Another busy day today!
After a good night's rest, we started at 9 AM with a guided tour of the NBC studios at Rockefeller center and Radio City Music Hall. We saw where Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Newsroom, MSNBC and other shows are filmed, and some of us even got to give the weather report using green screen technology.
For lunch we stopped into a deli that had lots of great options, so everyone got something they liked before we headed back to Times Square to shop and sight-see before our matinee performance of The Lion King began. The show was AWESOME--amazing puppetry, singing, sets, and dancing. It was very different than West Side Story, so we're happy to have seen various facets of "Broadway" during our short time here.
After the show we hung out in the lobby, admiring the hustle and bustle of Times Square through its windows before making the short walk over to Bubba Gump Shrimp for dinner. We had to wait outside for a few minutes and it was cold, but that made it feel even better once we finally got seated. No surprise as to what most of us had for dinner: SHRIMP! We took our time, enjoying the friendly service and each others' company. After we polished off our ice cream sundaes it was time to walk back out into Times Square and make our way (singing all the way) toward our final event of the night: the Top of the Rock Observation Deck.
Seventy-three stories high, the observation deck sits atop Rockefeller Center and boasts incredible views. From it you can see three states: New Jersey, Connecticut, and, of course, New York. The night lights were fabulous, and the kids had a great time exploring all three floors of the observation deck (they also got a kick out of this very cool 'light room' up there that made you feel like you were inside a video game). In addition to the stunning views, it's also remarkable how quiet it is up there given how noisy the streets can be.
Once we all gathered back on the earth's surface, it was time to head home. There's one experience that's central to being in New York, though, that the kids hadn't yet had: riding in a taxi. Some students decided they'd like to give it a try so we hailed a cab to zip us home, weaving and honking through traffic the whole way (short as it was). Back at the hotel there was a surprise waiting for us: Jake and John Paul (Fel) Metsa from Cook were there to greet us. The Mesta boys live in New York most of the year, working on various film and photography projects. It was nice to have a little bit of home here in the city, and we'll look forward to seeing them back in Cook when they're home this summer.
Hard to believe tomorrow is our last day! We have to get to bed so we can be bright eyed and bushy tailed at 7 AM to head over to The Today Show. Keep your eyes peeled--hopefully we'll make it on camera!
Another busy day today!
For lunch we stopped into a deli that had lots of great options, so everyone got something they liked before we headed back to Times Square to shop and sight-see before our matinee performance of The Lion King began. The show was AWESOME--amazing puppetry, singing, sets, and dancing. It was very different than West Side Story, so we're happy to have seen various facets of "Broadway" during our short time here.
After the show we hung out in the lobby, admiring the hustle and bustle of Times Square through its windows before making the short walk over to Bubba Gump Shrimp for dinner. We had to wait outside for a few minutes and it was cold, but that made it feel even better once we finally got seated. No surprise as to what most of us had for dinner: SHRIMP! We took our time, enjoying the friendly service and each others' company. After we polished off our ice cream sundaes it was time to walk back out into Times Square and make our way (singing all the way) toward our final event of the night: the Top of the Rock Observation Deck.
Seventy-three stories high, the observation deck sits atop Rockefeller Center and boasts incredible views. From it you can see three states: New Jersey, Connecticut, and, of course, New York. The night lights were fabulous, and the kids had a great time exploring all three floors of the observation deck (they also got a kick out of this very cool 'light room' up there that made you feel like you were inside a video game). In addition to the stunning views, it's also remarkable how quiet it is up there given how noisy the streets can be.
Once we all gathered back on the earth's surface, it was time to head home. There's one experience that's central to being in New York, though, that the kids hadn't yet had: riding in a taxi. Some students decided they'd like to give it a try so we hailed a cab to zip us home, weaving and honking through traffic the whole way (short as it was). Back at the hotel there was a surprise waiting for us: Jake and John Paul (Fel) Metsa from Cook were there to greet us. The Mesta boys live in New York most of the year, working on various film and photography projects. It was nice to have a little bit of home here in the city, and we'll look forward to seeing them back in Cook when they're home this summer.
Hard to believe tomorrow is our last day! We have to get to bed so we can be bright eyed and bushy tailed at 7 AM to head over to The Today Show. Keep your eyes peeled--hopefully we'll make it on camera!
Thankfully we had time to walk back to the hotel, drop our bags and change our clothes before heading back out to a GIGANTIC Italian, family-style dinner at Carmines before seeing West Side Story. The walk from the restaurant to the theatre was only three blocks but there were thousands of people on the street on this busy Saturday night! We had to stick close to get through the crowds together, but we all made it to the theatre in one piece and in time for the show. The show was lovely and we're all excited to see more Broadway tomorrow with The Lion King. We didn't get back to the hotel until 11 PM, but everyone hit the sack in order to get a good night's rest before another big day tomorrow.
Today the group traveled safely to NYC in time to grab lunch at Grand Central Station. After that we enjoyed a drive around Manhattan's Upper West and East Sides in our lovely charter bus, stopping to wander into Central Park as well as check out Trump Tower, FAO Schwartz, and Tiffanys.
After checking into the hotel we walked over to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and undertook a scavenger hunt (congrats to Amy's team for winning!) after standing in a line around the block to get in for Free Fridays. 
By the time we were done looking at tons of cool art at MoMA (including Picassos, Dalis, Van Goghs, Warhols, Cezannes, and Matisses) we were all ready to eat, but we had to trudge through some rain to get to The Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square. We enjoyed grazing on burgers and salads while gazing at legendary rock memorabilia such as James Brown and Jimi Hendrix's performance suits and Janis Joplin's pants (and bought some Hard Rock Cafe souvenirs ourselves). 
After fueling up we had to walk back to our hotel, which wasn't too far but by this time the rain had really started to come down! By the time we got back to the hotel, we were pretty soaked but that made being in for the night all the more pleasant. We're all tired, but happy to be here and looking forward to another busy day tomorrow. Stay tuned!
