The Big Apple Pt. 1

Earlier this month (January 2023), just after New Year's, a few friends and I went to New York City. When I was small, my great grandmother sat me down to watch the Phantom Of The Opera film with her. I was absolutely smitten by it, and it remains my favorite film of all time to this day. She had told me that it was her favorite musical and she had seen it at the Fabulous Fox in our hometown of St. Louis, on Broadway in New York City, and in London. She simply adored the musical. She taught my mother to adore it too, the two of them had their own excursion to the Big Apple long before I was born, and again when I was about 5 years old. In October of last year, it had come to my attention that the musical was to be retired from Broadway in February of 2023. Now that my great grandmother and my own mother are gone, I knew that I had to see it. Just like they once had together.

I came to my boyfriend and some of my closest friends with a proposition of such a venture, imploring them to see the urgency of it. Of course, had they refused, I would have gone on my own to see the musical. However, they knew they had to see it before it left the greatest stage too. They too, you could say, were familiar with the music of the night (haha).

So the trip was born. Flights and hotels were booked. Tickets to see the legendary show in it's home Majestic Theater were bought, and all we had to do was wait for the new year.

And then it was time to leave.

I was acutely aware of a brand new year, the first that I was welcomed into without my mom. For some reason, that hit a lot harder than any milestone ever had until that point. I wasn't ready for the holidays, but I sure as hell wasn't ready to cross into the threshold of an entire new year without her.

Nevertheless, I did, kicking and screaming, cross into the new year. The new era.

Pro tip for booking a New York City trip; it's cheaper to do so right after New Year's. Flights and hotels are markedly cheaper, reservations are easier to get. It also didn't end up being as cold as we thought it would be. It didn't snow for us at all, much to our surprise and relief.

Anyway, I digress. We flew into the city, had some lunch, and checked into our hotel room. We were then ready to start our first touristy activities of the trip.

On our first day, since we were staying at The Blakely, we were remarkably close to lots of things. We passed the Rockafeller Center (more on that later) and St. Patrick's Cathedral first. We wandered into the mighty, eloquent cathedral and were blown away by the sacred place. It was just after Christmas and just days after the passing of Pope Benedict XVI, so the entire place was adorned in holiday decor and guilded with mourning flowers. Elaborate shrines lined either side of the place. The nativity scene was life-sized and easily the most decorated I have ever seen.

It was, in short, the most elaborate and beautiful building I have ever seen.

The back of the cathedral; the centermost alter depicting a photo of the late pope and hundreds of poinsettia plants

The front of the cathedral and the most elaborate pipe organ display you've ever seen

One of the more internationally-seasoned travelers among us said that she had seen cathedrals of the world, but none could even touch the brilliance of this one.

I tend to take her word for it. Although I am not a religious person, this place did feel sacred to me.

As the evening wound down, we headed back to the Rockafeller Center. This trip was planned to not only see Phantom, but strategically see the Rockafeller tree as well, which was still up.

The Rockafeller tree is handpicked every year and usually looks quite scrawny when first erected, but bits and pieces of other trees are actually put inside of it to give it that full appearence.

This was a bucket list item for sure, and experiencing it at night was nothing short of incredible. We lost count of how many couples we saw proposing at this iconic location. Ironically enough, we weren't far from the original Tiffany & Co.

The above depicts two different views of the tree. The second just barely depicts the ice-skating rink at the base of the tree. We did not bother with this, as the line for it was already hours-long. We were more than content to take in the view on the sidelines.

We briefly wandered through Times Square, which still had confetti absolutely everywhere from the New Year's celebration that had taken place under a week earlier. It was pretty surreal to see the actual place where it all happened. It was insanely crowded here though, we didn't spend a ton of time here. It was overwhelming and full of street performers and con artists alike, so we pretty much just strolled through.

You can just barely see the New Year's ball in the upper center of this photo

To cap off the night, we headed to the Empire State Building to see it lit up at night. Unfortunately, I did not capture any photos that do it justice, and nighttime excursions. to the top aren't available in evening hours. However, there is a swanky Starbucks right next to the building that serves decadent drinks.

I would seriously recommend this to anyone. Although it doesn't hold a candle to the Reserve and Roastery in Chicago, it is a delightful place to get some hot chocolate and more luxurious versions of their other hot drinks.

This was the only time that we spent in the Empire State Building, as the observation deck is outrageously expensive. We found a cheaper option that allowed us to enjoy skyline views of the city and featured the mighty building in the background (which made an incredible backdrop for photos).

We basically just wandered into the lobby of the iconic building and made our way back to our hotel suite, tired in the sleepless city.

Stay tuned for part 2 :)