It seemed appropriate to post about my trip to NYC since it is again the Christmas season. I have always wanted to go to New York during the holidays. My husband tells me that I have a romantic view of New York, when in reality I should’ve been picturing a dirty, crowded, disgusting place. I don’t know about the rest of the year, as this is the only time I have ever visited, but let me tell you….it is EVERY BIT as romantic as I wanted it to be. The decorations, the tree, the ice skating, the Christmas markets, the music. Ah, it was incredible, almost to a point where no other Christmas will ever be as incredible again. I feel like I left a small piece of my heart behind, and the city calls to me and begs me to return. If you feel like it is an intimidating place to travel solo, it is definitely not. In fact, I think being solo made it so much easier to navigate the crowds and restaurants, as well as gaining access to things that I probably would’ve had to wait hours for were I not alone.
I took over 500 photos in my short time there, so it’s going to be very hard to keep this post as short as I’d like. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
I arrived on Friday December 2nd and got an Uber from LaGuardia to my hotel in Time’s Square, Hotel Edison. I chose Hotel Edison because it was a more reasonably priced hotel and you can’t beat the location. Straight out the front door is Broadway, a turn to the right is the heart of Time’s Square, Hell’s Kitchen to the left, and the Rockefeller Plaza was mere blocks away. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself on the top floor, 26 stories up, with a view of the Barrymore Theater (where I will later see a show). It was small, of course, but perfect for one person, clean, and relatively quiet in terms of hallway noise, but not in terms of New York noise. Knowing that there’d be no room for a refrigerator, I packed a small cooler in my luggage to fill with ice and keep some beverages and leftover food cold.
Normally when I travel alone, I try not to be out after dark, but in New York that just didn’t really matter. No matter what time of day you want to go out, there are thousands of other people out there with you, and it was easy to feel safe as long as you stay part of the crowd, stick to the main well lit streets, and pay attention. I had a friend who was also visiting Manhattan at the same time, so I texted her and she was on her way to see the Christmas tree, so I decided to venture out. I never did meet up with my friend that night, but seeing the tree and the city for the first time was so incredible! I grabbed a beer, walked around Time’s Square and Rockefeller Plaza and just took it all in.
I had a dinner reservation at the restaurant of my hotel called Gayle’s Broadway Rose. The wait staff are all actors who either are in Broadway shows, or wish to make it into a Broadway show, I can’t remember which, but they go around and sing to the crowd while they wait on you. I took a lot of videos, but apparently no pictures, enjoyed my pastrami sandwich, and the entertainment.
It was only about 8 pm when I finished dinner, and I knew that if I wanted to see everything in a few days I needed to keep moving, so I decided to go back to Rockefeller and do the Top of the Rock. I wanted to see the city from up above once at night, and again during the day, so why not cross one thing off my list right away? I will let the pictures speak for themselves, because how could I even describe being on top of the world?
I spent as long as I could up at the top, then walked back through Rockefeller Center and the Diamond District back to my hotel to watch Friends (of course!) until I fell asleep.
Saturday December 3rd I had a ticket to go ice skating underneath the Christmas tree, so I woke up that morning and made my way back to Rockefeller Center. Unfortunately, it was raining really hard, and the ice skating entrance was incredibly difficult to find, so I arrived late. It turned out not to matter, because the rain was so miserable that I only made about 4 laps on the ice, took all the pictures I wanted and then headed inside 30 Rock to dry off and explore all of the shops. Whether you enjoy ice skating or not, it is definitely worth it just to get photos and views you can’t get anywhere else.
Inside, I grabbed a coffee and spent most of my time inside of the NBC shop where you can touch props used for SNL sketches. Then I enjoyed walking the streets doing some window shopping and taking in more of the sights on my way to my lunch reservation.
I ate lunch at a fabulous restaurant called Tanner Smith’s on West 55th street. I don’t typically get an appetizer when I am alone, but I just could not pass up the curried deviled eggs. Then I had a delicious Bloody Mary and the Truffle Mac ‘n Cheese. It was so good that I had to photograph everything, of course!
After lunch and more walking, it was time to get out of the rain for a little bit. I spent most of my time in New York absolutely soaked and it was a bit draining. Fortunately, I brought along more than one winter hat and pairs of gloves, so that I could swap out for dry things from time to time. I was determined to let nothing stop me.
My next rainy adventure was a walk to Bryant Park to check out one of the many Christmas markets I ended up going to. I walked as much as I could before ducking into the New York Public Library to dry off.
From there, I walked to Stout NYC to grab a beer at the bar, attempted to go to Grand Central Station, but for some reason could not find my way inside no matter how much I tried (I blame the relentless rain), and then had dinner at a small ramen restaurant called Lucky Cat, which was recommended to me by a coworker.
On my walk back to the hotel, I stopped at Bloomingdale’s, and then strolled by the Plaza Hotel, and Central Park where I found another Christmas market to shop at. I did some more window shopping, and then stopped at a deli on a corner to buy a piece of cheesecake to take back to the hotel room. I watched SNL while eating my dessert, marveling at how the show was going on mere blocks from where I was sitting.
Sunday December 4th began with the morning showing of the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. I honestly did not expect this to be very exciting (who wants to see a bunch of girls kicking?) but it felt like one of those Christmas things you just have to do when presented with the opportunity. I am so glad that I went. It was so incredible, and at some point I found myself crying. I never knew that a show could be that good, honestly. If I could have found time to go see it a second time, I would have. It was THAT moving. I can’t even begin to explain how good it was. I also got to drink a hot coffee out of a souvenir Radio City Music Hall cup, and coffee makes everything better.
After the show, I just had to head to The Original Soup Kitchen and get my fix of the Soup Nazi/Seinfeld experience. I got a lobster roll and some clam chowder and took it back to my hotel to eat during a midday break.
Next, I walked to the Empire State Building to see the city skyline views during the daytime.
Of course I had to check out Macy’s on the way back!
In the afternoon, I met up with my friend Brenda and we saw the Broadway play, “The Piano Lesson.” This play starred Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington (Denzel Washington’s son), and Danielle Brooks who I loved on Orange is the New Black. It was awesome being able to say I was only a few feet away from Samuel L. Jackson, and even though we weren’t supposed to take photos, I managed to sneak a few in.
After the play I went to dinner with Brenda, her husband, and 2 other people in their party at a French restaurant called La Rivage. It was probably the only meal in New York that I was not impressed with at all, and I felt disappointed that I had wasted a chance to go somewhere better, but it was great to see some people that I knew.
Monday December 5th was another very fun day, which started out by taking an Uber to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum; another moving experience that you just have to do in NYC.
From the museum I walked to a brewery called Torch & Crown, because I can’t travel anywhere in the world without making an attempt to find at least one brewery! This one was a bit underwhelming. New York City is not exactly an area known for breweries, but at least I could say I had found one, and the lunch was decent. After lunch I did the most touristy thing of all and walked all the way through Tribeca to Greenwich Village just to see the apartment building that they show on Friends. That’s right. An apartment building. I’m obsessed with Friends, and it just had to be done. What can I say? I also walked to Carrie Bradshaw’s house from Sex & the City although that one didn’t mean all that much to me.
I walked around and admired some other buildings, found a coffee shop called Bluestone Lane, and just enjoyed the afternoon. Greenwich village is absolutely beautiful. It is the type of neighborhood I imagine living in if I lived in New York. I made my way to Union Square for yet another holiday market. At this point these markets were starting to become redundant, but I just couldn’t get enough of Christmas in the city.
My next stop was one of my favorites: Strand Bookstore. This is a HUGE bookstore, boasting 18 miles of books. I couldn’t buy too much to take home with me, but I scored a signed copy of a recent Colleen Hoover book. I also discovered something they called “blind date with a book.” These books were wrapped in paper and contained a brief description of what kind of book was inside the wrapping. If the description fit your mood, you’d buy it, take it home and unwrap it to surprise yourself with a book. I thought it was a great way to give a gift to myself, and I actually just opened it this Christmas (a year later) and am reading the book right now. I loved that it gave me an opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and be introduced to a book that I normally probably would not have picked out for myself.
Rolf’s German Restaurant was next on my list. Rolf’s is known for their INSANE amount of Christmas decorations, and I just had to see them. My plan was to have dinner there, but when I arrived I discovered a line of people around the outside of the building. The beauty of being a solo traveler is that I have a lot of patience, and I’m willing to wait for something that I am interested in. I got in line and waited my turn, not really knowing what I was walking into.
When it was my turn to go inside, I quickly discovered that this was not what I bargained for. There was zero chance of getting any sort of table. The bar area was crammed so full of people that nobody could move anywhere. You had to wait for enough people to leave to slowly gain access to the bar. This is another plus to solo traveling…one person can work their way up to a bar a lot faster than a group can. Eventually I made it, ordered my drink, which ended up being $30, and then realized that I had no other choice than to continue to stand at the bar and drink it right there. I was physically unable to move out of the way to allow someone else to get to the bar. I’ve literally never been in a crowd as bad as that one in my entire life. But…the decorations! Unbelievable! There was no surface left untouched, and it was worth it to me just to have these photos and memories, even though I’d likely never go back and do it again.
Since I didn’t get to eat dinner at Rolf’s, I walked to a restaurant called Tappo to enjoy a pizza. I’m not entirely sure that it was an authentic NY style pizza, but it was delicious. I made a friend at the bar, and he bought me a drink so that I’d stick around longer and talk with him. We talked about our spouses and his kids and he gave me some ideas for things to do in the area. This is the only time I’ve really had a conversation with anybody on a solo trip, which was monumental for me because I tend to be shy around strangers. It was nice to meet someone instead of just sitting at bars by myself.
By this time it was dark outside, and I still had to make my way back on foot to my hotel. Fortunately, it was not a boring walk. The Christmas window shopping/displays in NYC are great any time of day, but it’s the best when the windows are lit up. I must’ve taken a hundred photos just of windows between this day and the next one.
After walking all the way from lower Manhattan back up to Time’s Square, I was exhausted and ready for bed. I thought I had had the best day, but I had no idea that Tuesday September 6th (my last full day in NYC) would be the absolute cherry on top.
That last morning I had an 8 am reservation at a little Italian cafe called Lodi, right in the middle of Rockefeller Plaza. My plan was to have a quick bite and then head to Rockefeller Center to get in line for a standby ticket for The Tonight Show. I had no idea that that cafe was right next to where they film the Today show, and of course at 8 am the show was currently live. I’ve never been a Today show watcher, but I sat in that cafe and watched those stars come outside and greet the crowd. I had a front row seat and I didn’t even have to fight anybody else for an incredible view. Even better, while I looked out the window on my left to watch what was going on with Today, the window directly in front of me faced the Christmas tree! I felt like I was the richest person alive, and like I was going to have incredible luck that day.
After my small breakfast, I went to wait I line for my standby ticket to see Jimmy Fallon. I really had no idea what to expect. The line could have been miles long for all I knew, but when I got there I was the 15th person in line. I don’t remember how long I had to wait, but eventually 2 people in front of me gave up and I received my standby ticket. I was number 13, which I felt had to be pretty lucky. With ticket in hand, I was told to return to NBC at 3:15 pm to wait in line and see if I’d make it inside the studio.
To kill some time, I went to FAO Schwartz and Tiffany & Co. and then walked over to Central Park.
Central Park in the winter time was really not anything too special. There wasn’t snow yet and it had rained a lot, so everything was pretty muddy and dead looking. It was still a place that I had to go to at least once in my lifetime, especially during the season that I watch Home Alone 2 a billion times, so I walked around a little bit, and then headed over to the Hell’s Kitchen area to eat lunch at a place called Cheeseboat. Cheeseboats are a Georgian delicacy (the country, not the state) that one of my coworkers told me I absolutely had to try. Basically a boat full of cheese baked into some bread with an egg baked on top. Delicious!
Back at NBC, we were lined up according to the numbers on our standby cards and we waited in line while the people with actual tickets filed into studio 6B. The plan was to see how many people did not show up for the show, and then fill in the extra seats. I would estimate that there were probably between one to two hundred people in line and I was so excited to be number 13. The people who were 1 and 2 in line said that they had been in line the day before, and they had not taken a single person from the standby line so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Eventually they came out and sent home everybody except numbers 1-20 something. The rest of us went through security, and then waited in line some more. If we were called in, we had to run up a flight of stairs and enter into the studio through a back door and take our seats immediately as the show would be mere seconds away from starting. Finally, they announced who would get in and I was the VERY LAST person who made it!! It was obvious to me that I only got in because I was alone. They had asked everyone in line how many were in their party, and I am 99% sure I was tacked onto the end simply because what was just one more person?
I got into the studio, took my seat, and had the best time ever. The guests that day were Emma Thompson, Guillermo del Toro, and country singer Ashley McBryde. And of course, I absolutely love Jimmy Fallon. Jimmy is the nicest person and went around talking to the audience during the breaks in filming. He genuinely wanted to know who we were, and at one point refused to come back to the stage to film because he wasn’t done talking to us. We were not allowed to take photos, and I guarantee they would have caught and tossed out anybody that attempted to, so all I have is a photo of some of the NBC pages while waiting in line, and then I took some photos of my TV screen when I watched the show later that night.
I spent the rest of my final night just walking around New York City taking it all in one last time. I did more window shopping, went inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral, stared at the tree for as long as possible, watched the light show at Sak’s, and just breathed in the city around me. I had dinner at Tsurutontan for delicious udon noodles and sushi with a glass of wine.
The rest of this post will just be a massive photo dump. If you ever get a chance to experience the magic of NYC during the Christmas season, please don’t pass it up! NYC will live in my heart forever, and I hope that I can get back there someday in the far off future.
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