whole was quite…well…spectacular! It’s very
glitzy, and as Rachel put it, it really epitomizes that old Hollywood feel. Not
only does the venue contribute to that, but the songs that are sung throughout
the show just have a very showgirl feel. It’s a bit cheesy at times, but you
don’t really mind because it’s just so magical. The Rockettes were just as
amazing as I knew they would be and the live nativity scene at the end of the
show, with live animals, was incredible. If you’re in the city at
Christmastime, I would, again, say that this is a must!
The funniest part of the weekend perhaps, happened at the
show and will forever be known to Rachel and me as #RogueSnowflakeOf2k15. Let
me explain. There was one number where these five orbs came out of the pit and
floated over the audience. Inside the, what looked like clear beach balls, were
snowflakes. They hung over the audience for a bit and then flew back into the
pit. Now, I’m not 100% sure, but I think maybe they were remote control
operated. Anyway, the snowflake on the far left, and the one closest to us,
decided…it didn’t want to fly back into the pit like the other four snowflakes.
The curtain dropped so that the stage could be set for the next bit, and Santa
came out to narrate…but all Rachel and I could stare at was this snowflake.
Since it wouldn’t go back in the pit, it looked like they tried to fly it into
one of the wings…but alas, that didn’t work either. Then the snowflake started
drifting back into the audience and sort of over to the side on top of these
little bannisters where some of the performers would occasionally stand. At this
point, the live nativity had begun…but ALL we could stare at was what we now
affectionately call Rogue Snowflake. And we were CRACKING UP. We were trying to
be quiet, but it was hilarious. And became even funnier when we saw several
Radio City staffers head over to Rogue Snowflake to try and coax it off the
bannister. This lasted for about 10 minutes and I swear, it was one of the
funniest things I have ever seen. So, there you have it…the story of
#RogueSnowflakeOf2k15.
The next morning, we woke up and went straight to the 9/11
Museum. I won’t go into too much detail because I want to do a separate post
about this museum. It was an incredibly raw and emotional experience, but it
was extremely moving at the same time. I definitely recommend this to those
traveling to the city. Honestly, I would say it’s something that shouldn’t be
missed.
We planned to go to the New York High Line next, BUT…I made
a little mistake in my navigation and soon realized I’d put us on a subway to
Brooklyn…and by soon I mean like 3 or 4 stops into Brooklyn. Ooops. We hopped
off as soon as I realized it and walked around to the other side. Of course, we
ended up in a little bit of a sketchy area…but we made it back to Manhattan
just fine! Unfortunately, our little Brooklyn detour caused us to miss seeing
the High Line and instead we headed straight to the theater for our 3:00 PM
matinee performance.
I am happy to report that Rachel loved Finding Neverland
just as much as I hoped she would. And I, once again, sobbed like a baby for
the last 10 minutes of the show. As we were walking out, we saw this family and
the mom was still crying and her family was laughing at her. She looked at us
and said, “Did you guys cry?” Rachel and I were both just like, OMG yes we
sobbed like babies. The lady turned to her family and said “See! They cried
too! I’m not the only one!”
To lift our spirits, we popped into the Disney Store, and
then headed to Central Park to check out the ice skating rink. We’d thought
about skating, but after seeing the large number of people on the rink, and the
price, we decided to just observe for a bit. Once we’d had enough, we headed
off to one of my favorite little places, Serendipity. Rachel had never been
before, and I just feel that everyone should experience Serendipity at least
once! We had quite a bit of a wait, but we walked down to Bloomingdale’s and
browsed, before returning and just chit chatting until we got seated. We split
a classic Frozen Hot Chocolate, which is what they’re famous for, and it was as
delicious as ever. This lady outside had asked me if the long wait times were
really worth it, and I felt silly for saying yes…but…it really is worth it!
Once you’ve tasted it, you’ll understand.
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Wollman Rink in Central Park |
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Serendipity at Christmas |
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YUMMMM Frozen Hot Chocolate! |
Monday morning, unfortunately, I had to head to work, but
Rachel got to meet up with her sister again for breakfast before heading to the
airport for her flight. We said our see you soons, before I headed off to the
subway.
I’m so, so glad she got to come this weekend and we got to
experience New York at Christmastime together! It was definitely a fun weekend
and much needed girl time with one of my best friends!
Disclaimer: No selfie sticks were used in the taking of these selfies. We're so good, we don't need those contraptions.
Hope you’re all having a wonderful week!
XOXO,
Alex