Garment District, Bryant Park, MOMA, and Rockettes

Garment District Tour

My wife had organised a private tour of the Garment District for our two oldest girls, herself, and a couple of friends that happened to be visiting New York at the time. After some negotiation with Mike from Mike' NYC Tours, it worked out an economical way to do it. Not being that interested in fashion, I decided I'd stay back in the hotel with our youngest daughter, to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Mike explained a lot of the history of the district, and took them to a number of points of interest including:

• The Fashion Walk of Fame.
• The Needle and Button and Garment Worker Statues.
• Parsons School of Design.
• Several Designer Studios.
• Cutting Rooms / Manufacturing.
• Mood Fabrics

Mike was able to explain the process of design, manufacturing, promotion, and all the way through to the purchasing by retail stores. At the end of the tour, Mike directed them back to the designer samples sales, which are on in December and May. They enjoyed very much going up and down the elevators, visiting the intimate studios on different floors. Thankfully, only one purchase was made... 

Ice Skating at Bryant Park

My youngest daughter and I walked to Bryant Park, which is transformed each November into a "Winter Village". The central attraction is a large open air Ice Skating rink, surrounded by small stores selling food, art, jewelry, purses, etc.

When we arrived, there was no line to get in, so we quickly ordered our skates. We called the fashion party, and found they had finished their tour and were coming to join us. I managed to convince the two older girls to join us in the skating, and after 15 minutes we were all ready to step onto the ice.

If you want to skate in New York with a family, this is the place to do it. Its a beautiful location with the Christmas Tree and the New York State Library in the background, you get some lovely sunshine on the rink in the middle of the day, there are no queues, and its by far the cheapest option. The Wollman Rink in Central Park is the largest and is also a good option. But the the best known rink, at the Rockefeller Center, is tiny, expensive, and you're likely to have to wait - give it a miss.

We grabbed some lunch in the surrounding market, and then walked through the library, which is a grand old building. While we were able to explore some of the rooms on our own, the library does offer tours, and if we had more time its something we would have liked to have done.

Museum of Modern Art

We had planned our visit to MOMA for today because of the free entry available each Friday after 4pm. When we arrived, at about 3:40pm, the line was already stretching all the way down W 53rd St, and around the corner on 6th Ave. We were not the only ones looking to take advantage of the free entry - there were at least a few hundred people in front of us, and we thought we might not get in. But as soon as the girls had ducked into Starbucks to get a Gingerbread Latte, the line started moving, and fast... A few frantic phone calls later, we were reunited at the entry to MOMA with our 5 free tickets.

Not being a particularly art loving family, we sought out the famous works, such as Vincent Van Gogh's "The Starry Night", Claude Monet's "Water Lillies", and Andy Warhol's "Campbell's Soup Cans" to see what all the fuss was about.

We also amused ourselves by finding the best "is that really art?" and "I could do that" offerings. There were many great contenders, but the last one we were really not sure about: was it an exhibit or just carpet waste?

We then went to the atrium where you can watch some video art. There are 9 large screens hung from the ceiling, all at odd angles and differing heights. The screens were showing scenes of a Japanese lady in an alley way, all deliberately out of sync and shot from obscure angles to keep you intrigued. There were numerous comfortable lounges scattered around, and plenty of floor space, so we sat down to take it all in. 

A few snores and 90 minutes later, we woke up well rested... This was not too surprisingly given our hectic schedule, but it was an absolute blessing.

The Rockettes

My wife had really wanted to take our youngest daughter to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, but we just couldn't squeeze it into the itinerary or the budget. She was regretting this decision, but now that we'd all had some sleep, there was a new possibility. 

After dinner with our friends at Applebee's, we all walked back to Radio City, and enquired about tickets for the late show. There were only a few regular seats left - but, there were plenty of "obstructed view" seats, which were about half the regular price. After some deliberation as to how bad they could be, we decided we'd go for it. 

The girls wanted some candy to snack on in the show, and after we rejected this box of Nerds, they settled on some Reese's Cups.

When we got to our seats, we found we were about 10 rows from the front, with maybe 5% of the stage blocked on the right hand side. Given that much of the show consisted of about 30 synchronized dancers, not seeing the last 1 or 2 of them is no big deal. Even better, there are mini-stages down the sides of the hall, and an organ player and dancers appeared throughout the show only meters away from us. The half price tickets proved to be the buy of the trip.

I went in having absolutely no interest in the show, but it lived up to its name of "Spectacular", and transformed me into a huge fan. The professionalism of the show and the synchronised dancing is something to behold. 

The whole family absolutely loved the experience.

The Macy's Christmas Display

On our way back to the hotel, we took the time to look through the Macy's Christmas Window Display. This spans an entire block, with a story you can follow from window to window.

The displays are beautiful, and there are even a few interactive ones, where your movements on the sidewalk influence what's happening inside.

We took this picture of the Empire State building lit up to wrap up a fantastic day.