Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Rockefeller Center & St. Patrick's Cathedral, 1.12.12 Part 2

We had the taxi drop us off at Jamie & Rachel's apartment, where we pretty much just dropped off our bags & ran, since Rachel was at work & the girls were napping.  I had a good subway map, and was feeling fairly confident, even though we had to transfer once to get to our destination, so we set off. 

And came out at the Rockefeller Center!  Kyla just LOVED watching the ice skaters!  It was neat, since they were below and with the statue and all, it was a very nice effect.  We looked into skating, but it was going to cost us about $75 for 20 minutes, and especially since she's never skated and it would take her that long to get her bearings, we decided to pass. 

People either offered, or if I asked they were more than happy to take our picture, so I do have some of us together.  I must say, that you know you hear that New Yorkers are so cold and unfriendly, "the North" in general you know, ha!  But I seriously found that people were beyond helpful and beyond friendly for the most part even.  Like I just kept thinking over and over that if I didn't know better I would say it was one of the nicest cities.  Which I'm sure is partially Kyla, since she pretty much exudes friendliness, but I just didn't expect such a warm reception from everyone everywhere.  People just kept wanting to talk to her about her trip and what she thought about New York, how it was different from Arkansas, etc.  People on the train, waiters & waitresses, waiting to cross the street, store clerks, etc.  Btw, this was the day that it was crazy warm still, I was literally sweating at times, just wearing this thin sweater & no coat! 

More at Rockefeller Plaza....very photogenic place (and little girl :)


LOVE this; as Kyla was just standing there soaking it all in, this was a fabulous 'first impression' place to start, some of the biggest buildings in the city, the flags, outdoor artwork & statues, flags, etc. and she told me "That building must have a LOT of people inside of it breathing to have all of that steam coming out."  love it.

We'd had just snacks & no real lunch and it was 3:00 or so by now, so we ate at the Rockefeller Concourse at 'whichcraft.  We had fancy cheesesandwiches (can't remember what kind), organic juice, and a nice fruit bowl.  It was hilarious, when the waiter set it down, Kyla got all excited & pretty much shouted, "Mom!  There's pomegranate seeds in there, we don't just get one pomegranate this year!!!"  I usually buy one a year as a tradition, around the first of the year, and we all share it because they're so expensive & messy.  We've already had ours for this year, so she was super excited that she got to have another one :)


We were going to go up to the "Top of the Rock" observation deck, but the guy at the bottom told us visibility was 0 because of all of the fog, so we decided to wait for another day.  Plus, that gave us another chance to see the massive (biggest in the world I think maybe?) Swarovski Crystal Chandelier that Kyla also thought was amazing, of course.  I got better pictures the second time too....that's another thing I was proud of her for, she definitely is good at 'soaking things in' and enjoying the moment and not just rushing along......sometimes she just wants to sit & study things for too long even, but I'd rather have it be that way than her just glance & be ready to move on.

We had a grand entrance on to the famous Fifth Avenue, as we exited through the Rockefeller Center main building also.  It was very 'rich', dark and golden, hence the weird tint on the photos.  Right across the street was St. Patrick's Cathedral, as you can see a hint of through the windows here.

Another biggie, that Kyla knew all about & wanted to stare at forever, the Atlas Statue.

Love this one of my sweet little girl!

I'm sure there is some great metaphor that can be made here....the man with the world on his shoulders and the cathedral.......I think I may have this one enlarged for our wall.

Another of my favorites; I felt like this is what NYC was like, without trying to sound too poetic, everything smooshed together; old, new, electronic, nature, cathedrals, shopping, etc. 


Kyla, of course, had to dig around in her little purse to give 'for the poor of the world'

This is absolutely one of those places where the pictures can't even begin to do it justice.  It is definitely a massive and very ornate cathedral, on the scale of ones I've been to in Europe for sure. 

It is Catholic, there were actually lots of people there praying, lighting the candles, etc.  so we sat & stayed a few minutes.

Little girl in front of the huge front doors.....the stained glass was amazing, it was almost a shame I felt like it was soooo far up there, you could hardly see them!

LOVE this one too.



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