So this weekend I decided that I would take on the Big Apple once again and see Times Square this time, and that's just what I did!
I got out the door at a pretty decent time for it being my lazy Sunday! I went to the train station close to our house and caught the train to Grand Central Station! Boy oh boy, I don't think I will ever want to drive into the city again after experiencing the easy and relaxing way of the train!
When I got to Grand Central, I walked outside and played a little guessing game of which way to walk...turns out, I was right! LOL! I found Rockefellar Center and where they tape The Today Show! They are building a stage outside of the RC right now because on wednesday there is a football game thing where they are having a concert outside! (Don't you love all the random info I get when I eavesdrop.)
Anyway, So I made my way to the NBC studio building in the Rockefellar Center and decided to do a studio tour!! I couldn't believe how cheap they were! THAT was awesome! The only thing that was a bummer was the fact they didn't allow cameras at all..BUT they did take a picture of each one of us sitting in Brian Williams' news chair..so of course I bought that! LOL!
They took us to the set of The Dr. Oz Show! That was neat, the stage was getting set up for me to start taping his new season and the way the chairs are arranged is pretty cool because of the camera angle it makes it look like on TV that people are all around him..Not true! The tricks of hollywood! LOL! Next they took us to the studio of The Late Night with Jimmy Fallon! WOW, I loved this part!! They showed us all the parts of the set that Jimmy had made with recycled things.. like his seats in the audience for instance, they are old Radio City Music Hall seats that have been cleaned! His gold shamrock on the center of the stage to mark where he gives his nightly monologue is the same place that Johnny Carson had his Silver Star to mark his spot.. and the cool thing is Johnny Carson is Jimmy's Idol, so he literally walks in the footsteps of his Idol everynight! Cool to be Jimmy, right?! LOL!!
Next the took us to the set of Saturday Night Live! The largest studio in the building of course! We got to see the main stage where the host comes out, the musical host stage and the semi permanent ones they use for the bigger skits.. Also, I found out that during the live broadcast of the show each set only takes 90 seconds to tear down when they are done with that segment!! Crazy right?!?!
After the tour was over I had a voucher for the "Top of the Rock" To go to the very top of the Rockefellar Center and see the city! It was AWESOME!!! The elevator to go up was cool in itself because we went up 70 floors in 37 seconds!! The top of the elevator turned into a movie screen and you could see up rushing to the top, while all the lights turned off and music blasted! LOL! Being at the top with all the buildings right there at eye level was amazing! I LOVE Heights tho, so I was right in the element! I took a self portrait of me with the city behind me and then I finally asked a nice lady to take a picture of me! :)
After that I realized that I had been so excited about the city that I hadn't eaten anything yet so I found a cute little cafe and had lunch and a coffee while I planned my next stop! It was finally time to see Times Square!
As I was walking trying to find the big billboards I saw this HUGE group of people gathering in the middle of the street and all of a sudden I turned the corner and there were like 6 blocks of white texts set up and little did I know, but I had stumbled upon "HAPPY BRAZIL DAY!" lol! Everyone was wearing Neon colors, brazil flags as clothes and some were wearing very little clothes at all! There was a stage at the end of the block so of course I followed the mob of people and started dancing in the street with them! :) I was bummed because I had JUST eaten and then there was all this fair type food with the street celebration!
I spent around a half hour watching people go wild in celebration of Brazil, even a guy with a HUGE snack around his shoulders dancing with people.. (Stay away from me, Sir!) When I felt like I had spent enough time with them I continued my walk to Times Square and man oh man was I speechless when I arrived at my destination!
It was EXACTLY what it looks like in the movies! People EVERYWHERE!! I got pictures of all the billboards, the buildings, the people and even some street performers and then my camera died, RIGHT before I finally saw the Naked Cowboy!! HOW sad do you think I was! LOL! I have decided that he is my first stop next time!
I spent around an hour in the square just watching people and walking up and down the stores and shops and I can honestly say it was like a dream I have had since I was a little girl seeing it for the first time in a movie...had come true!
I tried to find a spot in a few coffee shops to plug in my phone to charge it so I could go back out there and take pics, but after finding nothing but a couple cups of coffee (the starbucks' and other coffee places were too crowded with people for me to plug in) I decided to just go back to Grand Central and catch the train home!
My mom and I always joke around that I'm the Big City Girl of the family.. well, I think yesterday proved that to be true!!
SUMMER KAY BIG CITY GIRL! :)
Who knows what my next adventure will be, but I'm thinking Lady Liberty is calling my name! :)
New York will never be the same...Summer Kay in the big apple!!
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