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Geo: 40.7528, -73.9853
We had quite a bit to cram into today so we were up early again. Everyone got ready and we grabbed breakfast in the hotel. We then walked to Times Square to catch our bus for the Downtown Loop. It was a little foggy this morning but no rain.
We got off at the Empire State Building and took the ride to the 86th floor where we were able to get great views of New York City. I still have a hard time thinking about an elevator ride costing $20 but...we are on vacation.
After we got back on the ground, we hopped on a bus and finished the Downtown Loop of the Gray Line Tour. We did have to swap busses in the middle of the tour as there were only 5 of us on the bus we were on. That took about 20 minutes...and I now don't know that I can recommend Gray Line as an efficiently run operation.
We got out at Rockafeller Center and looked at Rockafeller Plaza. The Ice Skating Rink is empty now since it is getting to be spring. Then we walked across the street to American Girl Place for a look around. The girls
wanted a new outfit for their dolls but Nikki said "no".
It was now time for lunch and we had been walking past this pizza place every day that looked really good so we decided to go there for lunch. It was called A Slice Of New York Pizza and was better than Famous Rays. After lunch Kelsie wanted to change before the play so we went back to the hotel for a few minutes. It was raining now and we didn't have our umbrella's with us so we walked very briskly.
We had tickets to the 2:00 matinee of Wicked. It is playing across the street from our hotel so it was just a quick walk to get there. It was great. We saw it in Salt Lake the Saturday before Easter but we all still thoroughly enjoyed it.
After the play we called my friend Tony who lives in Connecticut and works in Manhattan and he met us for dinner at a place called Maria Pia just around the corner from the hotel. The food and company were great. We haven't seen Tony since he and his family moved from Salt Lake to New York 5 years ago.
After dinner we decided
to take another of our Gray Line tours and do the Night Loop to get night time shots of the city. We got on the bus which wasn't scheduled to leave until 8 so we waited about 10 minutes and then it drove us around the corner to Times Square where we got off and got on another bus which waited about 15 minutes before leaving Times square. It was fun to see the city all lit up. It was Earth Day so the New Years Eve ball looked like a globe spinning and the Empire State Building was green. It started to rain about half way through our tour and, we were on the upper deck of the bus so it was a mad scramble to get everyone ponchos before we got completely drenched. Our tour guide was Pam and she was a complete laugh. There were several times we were laughing hysterically!
The tour dropped us off in Times Square at 10 so we walked back to the hotel, packed and went to bed.
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