New York City
- by Rob

For the first couple of hours, Nate covered his mouth whenever we were walking on the streets. He couldn't stand the smell of New York. My guess is that his sense of smell was most offended by the roasting chestnuts that the vendors were selling. I remember that when I lived in New York it took me awhile to get used to that smell. Unlike Nate, the scent of the city was familiar and pleasant for me.

We arrived in the City at about noon on Thursday. Our Mapquest directions were fine, and the Google Earth 3D images I had studied online gave me a pretty clear sense of what things would look like. Still, we had to circle the block twice where our hotel was located. The first time we passed by the entrance to the garage because we couldn't see it. The second time we couldn't pull in because of traffic and the double-parked cars. Finally, the third time, my stunt driving got us off the street and into the garage entrance. Phew.

We didn't really have a plan for our afternoon, but since we were only staying 3 blocks from Times Square, I didn't figure that the lack of a plan would be a problem. There are plenty of things to see within a short walk of Times Square.

A few things have changed significantly in the 15 years since I worked in the city. The number of full color, full motion, video billboards and signs in Times Square is dizzying. I can only think that anyone who spends time there regularly has learned to tune it all out. In my opinion, more is definitely less. 42nd Street is quite different too, but in a much better way. Let's just say that it's been cleaned up and is more "family friendly." Fifteen years ago, we would have had to walk to Times Square by a different route. Many of the marquis are still there, but now they advertise shows like Mary Poppins and How the Grinch Stole Christmas and restaurants like Applebees.

After lunch at an Irish Pub we went looking for the TKTS booth. It was mobbed. We decided the best strategy would be to get in line while we made our decision about whether or not we would wait and buy tickets. We ended up waiting. During the hour that we waited the line continued to grow, eventually looping out onto the sidewalk and down the block and back again. By the time we finally were sent to the window to purchase tickets, there was only one real option, the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular. Kim and I had both seen the show before, but that was 20 years ago. We managed to get 4 seats together for the 8:00 PM show. Taking the kids to Radio City was exciting, and fortunately the show was no disappointment. Abbie particularly enjoyed the Rockettes. She seemed to understand and appreciate the complexity of their timing. We walked back to the hotel at 9:30. The streets and Times Square were still crammed -- people everywhere we looked.

We decided to head back to Rockefeller Center on Friday morning. Kim and I were interested in seeing the spot where the Today Show is filmed. Abbie wanted to see the skating area. We also knew that it would be a short walk to the American Girl Place store, and other shopping on Fifth Avenue. We managed to get right inside the audience area at the Today Show. We saw Matt Lauer and Ann Curry. During a transition to a commercial break, we got to wave at the camera. We're pretty sure we were on the air.

The American Girl Place store is one of those phenomena that I had to see to believe. Actually, we didn't know for sure where to find it; however, we learned that if you look around Rockefeller Plaza for a little girl carrying an American Girl doll, there's a fair chance that her Mom will know where the store is located. Well, this method of finding the store worked for us. The scene inside the store seemed like it was something being staged for a movie. Preteen girls were everywhere, and most were carrying a doll. Moms and Dads trailed behind, carrying coats and unpurchased merchandise. I suggest to Nathan that if he is ever assigned a project on product marketing he could use the American Girl thing. He agreed.

By the time that we left the doll store we had very little time left for more shopping and sight-seeing. After a few minutes in FAO Schwarz it was time to head to Lincoln Center. We walked through the southern end of Central Park, and reached the center fountain at Lincoln Center a few minutes after 11:00. A friend of mine, Mark, was waiting for us. Mark and I worked together at the theatre in Albany. It was great to see him and get caught up.

The Metropolitan Opera House is much more attractive than photographs had led me to believe. I'm not a fan of most architecture from the 60's and 70's, and I expected this building to be a classic example of what I dislike so much. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised.

We hadn't done our homework, so we thought that the opera, Mozart's, The Magic Flute, would be performed in German. Both Abbie and Nate were not excited about this, in spite of the screens placed directly in front of each seat that display English translations for every performance. As it turns out, the performance was in English. A good thing I believe, since the characters and storyline were sometimes hard to follow -- again, we hadn't done our homework.

As for myself, I thoroughly enjoyed the opera. The production design was clever, and made use of many of the same puppetry techniques that were used in the stage version of The Lion King. I'm not sure that the music was especially exciting for our kids, but the visual aspects of the performance were certainly engaging enough to keep their interest. I'm not sure that either of them was able to appreciate the quality of the orchestra or the voices, but I'm sure in time they will come to understand these things. I left feeling completely satisfied that we had taken them to see such a performance. It really is something to be in a world famous venue watching a world class performance.

As we left the Met, the kids pleaded with us not to return to the hotel to get our car. Instead, they wanted to go back to Fifth Avenue to spend more time walking through the streets and stores. I felt good that we would leave New York with them wanting more. To save time, and to add to the experience, we took a cab back to the hotel. In short order, we were in the Lincoln Tunnel and headed back home.

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