Museum of Natural History & The Lion King

Our next stop was the Museum of Natural History. Remember the movie Night at the Museum? This was the place! Actually, there were only a few things that were in the movie. But wow what a museum! We spent about 3 or 4 hours there and probably only saw half of it.


















After our visit to the museum, we went back to the Martinique for some dinner and then headed over to the Minskoff Theater to see The Lion King. What a treat that was! The costumes were out of this world! Being able to see the show was worth the trip! Although we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the theater, we got a few in the foyer area.

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Lincoln Center, Julliard School

When we met up with Mike, he took us to where he had explored while we shopped - St. Patrick's Cathedral. This Catholic church was contructed in 1858. It is gorgeous.












After our visit to the church, we walked a few blocks to hop back on our tour bus to head Uptown. A few sites along the way...




These are various apartment buildings
along the west side of Central Park
where some famous people spend
some of their time...
Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford,
Janet Jackson, Yoko Ono (and the former
John Lennon) and some others.








Arriving Uptown, we got off the bus for a quick look at the Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, and Julliard School of Music.










This is the school where the movie
"Music of the Heart" with Meryl Streep
took place. Not to mention where the young
musicians of New York city are taught!

Rockefeller Center and the American Girl Store

We headed out the next morning and were greeted by rain. Not Florida rain mind you... just a drizzle here and there, but enough to find some indoor things to do. As we were dodging the rain drops, we looked at the building next to us and realized it was the Rockefeller Center. We decided to go in, not really knowing what we would find. At first, it looked like we were just in a big office building. We noticed some escalators off to the side going down...so down we went. When we got down, there was a whole other world down there. Dunkin Donuts to start! And Cinnabon! Many stores and restaurants and a large cafe area to sit. There were huge windows looking out to what we found out was the infamous skating rink during the winter. We sat there for awhile drinking our coffee and mapping out the day. Mike loves maps and had a great time every day with this one map we had. It not only had streets but subway routes as well. He was our walking GPS! :)





This was one of the little shops..
A real shoe shine place! All of the
business men in the chairs along
the back wall were having their shoes
shined!



This is what the skating rink looks
like in the summer.....




We left Rockefeller Center and walked a few blocks to the American Girl Store. There are only three of these in the whole USA. One in NYC, one in Chicago, and one in Los Angeles. This store was amazing. Our youngest daughter Mary had been saving for a doll and wanted us to pick it up for her while we were there. Meagan also wanted to pick up a few things for her collection. This store is like a department store for these dolls complete with clothing, furniture, a hair salon, photo studio, and restaurant where you can have lunch with your doll. There is even a doll hospital to have your doll repaired. Someone had a great idea when they came up with this one!

For some reason when we walked in this store, Mike immediately turned around and said he would meet us down the street. Not one of his favorite stops!

Empire State Building

Our last stop for our 2nd day was the Empire State Building. We wanted to go at night so we could see the city all lit up. We got to the building around 10pm and after about an hour in line we made it to the 80th floor. At this point they told us there was another 30 minute wait for the elevators to the 86th floor where the observation deck is. Or, we could take the stairs. So to the stairs we went. 6 steep flights later, we made to the deck. We were all wondering why in "Sleepless in Seattle", they were able to just get on the elevator and be up there in the matter of minutes! It was breath taking up there! There was an indoor viewing area and an outside deck. I went out on the deck for a few minutes, but felt much more comfortable observing from the inside. Mike and the girls enjoyed the outside view.














After a full day, we finally headed back to our hotel and landed in bed around 1am. We were exhausted but it was worth it!

We left Ground Zero and got back on our tour bus and headed back to Times Square. We found a nice restaurant and had a bite to eat. We needed some fuel to get us through the evening!

After a delicious Italian meal, we headed back out.
The city definitely came to life at night! Times Square was jam packed with people. And lots of lights!! Here are some pics.






















We walked around Times Square for a few hours taking in all the sites. Next stop Empire State Building.