Christmas in 30 Hours in New York City
New York City is the mecca for Christmas in the U.S. There is nowhere else like it in our country or the world. There is so much to see! 30 hours is a ridiculously short time frame so you have make-up your mind what your priority sights are going to be. If you have never been to NYC, then I certainly suggest you stay longer than 30 hours! This year, everyone from everywhere must have wanted to go to Gotham after the past two years. I have never seen so many people in the city so early in December. I usually go the first or second weekend of December and it is always busy but 2022 is the year of the tourist going to see the sights of the holidays!
I arrived around 1:00 p.m. on a Friday. I took the Airtrain to Penn Station and hoofed it to my hotel on 38th Street by 2:00 p.m. Heading down 6th Avenue toward Times Square and Rockefeller Center, my first NYC site was pizza! Grabbing a slice on the move and heading down the avenue, I made it to the corner of 49th Street at Radio City Music Hall which is home of the “Christmas Spectacular” show during the season. Up the block is the famous Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree where it seemed like the entire city had shown up to get a glimpse of the gigantic tree. Massive crowds of people were surrounding the area from the tree to the ice rink to 5th Avenue. Speaking of 5th Avenue, the crowds were stopping every ten minutes to watch the musical lightshow at Saks, this year with the music of Elton John. It is a beautiful display and even New Yorkers stop to watch a bit. I snapped a few photos of the amazing tree celebrating 90 years in Rock Center and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
My choice of activities this trip was to see a couple of Broadway shows and whatever Christmas I could pack in! So heading down Broadway, I thought I would try to make my way into Ellen’s Stardust Diner on 50th Street. There is almost always a line to get in, a popular eatery with good food and a singing wait staff, Stardust is always a fun place to get a bite. I enjoyed a Reuben sandwich and some excellent singing by the staff. These people work hard and keep working on their dream of being on Broadway! The first show on my itinerary was the revival of “The Music Man” with Hugh Jackson and Sutton Foster. A hugely popular show due to the well-known movie and Mr. Jackman in the lead role, his fans were there in droves. A large cast of kids and adults, singing and dancing along with Hugh in the lead role made for a fun show with a lot of laughing by both cast and audience. Hugh got lost in himself at one point and no one could stop laughing. The bad news is the show is closing on January 1st, so there is not much time to catch this wonderful show on Broadway.
We are about 15 hours in with a few hours of shut-eye it is time to head out for some brunch before the 2:00 p.m. matinee. It is raining in NYC so umbrellas are the fashion of the day. I stopped at the iconic department store Macy’s on 34th Street, to snap a few shots and watch hustle & bustle of Saturday morning in Manhattan. Walking down toward Times Square, I see Connolly’s Pub on 45th Street and having been there before, I hurry to have one of their great breakfasts. The restaurant is packed with people watching the U.S. playing in the World Cup and getting out of the rain. I managed to get a seat and spend some time with mostly fellow tourists having brunch and rooting for our team. A great time was had by all. Once again I headed down The Great White Way with anticipation of seeing the most popular show at the moment, “Funny Girl”. Great performances by Lea Michelle, Jared Grimes and Tovah Feldshuh make this a show to see. Lea Michelle can hold her own performing songs made famous by Barbra Streisand and I am a fan of both of them now. There was amazing tap dancing in this show that I wasn’t expecting. I was a “lucky girl” to see two great shows and some Christmas in New York. As my taxi driver took me to the train station and I watched the sights of New York City disappear, I thought next year I think I will stay a little longer….
Vicky Sullivan Photos