Totally worth the $199 (plus service charges)
After the show, now being so hungry, we (after being joined by our friend Carmen) we went out to some street vendors to try some genuine New York food. With so many recommendations to try "chicken and rice" we found some vendors and got some legit chicken and rice. Very good! The white sauce makes it taste soooo good. Foodies alert: go get some street chicken and rice. A plate is no more than $6 and is very filling. (I couldn't finish it in one sitting.)
Our second day had a pretty late start. With the flight and lots of walking and carrying luggage around, and going to bed pretty late, we were all pretty tired. We left the hotel around 10 am, and the first place we headed out to was... Breakfast at Tiffany's! We grabbed some coffee (ou breakfast for the day) and went to the Tiffany store on 5th Avenue.
T for Tiffany!
Asian Audrey
Recreating a scene from the movie?
On 5th Avenue, there was so much to see. If you are a shopper or someone who likes windowshopping, you will definitely enjoy 5th Avenue. All high-end brand names are present.
Trump Tower is open to the public! We wondered if Donald would show up.
Gucci: spelled like "yucky" but with a "g" instead of the "y"
Louie likes the vuitton
Bergdorf for some good men
There is even a high-end toy shop: FAO Schartz. Very high-end toys. If you wactched the movie "Big" starring Tom Hanks, you will remember the piano key scene. (He plays a keyboard that is laid out on the floor by using his feet and cleverly jumping on the keys.) Well, such a keyboard is available! I cannot recall if the film was actually filmed in the store,but recreating the scene is possible. I tried, but some of the keys were stuck (possibly from having been stomped on so much). The store has so much to see. This is not just for kids. I found this to be so exciting.
The big piano on sale!
You can actually play on it... and it's free!
So many legos!
The best superhero....and his sidekick!
This was a collection of disney art. Apparently it is the only gallery with artwork from the Disney archives. These originals would be very hard to come by. There was even a piece (with the Disney castle and Tinkerbell flying around it) on sale for over $10,000!
Kids love their toys, but they also love their sweets....
... and their candy.....
... and chocolate and colas ^^
There is even a station where you can MAKE YOUR OWN muppets! This is the only place in the world where you can do something like this.
We even got to see the Plaza Hotel. If you ever watched "Home Alone 2" you would understand the sentiment this hotel has ^^
After the toy shop, we went to the Met. It was such a beautiful place. Rather than ust buying tickets, we purchased city passes.
This is a booklet that costs $109, but I think it is worth it. With this, you get access to 6 of the main attractions within the city. (The Met alone costs a RECOMMENDED price of $25.) With other museums and other attractions available to you, this would be a good deal.
The Met was just gorgeous. The building is located in Central Park, so you have all this culture in the middle of nature.
The museum is HUGE! We spent a few hours walking around and looking at multiple exhibits (Egyptian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, and European) but I could have spent an entire day (possibly more) there. If you are planning on going to the Met, I urge you to give yourself ample time. If you are really interested in the exhibits, an hour (even three) is not enough.
(Also, I did not take very many pictures in the museum because I was enjoying the art pieces and therefore did not have time to take pictures. Sorry I can't share them with you....)
After the Met, we took the bus down Central Park (which provided a beautiful green scenary, which was much needed after a day and a half of just buildings) and got to Rockefeller Center. Going back to my "Home Alone 2" reference, this was a place I wanted to visit as a child. Just like Keven from the movie, I wanted to climb to the top of the Rock and take pictures of the city.... which we got to do today!
There it is! The Rockefeller Center!
During Christmas time, there is the beautiful Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in this spot. However, during the rest of the year, there are other fun displays, like this split cow!
Our tickets (which we traded a coupon from our city pass booklets for) to go to the Top of the Rock!
Before we went up to the top, we were pretty hungry (since we hadn't eaten all day). So we went to Tri Tip Grill, a restaurant/meat place inside Rocekfeller Center.
That is a delicious Big Buck Sandwhich, made up of medium rare tri tip.
Sooo delicious!
After eating, we made it to the top! (40 seconds to get up 65 stories!) Then we walked up two extra flights of stairs to get to the VERY top.
This is the view of the Empire State Building from the Rockefeller Center.
Look at how big Central Park is!
After Rockefeller Center, it was time for me and Ivana to leave for our second musical: Phantom of the Opera. Similar to Les Mis, this is a musical that I've loved for a very long time. I saw the production at Las Vegas a few times, but how often do you get to say that you saw a production on Broadway? (Plus, this cast, particularly the lead male and female) are just phenomenal- Norm Lewis and Sierra Boggess had a wonderful performance.
Our seats for Phantom weren't as close as our seats for Les Mis, but they were still within the first 10 rows ^^
After the show came dessert. All five of us (Carmen, Ivana, Angie, Ellen, and I), as tourists, were obligated to go to Serendipity. If you have ever seen the movies "Serendipity" or "One Fine Day" you have seen this dessert place before. It was a cute place, with some bomb dessert. I must admit that the prices can get pretty high. (Also, be warned: there is a MINIMUM spending limit of $8.50 PER PERSON. So they pretty much force you to spend even more money.) But we took it as "When on vacation" and decided to stay for dessert.
If you don't keep a lookout, it can be missed.
That would be the oh so yummy Frozen Hot Chocolate
Seriously, so yummy.
Bon Appetit!
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