Scattered Thoughts . . .

A fter a short stroll through Bryant Park this past weekend, Sheila, Lukey, Kenzie and I walked up the few blocks to Rockefeller Center.  We walked up Sixth Avenue so we approached Rockefeller Center from that side.   We had hoped to bring the kids to FAO Schwarz when we were here this past Christmas but the line to get into the store was ridiculously long so we aborted that part of our Christmas plan.  This day was a far better day.  It was much more quiet which allowed us to play with whatever we wanted in the store! As we walked up 49th Street from Sixth Avenue, we passed the Rainbow Room entrance.   Just beyond the NBC Studios and Rainbow Room entrance is one of the entrances to FAO Schwarz... One of the reasons we had hoped that the store would be relatively quiet is because we wanted the kids to be able to play a bit on the giant keyboard, if FAO Schwarz still had that giant toy made famous by the movie "Big".  If the store was crowded, then...

As with all my blog entries related to our trip to Manhattan, this one will  also be heavy in photos. There is also a relatively short video at the bottom of the page. W e were scheduled for skating sessions at Rockefeller Center and Bryant Park during our stay in Manhattan.  First up was Rockefeller Center though.  I don't remember why we chose Rockefeller Center first but it might have had something to do with being able to make a reservation much farther in advance than at Bryant Park. Sheila scheduled their skating session at Rockefeller Center for 7:20am which happened to be shortly after sunrise.  This meant we would be walking to Rockefeller Center in the dark which we didn't realize until after she chose the time.  Walking in the dark is not a problem.  We simply were not expecting it.  We wanted to beat the crowds and figured the earliest times would be best for less crowded rinks.  Actually, since it was still dark out, that made the wal...

On our first night in Manhattan, we took a short walk uptown to see the Christmas tree and Christmas decorations in Rockefeller Center.  Somehow, we lucked out and avoided the typical Christmas crowds. I don't know how or why it happened but we actually had plenty of room to spread out and pose for some photos! The last time we visited Rockefeller Center during Christmas, we were in a Manhattan-wide mass of people, shoulder to shoulder, unable to even breath easily. On this particular night last week it was relatively quiet making our visit quite enjoyable... This photo, below, of the Zamboni on the ice rink at Rockefeller Center is one I would never normally shoot but our five year old hockey nut grandson, Lukey, will probably find this photo the most exciting of the bunch so... here it is... A lot of looking upward... Below is a single photo of the building-sized Christmas light show put on by Saks Fifth Avenue each year...