You Can Take the Girl Off the Stage...

I had the rare opportunity to visit NYC for a day in the beginning of November.  I visited sights that I never dreamed I would see in my life.  This was the third time I went to NYC in a thirty year span even though I live only 2 hours away, but this time was a blast!  Being a SAHM(stay-at-home-mom), I crave adventure every once in awhile. Everytime I travel, I don't like to look like a tourist.  It's the actress in me, I guess.  I suffered with high-heeled boots when all the tourists wore sneakers.  We used Grey Hound to get there which I think will be the last time.  We went on a freezing day, but in the city we felt warm from the buildings being so close together.  First, we spent too much time in the Virgin Music store, saw ABC Studios (which does not offer a tour to my disappointment). Then, had lunch in Planet Hollywood.  I guess when you visit very touristy restaurants, managers bring you in like a herd of cattle and expect the servers to handle being sat with 4 parties at once.  Since this was a kid-free trip, we didn't mind the wait.  Why?  Because they have wonderful costumes on display that make you forget how hungry you are.  There were the costumes from the Sound of Music, 

(yes, these same costumes right here!), Grease, Star Wars, Titanic, and my hubby's favorite:  Spock's pointy ears, and the Enterprise model from the first three Star Trek movies.  We saw where the Today show cast comes out every morning.  We took the NBC Studios Tour in Rockafeller Plaza. 

 

This was my favorite.  The first 20 minutes were hokey.  We watched a video about the humble beginnings of NBC. Then the tour guides picked someone from our tour group to be an anchorman and weatherman.  We got to sit and watch them in a pretend studio.  Then it was off to see where Conan O'Brien hosts his show.  The studio was suprisingly small and very cold.  They told us a special lens makes the studio appear wider on TV (that's where the gain 10 pounds thing comes from) and they needed to keep it cold because of the hundreds of lights over our heads.  Then we got to see where SNL films from behind huge windows.  Unfortunately, no one was practicing since there would be no show that paticular Saturday.  It didn't even look like the set, because earlier that week there was a conference held there.  It looked only a little wider than a high school stage, with three different areas.  Before we caught the bus home, Julio and I stopped at a McDonald's.  I thought the McD's in France were different. (It sold beer with your value meal.) We felt like we were in a club. (OK, so we don't get out much.) There were 3 levels, and on the third level there was a huge projection of music videos on the wall.  The music was loud and the space was low lit.  On the way home, it was an adventure unto itself.  We were in a long line at the bus terminal.  Suddenly, an employee tells us there will not be enough room on the 9:30 bus bound for Philly.  She recommends we take the 9:15 that will stop in Newark and Mt. Laurel.  Sounded good enough, since the next bus after that wouldn't be until 11:00 p.m. We boarded on a full bus and could only sit near eachother.  We see people who were behind us in line leave on the 9:30 no problem.  That bus actually leaves on time.  It felt like an eternity before we could leave.  The bus driver is yelling at a young man while they both board the bus. The man talks back and the driver throws him off.  There was a family that couldn't speak good english and they must have boarded, then unboarded 4 times.  The driver stood outside then to finish a cigarette. So once he sat down, the whole bus erupted in cheers.  That was fun.  The rest of the ride home I slept next to a stranger.  As you might know, I love anything Broadway so I got some nifty souvenirs that were Broadway related.  Hopefully, next time we'll go to actually watch a show!