Growing up we had a children's Christmas book that showed people ice skating beneath the glow of a giant Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center in New York. I've always wanted to go skating there at Christmas time and so for an early anniversary present Steve took me to New York to fulfill my childhood wish. It was as romantic and thrilling as I'd ever hoped it to be. We stayed with Steve's business partner and his family in gorgeous Summit, New Jersey, which is a very convenient train ride away from Manhattan.
Christmas shopping on Times Square and 5th avenue was so much fun! The Christmas window displays & bright lights were magical. My favorite stops were the giant Toys R Us, the Lego store, the M&M store, of course the American Girls' Place!
Another wish granted, I got to see Wicked on Broadway! Incredible, even if we had to cash in the kid's inheritance to afford the tickets.
We saw downtown, midtown and uptown by double decker tour bus, and learned a lot of history along the way. Our second site seeing day we took in the amazing Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the largest cathedral in the world. The stained glass and sculptures were stunning.
The traffic was so thick on a Saturday that it took us almost 2 hours to get from the museum area of town back down to Times Square. We had tickets for a harbor cruise at 4:00, and thought 2 hours would be plenty of time to travel the few blocks. We ended up running the four blocks from Times Square to the harbor and arrived just in time to see the boat disappear! So, the Lego Lady Liberty is the only one we got to see this trip. Good thing our friends invited us to stay with them again in the fall.
Saturday evening we attended a wonderful Christmas concert, held at the church located in the Manhattan Temple building, and went to church on Sunday with our friends in New Jersey. Can't wait to return!
