New York City: Part 4 - Dancing Ladies, Big Pianos, and Justin Timberlake

On our last day of the trip to NYC, we got to take a tour of Radio City Music Hall.  It was one of my favorite things on the whole trip.

Radio City Music Hall has been fully restored to it's original Art Deco beauty.  The lighting was beautiful.  I loved hearing of the theatre's history. 

 Seeing the actual theatre was so exciting.  Having watched Annie a million times as a kid, I couldn't believe I was actually in the same theatre that Annie had been in years ago. 

 This man was putting thin sheets of metal leaf on one at a time.  The restoration and upkeep is non-stop, our tourguide said.

 Not ever tour group gets to go on stage because they usually have a props and other things set out for a production.  We lucked out and there wasn't a production being held at the theatre when we visited.  I stood there on stage realizing that I was standing on the same stage that Neil Patrick Harris stood on when he hosted the Tony Awards.  How cool is that?!! 

 A cheesy picture to prove Jon and I were there. 

 These are the hydrolics under the stage!  They were huge and it didn't seem possible that they all fit under that skuffed black stage.

The view from the balcony...

 Okay, I should probably admit something to everyone right now.  I have a bit of a crush on Justin Timberlake.  I was never into boy bands but his sketches on Saturday Night Live made me an instant fan. 

We got to visit with a Rockette. 

 Here are some of the headless Rockettes. Oops, nope... just the costumes.

After the tour, we were turned loose on 5th Avenue for some shopping and lunch.  

Look at those trees growing about 30 stories up!

We had lunch at The Green Cafe.  It was a crazy restaurant where you shouted your order to a server behind the counter and then hoped they heard you.

 I got the burger (minus the bun since the chef/server looked at me like I was really annoying him when I asked if the bun contained dairy) and fries.  It wasn't great.  It was probably the worst meal of the trip. 

 Jon got a quesadilla of some sort and chips and salsa.  He said it was edible but that was about it. 

Here we are with the group of kids we walked around with that afternoon.  Have I told you how awesome the kids were on the trip? 

Next we went to F.A.O. Swarz.  It was huge, for sure, but not as towering or impressive as I had imagined.  I think I've watched too many movies featuring huge toy stores and my expectations were too high. 

 The candy section was pretty great though.  I got huge candy dots for the kids and Jelly Bellies for me.

 As you ride up the escalator, there are lots of huge stuffed animals on ledges.  They're for sale too if you have $500-$1,500. 

 Here is the view of the downstairs from the top of the escalator.

 They have a whole section for doll houses and anything you could ever want to put inside.

 Jon liked the little train display.

 The Statue of Liberty made out of Legos.

There it is!!! The piano from "Big" (one of my all time favorite movies, btw).  It's not in the floor like it was in the movie.  It's in it's own little room and you have to wait in like for a while to play it. 

 After walking around 5th Ave. for a while, we walked toward Central Park to rest and wait for the entire group to meet up again.  Here is The Plaza Hotel.  It's the hotel where Home Alone 2 was filmed. 

 It's impressive and beautiful.

We sat by the fountain and enjoyed the warm sunshine. 


We will now have a brief intermission while Jon takes pictures of every theatre possible as we walked through the theatre district on our way to Hell's Kitchen for dinner.

Now if you'll all take your seat, the show will resume.

We were walking down the street in Hell's Kitchen, looking for the perfect restaurant for our last NYC meal when who did I see?  Scarlett Johansson!!! Yes, that Scarlett Johansson!  She was walking down the street with sunglasses on, eating ice cream from a little cup.... just like any other New Yorker.  That's one of the really neat things about NYC.  The celebrities walk around just like normal people. I realize they are normal people but ... you know what I mean.  I didn't stop to ask her for an autograph because it took me a second to be able to even tell Jon who had just walked by us on the street.  I also figured she didn't want to be acausted on the street by tourists. 

After walking up and down the streets in Hell's Kitchen, we decided to eat dinner at Southern Hospitality.  My picture of the outside of the restaurant won't load so I'll have to settle with a picture of the inside.

 Guess what I found out while talking to the waitress.  Southern Hospitality is Justin Timberlake's restaurant!  It must have been fate that brought us to his restaurant... or the smell of bbq that wafted from the door. 

 Jon got the bbq pulled pork and double fries.

I got the burger and the sweet potato fries.  Next time Justin needs to be sure to stock buns without dairy.  I guess he didn't know I was going to be there since he was in L.A. while we were visiting.
The meal was great! Definitely one of our top meals while we were there. 
Man, now I really want some sweet potato fries....


After dinner we had to head back to Times Square (boooo....) where we'd meet up with the group. 
We hadn't been in any stores on Times Square so we decided to go into the M&M store.  We walked into a loud, crowded store that is pumped full of artifical chocolate smell.  With all that chocolate, I wasn't sure why they used fake chocolate smell.  And being a chocolate expert, I can smell a fake from a mile away. 

That is one big wall of M&M's.

Here's the view from the second floor.  Yes, there's a second floor... but get this.. there's even a third floor.  Three floors of anything and everything you could possibly stick an M&M face on.  Jon and I walked through quickly and were out of there in about 5 minutes flat. 

Luckily it was then time to find The Shubert Theatre to go see Memphis. 

 The theatre was the smallest of those we saw that week but it was still beautiful.

We were up pretty high and I had a pole in my view but that didn't ruin the experience.  Memphis was my favorite musical that we saw that week.  The musical talent was amazing.  It was a moving musical and many of the teachers and students were in tears at times.  It was a great way to end a great few days.

We rode home on the bus through the night.  I had gotten pretty good at scrunching up in the bus seat to sleep. 

 Jon was cozy.

I had snacks, a blanket, and knitting so I was happy.

It was such a fantastic trip.  I am definitely a small town girl even though I did have fun in the big city.  We're taking another group of high schoolers back to NYC in about 4 years.  I think I'll be ready for the big city again by then.