New York City: Easter celebrations and Rockefeller Center

Our last day in NYC was a fun one (and a lot warmer!). We took the PATH to 9^th St. and walked down to Soho to go to the Scholastic Store. It was a bit further walk than we had anticipated, but let us see another part of the city. A late morning snack at a vendor cart added to the authentic New York experience. No New York hot dogs, though, (unless you count a corn dog), which is surprising now that I think on it, since Bob had said (possibly jokingly) that getting some NY street meat was on his bucket list. 

The Scholastic Store was celebrating Easter, and the kids listened to a book reading and Lily had her picture with Clifford (the big red dog) and then decorated an Easter egg. Morgan was content to read books and then watch the Magic School bus episode that was on the TV in the kids area. Books (and bookstores) are always a hit with my family, no matter where we are.  

Once the kids had their fill of the bookstore we hopped the subway up to Rockefeller Center, where we spent the rest of the day (The subway gets a lot easier to use when you understand that Uptown is North and Downtown is South. Also, people were really helpful in pointing us in the right direction when we got confused.). 

During April, 250 Faberge eggs get hidden around the city and just before Easter these eggs are brought to Rockefeller Center and put on display. We saw them being unpacked when we were there on Thursday eve. Now we got to see them up close. Eggy art in so many colors, shapes and permutations, it was Easter egg magic!

A bit of lunch beside the fountain was followed by a skate at the rink. The kids & I skated while Bob sat on the sidelines taking pictures. It was so much fun! I've been feeling the lack of familiar winter sports this year, and this satisfied that (guess you can take the girl away from winter, but you can’t take winter fun from her heart).

The lack of practice didn't seem to have affected any of us, and I was quite proud to see how well the kids were doing.  Lily even learned how to do some easy spins, and Morgan was getting quite speedy (although he was mad that I wouldn't hold his hand all the time).

We were thoroughly worn out by the time our hour and a half time slot was up. Our friends caught up with us just as we were finishing, and after a quick breather we took the kids to Nintendo World just down the street from the rink. While they liked it, they weren't actually into the games as much as I thought they'd be.

That was okay, as there was one more activity planned: a trip to the Top of The Rock. At our allotted time of 5:20 we hopped on the elevator and rode up 67 floors to the Observation deck. From there we had an awesome view of New York & surrounding area. By walking around the whole deck we could see in every direction. 

No clue what this face is for!

Thick glass panels kept us safe, and kept the wind off, but it did make it hard to get a good picture. Bob & Lily looked through one of the view finders and spotted people on the observation deck of the Empire State building. The elevator doesn't go quite all the way to the top, but we could take the escalator up one more floor for another perspective, and then walk up the stairs for one more floor of viewing. 

This top level is smaller, and looks down onto the lower (second level) viewing deck. 

This level doesn't have any protective glass surrounding it, and thus gives the clearest view of the city scape.

Morgan had been muttering about how high it was, and his shoes. And, when we got to the top, where there was no glass he just had to. Toss his shoe down to the next level, that is. Sheesh, kid!!! (Now, this isn't the first time he’s had the urge to get rid of his shoes. There was the time he chucked his sandals in the kangaroo enclosure at the Calgary Zoo. And the time he threw them in the lake in Airdrie… you get my drift. Dunno what it is with him and shoes.) A helpful young boy on the level below held onto his shoe as I hauled Morgan down the stairs to retrieve it. 

More fireworks this night

That was perhaps the sign that it was time to call it a night, and with one last look at the city we headed back to the elevator and made our way down to the subway (a different route this time – weren't we getting adventurous!) back to the RV park. Tomorrow would be time to leave the bustle of the big city for the quiet Pennsylvania countryside. 

Here are some extra pictures to enjoy...