Our venture in to the city went wonderfully the other day. Traffic was a little snarled heading up 54th Street but not too bad. We parked pretty close to Radio City Music Hall and walked up to Rockefeller Center.

We thought the tree was bigger and prettier this year. It wasn’t quite dark when we arrived. And of course everyone wants their photo taken with the tree. It was impossible not to get the screens of other people’s iPhones in a shot. (Doesn’t anyone use a real camera anymore??)

It’s also hard to get really good photos in such a crush of people. People pushing and shoving for a spot to watch the skaters, desperate to have their or their children’s photos taken. People suddenly appearing in front of my lens just as I clicked the shutter. sigh. So, I felt my pics were not up to par. I’m sharing them with you anyway since it’s all I’ve got!

I love the little square around the tree with its toy soldiers.

And the little walking street with all the lovely shops and the view of the tree and The Rock.

 

Several shops along this street caught my eye. One was Botticelli. Oh My. I don’t normally wear real fur, but what beautiful things were in the window! A gorgeous fur-trimmed sweater coat. To die for fur-lined boots!

We drooled over Swiss chocolates in the window at Teuscher’s and were surprised and excited to find this familiar little green box inside the shop. Ah, the Champagne Truffles we used to get in Europe! Rick always brought them home from his travels back and forth.

On to the window display at Saks Fifth Avenue. We were pleased to see a more old-fashioned display this year and not the weird Bubble Maker theme they had last year. It was more of a snowflake theme, and very cute.

This window had about 50 snow globes on rotating platforms that would shake them up at intervals.

This little boy was cutting out paper snowflakes.

It was snowing feathers in this window.

 

We walked back to the tree to see it in the dark.

We were still early for dinner so we stopped at a wine bar and had a glass of delicious Malbec. We sat at a table outside with a view of the center.

Dinner at Alfredo’s was delicious. We don’t normally order pasta out when we go to an Italian restaurant, but the pasta sounded good to both of us. I’m glad we made that choice because it was all homemade. I had spaghetti with a tomato basil sauce and veal meatballs and Rick had a trio of lasagne, ravioli, and fettucine alfredo. He wasn’t sure which one was the tastiest. A good waiter and a bottle of nice Italian red wine helped to round out the experience.

The seating was intimate (meaning close to other tables) and the table next to us was occupied by two young 20-something women. When we first sat down I didn’t think they were speaking English. Then I realized they were. After more eavesdropping, we realized that one of the women was switching back and forth in mid-sentance from (what sounded like) Russian to English constantly. Flawlessly, and without hesitation. She spoke English with no accent. Very bizarre. Her companion on the other hand, was only speaking English. We just hope she was following the whole conversation!

After dinner it was onward to the show!

 

 

Our seats were amazing! Orchestra, third row, center. The show was very enjoyable and also very different from the one we had seen a few years ago. The Rockettes are amazing. Such precision! So many set and costume changes! It really is well worth seeing.

The New York City skyline projected on the walls.

 

All in all a great night out in the city and a wonderful way to kick off the holiday season! I hope you enjoyed your visit!