*I thought I already published this post, but realized today that I had not. So sorry! *
On December 13th, I met my grandmother (Nana) and a civic theater group from her city at La Guardia airport in New York. I flew from Montgomery to Atlanta, then from Atlanta to New York earlier that day to arrive prior to her group. We then took a charter bus from the airport to 2 Times Square-- the address of the Renaissance New York hotel between 47th and 48th streets. My Nana's civic theater has a great program that arranges Broadway trips two or three times a year. This was my fourth time getting to come on one of the trips (I had previously been in April 2002, June 2006, and June 2008), but this was my first time coming in December. The April and June trips typically start on a Wednesday and end on a Sunday and include three plays (and more can be added if someone wants), but the December trip is a bit shorter-- from a Thursday through Sunday and includes two plays (to include the Rockettes if you so choose). Which we did. We planned to see the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular and the Broadway musical Anastasia.
I was SO PUMPED! I had taken a backstage pass tour of Radio City Musical Hall in 2008 and LOVED every minute of it!!! I especially enjoyed seeing where the live animals stay during the Christmas programs, and I thoroughly enjoyed looking into the apartment there and seeing a picture of Judy Garland sitting in one of the chairs around the dining table! So cool! Our tour guide told us that while the Christmas programs are going on, the live animals are taken out either late at night or very early in the morning for a walk around the block. I thought that would be so cool to see a camel walking around a Manhattan block in December! Spoiler alert: I did not get up early enough nor stay up late enough to see the animals walk around the block, but seeing them on stage during the show was just as fun. :)
On Thursday night after we arrived at the hotel, we scurried up to our room, I did my typical opening of the curtains and taking in the view, and then we hurried back downstairs to head to the restaurant for a group dinner. This is the only group meal of the trip, and it's at a wonderful Italian restaurant just a block and a half from the hotel. It was cold and a bit rainy, but our pasta dishes warmed us right up! I had the Chicken Farfalle and Nana had the Veal Scallopine (I think I'm remembering that right). Oh it was so good! But I got full so fast that I couldn't enjoy my tiramisu and forgot to even think of asking for a to-go container. After dinner, Nana and I walked to the Rockefeller tree. I had seen it once before (in 2009), but Nana hadn't seen it at night. It was crowded, but we stayed across the street from the tree and managed to get a selfie!
We headed back to the hotel and I think I fell asleep before Nana did. This might have happened every night. :)
The next morning, I spotted a garbage truck out the hotel window and got a few photos and video of it for Noah. Then we went to a Duane Reade's to grab a quick breakfast and some Aleve for me. Around 9:30ish, we headed to Radio City to stand in line for the Rockettes. Our performance was at 11:00 and people were already lining up! We passed the Rockefeller tree and I got a picture of it in the daytime to send to my boys. This
is the Home Alone 2 tree, after all. :)
The Christmas Spectacular was WONDERFUL! I'd go see it every year if I could. My older brother says he wants to take his wife to a Broadway play someday, which he
should, but I told him this morning that he
must take her to the Rockettes! My sister-in-law was a dancer and even danced in the Auburn University Marching Band, so I know she'd just love the Rockettes!!! We had excellent seats, which is such a perk of taking a trip that is planned through Nana's civic theater. The leader of that program is just phenomenal at what she does. She saw "To Kill A Mockingbird," and Jeff Daniels was playing Atticus Finch!!! I wanted to ask her what she thought of it, but didn't get a chance to do so.
After a quick lunch, we hopped on the Subway and went down to the World Trade Center where we met up with my blogger/real life friend,
Stephanie! She works for the museum and graciously gave us two tickets and led us through the security line. It was
such a blessing to meet up with her! She gave us a tour of the museum and explained specific areas to us and then let us peruse at our own pace afterwards. Without her help, we would most certainly have been overwhelmed. The museum is so fantastically curated and I highly recommend it to anyone passing through Manhattan.
After the museum trip, we headed back uptown via the subway to see the window display at Macy's. We then took the subway back up to the stop where our hotel was and went to Applebee's for dinner. In the hotel, after calling my kiddos and turning on The Santa Clause, I promptly fell asleep first. Again. :)
On Saturday morning, we headed to Starbucks for a danish and a cup of coffee. We then did some souvenir shopping in Times Square. Noah wanted a New York City police car, which I found along with a New York City school bus with a real stop sign and opening door. Michael wanted "any random toy" that I could find :), so I got him a New York City license plate keychain that said Mario, and later I found him a diecast Air Force One that I could say was Trump's airplane. :) For Aaron, I got a MAGA hat and a Trump bobble head (and of course, he was wearing a MAGA hat as well). :) I got my younger brother a New York hat since he is pretty easy going and didn't really ask me for anything but would be appreciative of whatever I got for him. I got my mom and my mother-in-law both a New York Christmas ornament as a Thank you for watching my kids so that I could take this trip. These gifts were accrued on either Saturday morning or Sunday morning.
On Saturday around 10:00, Nana settled in with her book and an HGTV show and I hopped on the subway to head down to Battery Park to meet one of my best friends who was taking the train in from New Jersey to spend the day with me! I was able to take the same route that Nana and I took the previous day to meet up with Stephanie. I was so glad that I had done this route already and could act like I knew what I was doing. :)
Caitlin and I have been friends since college, and I met her fiancee two years ago when I surprised Caitlin for her birthday with a quick visit. I met up with Caitlin and Vinny in the Oculus near the Christmas decorations in the middle of the open area. We got on a subway from there and got off near Chelsea Market around 14th street. After wandering around there and getting Vinny some coffee, we walked to Canal Street, stopped for a quick cup of coffee at a fantastic hole-in-the-wall place, then walked all through ChinaTown, past the Bowery, and then up to Broom Street for Little Italy. Vinny and I were almost dead with hunger by this point, so we stopped for pizza because what else would we eat while in Little Italy? We ordered two pies-- one margherita pizza and one calabrese pizza. Both were phenomenal. We stopped in an ornament shop then walked up to Greenwich Village. We walked through Washington Square Park and thought we might get to see a piano performance, but we got there just in time for the break. We saw the Washington Square Park tree, then walked past some brownstones (are they still called that if we're not on the upper sides of Manhattan? I don't know). Anyway, I thought I took a picture of one of the homes (so super cute and cozy with its Christmas tree in the window!) but I guess I didn't really get the picture because I couldn't find it later when scrolling through my photos. I was planning to tell my boys that it was the booby trap house from Home Alone. Oh well. From here we caught a subway to 42nd street. We actually exited the station on 44th street which was nice because it allowed me to see where the theater was that Nana and I would be going to later that evening. Caitlin, Vinny, and I battled the INSANE crowds from 44th street through 48th street. Saturday night in Times Square. Yikers. I wasn't surprised, but also knew that Nana and I would probably want to walk over to 8th avenue and then down to 44th street to avoid some of this Times Square chaos. Vinny and Caitlin dropped me off at the hotel, then they continued on to the Rockefeller tree. I kind of wanted to go with them, but I was so tired and had a time in mind for when I wanted to be back at the hotel, and I was creeping up on that time frame. I also thought Caitlin and Vinny might want to see the tree by themselves, you know, for those romantic & sentimental moments. I mean, who really wants to say "The first time I saw the Rockefeller tree was with my fiancee.... oh, and her best friend." :)
I headed up to the hotel room and recapped my day to Nana. I quickly got dressed into Broadway appropriate clothes, and for dinner we ate the leftovers from our lunch the previous day. We headed out to the show around 6:45. We were probably the 10th people in line and we stood in line until 7:30. I was glad we got there when we did. Our seats were excellent, but goodness gracious, the staircases in this theater were steep! We made it just fine, and the show was fantastic! It was a good blend of songs from the animated movie, plus new songs and a slightly different story line. I really enjoyed myself!
After the play, we headed back to the hotel via our alternate route. I was happy to avoid being squished against strangers. :) That night, some hotel neighbors thought it was the perfect opportunity to play all of the popular songs from the early 2000's, while screaming, off-key singing, and dancing/jumping (not so well) to the beat. I was just about to call down to the front desk to ask when it was appropriate for them to give a courtesy call to the room and ask them to quiet down, when a loud crash was heard, then the words "Are you okay?," then an opening of a door, some muffled words, and then complete silence. I'm sure I fell asleep within 10 seconds of the silence.
The next morning, after a Starbucks breakfast, I ran to get the last of the souvenirs and also grabbed a slice of chocolate mousse and cheesecake (with a hot chocolate for Nana). We packed up, checked out, then waited with our group for the bus. Fortunately, my gate and Nana's gates were right next to each other and we got to visit a little bit until we started the boarding process.
On my flight, I was scheduled to have the window seat, but was fully prepared to ask whoever had the aisle seat if they would trade with me since my layover in Atlanta was only 42 minutes. Lots of blessings were about to happen. Someone was sitting in my seat, but I asked him if he was supposed to have the aisle and he said yes. I asked if I could keep the aisle seat and he agreed! Then our pilot was super efficient and got us into Atlanta an entire 30 minutes early! This gave me the cushion I needed to grab my overhead bag quickly, then race off the plane (and when I say race, I mean walk as quickly as I could from row 21), and then catch the tram to the clear opposite side of the airport so that I could board the little plane into Montgomery. I made it in plenty of time, ate a granola bar, and was happy to be at my gate with time to spare. I made it into Montgomery before Aaron arrived, so I was able to leisurely sit at their airport tree and wait for my family. He brought all the kids with him and it was so nice to be back home with my little squishy ones!
I unpacked that night and handed out souvenirs. I went to sleep without the sound of sirens or noisy neighbors. I do love the Big Apple, but I can surely appreciate my little country town life. :)
Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba
