The Trip of a Lifetime in New York City!: Day 3: Rockefeller Center!

Hey!!

So time for Day 3 of my New York City Dream Trip!  It was time to continue the bucket list!  So of to Rockefeller Center we went!

Day 3: Friday March 29th, 2019:

We woke up that morning, found a little french bakery near our hotel, ate a Pain Au Chocolat croissant; and then made our way to Rockefeller Center!

On our way I totally fan grilled, because guess what I saw??...

The Simon and Schuster offices

A day later Deb Caletti was there!  I saw it on her Instagram page!  I just can't imagine how many of favorite authors have walked through those doors!

I seriously enjoyed walking the city, and getting around, because there was so much to see!  My fingers were constantly pointing out locations in awe.  My husband, not really caring about celebrities and movies set, etc.  wasn't really the person to get excited about this, but he really tried!  He loved seeing me this excited and happy!  Something he probably hasn't been able to see in the last couple of years.  

So much was happening while we were in New York City!  The Game of Thrones premiere happened a couple of days after we went to Rockefeller Center!  We aren't fans of the show, but still pretty neat that the actual throne and stars were a few blocks over from our hotel for the final season premiere party!  Younger was literally being filmed a block away from our hotel one of our days!  I tried to convince my husband to let us check it out, but even I talked myself out of it, because there was just sooo much to see with so little time!  And then we were also less than a block away from the Good Morning America set.  The week and a half we were there celebrities such as Kate Hudson, Hugh Jackman, Drew Barrymore, and country singer Brad Paisley with his wife Kim Paisley, were all there!  Right across the street from us pretty much!  It was insane!  Never saw any of them, but having been a fairly big celebrity seeker when I was younger, fourteen year old me was freaking the heck out!

Anyway...once we got to the actual building, and I was taking in my surroundings...

Front of the entrance

Radio City Music Hall (my selfie game is seriously lacking!)

1250 Avenue of the Americas is the official street address, but we all know it as 30 Rockefeller Plaza!

Before we left I had gotten us reserved tickets to participate in the NBC tour at Rockefeller.  Saturday Night Live was a HUGE source of entertainment for me my first couple of years at City College while I sat in the library between classes, and ran out of pages of whatever book I was reading.  So Hulu (when it was still mostly free!) became my best friend.  There I started watching Saturday Night Live!   I was really excited for the tour, because we would be hopefully able to see the set, but it was also the day before air night, so there was a good chance rehearsals would be going on!

Our tour didn't begin until 1:20pm, so we had some time in the morning to check things out.  So before it was time for the tour, we got to go on The Top of Rock; which is the Rockefeller Observatory.

Our Tickets!

30 Rock is the 22nd tallest building in New York City and 47th tallest in the United States (according to Wikipedia.  We went all the way to the 70th floor to get to the outside observation deck.  And I have to tell, people are right, to get some of the best views including the Empire State Building and the Freedom Tower, Top of the Rock has some of the most amazing views I have ever seen!  We got to see our first glimpses of Central Park too (but more on Central Park later!)

Empire State Building with the Freedom Tower in the way back

I just couldn't get enough of the skyline views of the city!  Such a dream come true, to see them in real life, after seeing them my whole life on TV, in pictures, and movies!

After the observatory, we made our way back down for the NBC Tour!

Entrance for the tour

We picked up our tickets in the NBC store, where I had to stop myself from buying shirts from some of my favorite shows (Friends, 30 Rock, Jimmy Fallon, and Saturday Night Live!).

Before we knew it, it was 1:20pm, and time for our tour!

Us inside the screening room before the tour started to see a short intro video

Our Souvenir pins we got to keep from the tour.  We had to wear these while we were behind the scenes, to show we could be there.

So unfortunately, we weren't actually allowed to take pictures while on the tour...which yes was serious disappointment.  But we got to see some incredible things!

Sandra Oh (from Grey's Anatomy and of course Principal Gupta in Princess Diaries: The Movie!) was that week's guest.  We didn't get to see her, but we did see the set from an inside window up above, and we some them getting the sets ready.   And I swear I saw the tinies glimpse of Aidy Bryant (also in the new Hulu show Shrill, for which I just read the book (Review Here)  Review of the show might be coming later, I watched it a couple of weeks ago).  Since Jimmy Fallon was on vacation that week, his set was open, and we got to go inside and see what he sits every night and where his band The Roots plays.  The set was surprisingly smaller and a lot closer together than it appears on TV!

We got to see walk through the hallways where so many incredible people have walked through.  

And then to end our tour we got to make our very own Talk Show video!  My husband and I are not on screen people, so decided to play the "Cameraman Roll".  

If you want to see the video, I shared it on Twitter!

The tour was a lot of fun, but all good things must come to an end!

Afterwards, it was time to explore more of the Rockefeller Center, and the surrounding area.

We ended up getting a really fun surprise!  I had learned that the Rockefeller ice rink closes every winter Mid March, so we were expecting to be able to see it.  But guess what??  

It was still open!!!

The Rockefeller Ice Rink

I look so happy!!

Back in November when I was still putting the finishing touches on our trip, I found out that FAO Schwarz had reopened, but at Rockefeller Center!  I have wanted to go to that toy since seeing Home Alone at a young age.  I know the toy shop in Home Alone isn't actually FAO Schwarz, but I always thought it was!  Plus who doesn't love the movie Big??

FAO Schwarz was cute, but I imagine the original one was so AMAZING!  This new store, while charming, has been overly commercialized, and it felt like a dance club, because they were playing music that just doesn't fit in with a classic children's toy shop vibe.  But none the less, it was cute, and fun, and we ended up buying an original Steiff Stuffed Animal bunny for my mother-in-law.  

After leaving Rockefeller center, we decided to explore further nearby, because 5th Avenue is one of the streets Rockefeller sits on, and the window shopping there is supposed to be amazing!

While we didn't get to see many windows made up, because we hit the time of year that they are renovating a lot to get ready for the Spring and Summer crowds, we still got to do a lot of site seeing!

I saw the Plaza Hotel for the first time!! (more on that later!)

We saw some insane high-end retail shops, like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior, Dolce & Gabbanna (all places WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY out of our price range!).  But there was one place I wanted to set foot in...

Tiffany's!

727 5th Ave.  The Flagship store from Breakfast at Tiffany's and Sweet Home Alabama

While I had debating with myself, because I had saved some extra money for this trip to buy it, I was really on the fence, about whether to spend the money or buy multiple smaller things on the trip.  But since the 9th grade, I have wanted a Return to Tiffany's Bracelet.  There is just something about that bracelet that I have always loved.  

I had just made the decision to not get it, and then my husband did something insane!  He took me to the fourth floor (where they keep the classic silver jewelry) and took me to the counter to pick up my bracelet..... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

We got it engraved while we were there too.  So I get to not only have the bracelet remembering all these incredible memories, but I also have it engraved with something very special and dear to my heart.

I wore the bracelet throughout the trip, so photos will come later of the bracelet! 

After exploring the city a bit more, I got to hail my first cab ride!  

And you guys!! It was just like the movies!!  I got to the edge of the curb, waved my arm out, and hailed a freaking cab!!  I felt like such a natural! 

On our way back to the hotel, I got to see Carnegie Hall.  Back when I was in high school, I was in Choir every year from 7th until 12th grade.  When I was in 10th grade, back in Spring of 2007, we got the opportunity to sing at Carnegie Hall and spend four days in NYC.  I was one three people in my class who couldn't go.  The trip was just way too expensive.  I have always regretted not getting the chance to sing into Carnegie; but I'm also now feeling so incredibly blessed that I waited to see the city the way I did the first time with the love of my life. 💖

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

We were tired when we got back to the hotel, so we did another night of pizza in the room; and called it a day...

So much more to come!!

Up next: Shopping In NYC!!

The Romance Bookie :)