I got on a bus at 6:00 am this past Sunday to spend a day in The Big Apple, and even though I was severely sleep deprived, it was totally worth it.
After almost a 4 hour drive, we were dropped off at Bryant Park where our bus driver informed us that the bathrooms in the park were really nice (I checked—he was right). Bryant Park was all decked out and ready for the holidays with their Winter Village. The open-aired market housed little kiosks that sold handmade gifts, local food, and gifts for anyone you could think of. And to top it all off, there was even an ice skating rink.
We didn’t have time (or the money) to hit the ice rink because we needed to head to Broadway for a 1 o’clock show. So my friends Cailtin, Christina and I headed towards Times Square. But before we got there, we passed 30 Rock and I insisted we go inside and look around the NBC gift shop. While we were perusing the “Brooklyn Nine Nine” and “Friends” sections, a woman came up to us and offered us free tickets to the NBC studio tour that was starting in a few minutes. We had just enough time to go on the tour and make it to the show so we said yes!
The tour gave us a behind the scenes look at the studios for “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt,” “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” and my personal favorite, “Saturday Night Live.”
The hallway leading up to the SNL studio has pictures of popular skits from all the past seasons and even some props and costumes (like Kristin Wiig’s Target Lady outfit) on display. I was so surprised to see how small the studio was for the amount of skits they do (and still be able to fit all of the audience members!).
Jimmy’s studio was also surprisingly small! We got to walk in the hallway that Jimmy does every show to get to the stage. In the hallway there are the NBC Muppet Pipes on display. Look it up, it has a really cool back story.
Before the tour ended, our tour group got the opportunity to put on our own talk show. My friends and I volunteered to be members of the “30 Rock Band.” I got to be the drummer.
After the spontaneous trip to 30 Rock, Caitlin and I headed to the bright lights on Broadway to see “Aladdian.” And my god was it amazing. The production has over 500 costumes, a bunch of new songs, and the entire cast is so talented. The sets are a work of art and the music is great. The Genie was definitely the best part of the show. If you ever have the chance to see it definitely do—it is so worth it!
The rest of the day was spent walking around Rockefeller Center and Times Square because it was unfortunately too dark to venture around Central Park, and because now it gets dark by 3 clock (thanks daylight savings!) Like any true New Yorker, we went to the Time Square Olive Garden where Christina had her very first Olive Garden breadstick.
Finally, the bus came to pick us up at 10 pm and we made our way back to Boston. It was such a fun trip and I can’t wait to go back so I can explore more of the city!