Top of the Rock in NYC

The "Top of the Rock" is the observation deck of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, New York!

(All photos in this post will enlarge for easier viewing if clicked on)

When my husband and I were in NYC in June, we passed by Rockefeller Center on our way to our hotel and realized we never made a visit to the Top of the Rock when we lived in NYC. We had been to the Empire State Building numerous times and both the old and new World Trade Center Observations Decks.  We also once brought our children to a tour of the NBC studios, and dined at the Rainbow Room, both located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and on many occasions saw the famous Rockefeller Christmas Tree, but we never ventured up to the observation deck because it was closed for twenty years, between 1986 and 2005, due to a expansion project for the Rainbow Room on the 65th floor.  We decided now was the time to finally go to the top and proceeded to the entrance on 50th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenue.

After we paid our entrance fee, we entered the hallway leading to the elevator that would take us up to the 70th floor.  At 850 feet (260 m) high, this is the 14th tallest building in New York City.

There were many interesting historical placards to read along the way, and a short movie on John D Rockefeller Jr,  who was the developer and sole financier of Rockefeller Center, which opened in 1933 during the Great Depression.

The elevator takes you to the 67th floor, where you step out into a room with floor to ceiling windows and this magnificent view!

You then can walk up to the 69th floor, which is outside, but also enclosed with glass windows which helps the squeamish feel safer.

We headed up to the final 70th floor observation deck, which has no glass ...

...but still feels very secure, as you are behind a high wall....

...with a full open air 360 degree view of Manhattan!

This iconic view of the Empire State Building at 34th Street, and the new World Trade Center building in the distance in Lower Manhattan, is fabulous to see.

As a native New Yorker, I could easily identify most of the sights I was seeing.  Here, to the left was the East River and a few of the bridges in the distance that span it, connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan.

A close up view of the Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridges.

Here, to the right, is the Hudson River with New Jersey in the background.

Looking towards New York Harbor and Lower Manhattan, one can see Ellis Island and Liberty Island in the harbor.

A closer view, and you can see the Statue of Liberty....

...and even closer view.

A view uptown and of Central Park.

Closer view...

...and closer....

...and looking further north  up towards the George Washington Bridge. that connects the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan with Fort Lee, New Jersey.

Looking towards Park Avenue you can see the tall skinny residential building at 432 Park Ave.  It is the second highest building in Manhattan, at 1,396 feet (426 m), after the World Trade Center, and the highest residential building in the Western Hemisphere.

432 Park Avenue was developed by the CIM group and built between 2012 and 2015, and features 104 condominium apartments.

It is said that the top penthouse condominium sold for $95 million dollars!  I find it hard to imagine living someplace so expensive, and so high in the air!

The Chrysler building is somewhat hiding behind the Met Life building

A close up of the Chrysler Building tower and the east side of Manhattan 

 Elegant buildings on the west side of Manhattan...

...and more here.

Back around towards the Empire State Building, and to the left at the horizon I noticed the Verrazano Bridge that connects Brooklyn to Staten Island.

A close up of the Verrazano Bridge and in the forefront the tops of new high rise condominiums being constructed in Brooklyn.

A good view of the borough of Brooklyn--my former hometown. Some of the Jersey shore beaches can be seen in the far distance across the water.

My husband and I really enjoyed the views from the Top of the Rock and we were happy we finally had the opportunity to visit it.  It is a different overlook perspective and on a clear day the views are magnificent!

Before we departed Rockefeller Center we went to see the iconic statue of Atlas holding the Heavens....

...and we also visited the Channel Gardens in the Rockefeller Center Plaza, as we knew they are an ever changing display and always beautiful.  For the month of June they were filled with desert cactus plants.

The array of cacti, succulents and canopy trees in the Rockefeller Center Channel Gardens were amazing!

In summer, the recessed ice skating rink becomes a Summer Garden and Bar, where breakfast, lunch and dinner are served.  It was well shaded from the sun on the day of our visit.  There is also a Rockefeller Cafe, located inside at the concourse level, at 20 West 50th Street, that is open year round, and looks at the Rink and Summer Garden and Bar.

The Prometheus statue is said to be the best known sculpture in Rockefeller Center and the most photographed monumental sculpture in all of New York City!

We spent quite a bit of time in Midtown, Manhattan, on our trip, so I'll save some of those experiences for my next post. One thing about NYC-- there is always something new to see and do!

I'm linking this post to the following blog events:

Seasons, Amaze Me Monday, Blue Monday, Monday of Many Blessings, Through My Lens Monday, Mosaic Monday, Life Through the Lens Monday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Inspiration Monday, Good Random Fun, Nature Notes, Grand Social, Our World Tuesday, Ruby Tuesday, You're Gonna Love It Tuesday, Wanderful Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday, Oh My Heartsie Girl's Wonderful Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Share Your Cup Thursday, Thoughts of Home on Thursday, Travel Photo Thursday, Friday Photo Journal, Skywatch Friday, Friday Features, Share It One More Time, Pink Saturday,

Thank you to all the blog hosts!

The Faberge Big Egg Hunt in New York City!

The Faberge Big Egg Hunt took place during the entire month of April in New York City, and I was fortunate to be in New York for one of the last days of the final display of all of the 260 eggs in Rockefeller Center! Rockefeller Center was still festively decorated for Easter, as you can see in the photos above, and the final days for ice skating in their rink was also still available at the time of my visit.

The two and a half foot eggs were decorated by a variety of globally renowned artists and designers, such as Jeff Koons, Tracey Emin, Bruce Weber, Julian Schnabel, Carolina Herrera, Zaha Hadid, Ralph Lauren, etc., and were placed all around the city, waiting to be found! From April 1 to April 25, New Yorker's as well as visitors to the city, were invited to download a special Egg Hunt app on their cell phones that would enable them to enter a code on an egg they discovered, as an entry to a contest with the opportunity to win one of three Faberge jewelry prizes, that had a combined retail price exceeding $125,000 USD!

At the end of the contest, the eggs were gathered and displayed for a few days in Rockefeller Center and then auctioned online, ending April 26, for these two charities: "The Elephant Family," which works to protect these endangered animals, and Agnes Gund's "Studio in a School," which  benefits art education in under-served schools in New York City.

The Big Egg Hunt was a resounding success and raised millions for these charities!

I enjoyed seeing many of the eggs and taking their photos!  They were all very unique!

Faberge conducted a similar, equally successful Egg Hunt in London in 2102, so maybe their now famous Egg Hunt will be coming to your city in the future?

Above are photos of some of my favorite eggs. Click on to enlarge this photo and all the other photos in this blog post. You will be able to read the artists name on the podium of most of the eggs above.

What a giant Easter Egg Collage! Be sure to click on this photo collage to enlarge it to view it easier! I could not fit all 260 eggs into my photo collage, but if you click on the auction link page, here, you will see many more of them, and learn a bit about them!

We had our own version of a "Big Egg Hunt" at my daughter and son-in-law's house on Easter Sunday in Colorado! It was muddy outside, as we had rain the day before, so we hid eggs around her house for the children to find. Grandpa and Grandma also gave them small gifts instead of candy, which they enjoyed. The beautiful giant Easter Egg cake was brought by my daughter's friend, from Rheinlander German Bakery in Arvada, Colorado. It was a masterpiece, and very delicious--a chocolate cake and chocolate/raspberry filling!  My son-in-law is a wonderful cook and made a delicious Easter dinner buffet for all of us to enjoy. We had a wonderful holiday, and I hope you had the same. Since then I have been traveling quite a bit--I went to New York City for a week and then Chicago, so I'm behind in reading e-mails and comments but hope to catch up very soon!

 Please visit again soon, as I have many more exciting things to show from my recent trips!

Christmas in New York City

 I have been very busy doing the final packing for our move in the new year, but I have also been taking time to enjoy the sights around Manhattan, as it will be my last Christmas season here for a few years.  This will be a photo-rich blog post because there is so much to show about Christmas in New York City!

There are decorations everywhere...

...and many beautiful Christmas trees all over the city. This one is in front of the New York Stock Exchange, and it is always one of my favorite trees to see.

Even the main branch of the New York Public Library, located on Fifth Ave and 42 Street, has a tree in its lobby! If you visit New York City, be sure to visit this magnificent Beaux Arts building that was completed in 1911. With nearly 53 million items, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States, behind only the Library of Congress.  There are plans to enlarge and renovate portions of the library, which you can read about on this link.

The two lion statues outside this library have been nicknamed "Patience" and "Fortitude," and when I visited recently there were amazing sculptures of both lions in the lobby that were entirely made out of Lego blocks! They were the work of Nathan Sawaya. You can click on this photo, and all photos in this post, to enlarge them -- re-click on it again when it re-opens and use your browser back arrow to return to my post.

Bryant Park has a big beautiful Christmas tree, free ice skating and presently many wonderful holiday shops selling a large array of unique gifts and delicious sweets.

Grand Central Station turned 100 years old this year and it also has a holiday fair going on right now with 68 shops selling high-end artisan quality gift items.

The Plaza Hotel has its second annual Christmas tree, and this one honors one of its famous patrons from the past, the author F. Scott Fritzgerald, with a "Great Gatsby" themed tree, designed by Academy Award winner, Catherine Martin.

There is the fabulous Plaza Food Hall by Todd English located at the concourse level. It offers a diverse range of quality specialty foods and prepared dishes for take away or to enjoy in one of eight seating areas, including: Wine Bar, Cheese & Charcuterie Station, Sushi Bar, Burger Bar & Rotisserie, Asian Noodle and Dumpling Bar, Espresso & Tea Bar, Brick Oven Pizza, and a Fish and Seafood Grill.  The three little girls in the photo, that were dressed so beautifully, were choosing what cookies they wanted to buy. They reminded me of the popular children's book by Kay Thompson of Eloise at the Plaza. The Plaza offers quite a spectacular Eloise experience!

Many of the New York City department store windows have magical displays this time of the year. Did you see my visit to the Macy's Santaland Santa Claus on this link?

These were some of the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue Department Store. Directly across the street from Saks is Rockefeller Center...

...where you get a glimpse of the annual Rockefeller Christmas tree! This years' tree came from Mount Olive, New Jersey.

The Rockefeller Center tree is decorated with more than 30,000 multi-colored, energy-efficient LED lights, and crowned by a Swarovski star.

This is how it looks lit up at night.

Some more nighttime views.

I took this video, not realizing that when I turned my Flip camera on its side to get a full view of the tree, it would appear sideways on the video! Whoops! I'm posting it anyway so you can see how pretty the tree looks when the lights shimmer.

The Baccarat UNICEF Snowflake hangs over 5th Ave at 57th Street.

 It reminds me of a star, a star that shined very brightly in the sky 2012 years ago!

The Nativity creche in St. Patrick's Cathedral -- baby Jesus will be laid in the manger during.Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. In this busy season may we remember the true meaning of Christmas -- the miracle of Jesus' humble birth and His gift of our salvation.

A very Merry and Blessed Christmas to one and all! 

Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men!