Hello from my New York City Staycation!  If you have been following along, I have been doing a bunch of touristy stuff lately to give me opportunities to practice using my camera.

This staycation came from me having a cruise out of Manhattan and finding it easier to just spend a couple of nights in a hotel rather than get to the cruise terminal from Bensonhurst.

I booked the New Yorker Hotel using Wyndham points.  This hotel is near Penn Station . When booking it, I thought I would enjoy just walking between my hotel and 53rd Street, which is a walk I took a million times back when I lived on Long Island and would travel to Manhattan to go see bands at The Ritz and Roseland.  I waned to see if the parking garage near The Ritz was still there.  We used to buy 40s and drink up there before shows.  We also used to drink up there while waiting for Saturday Night Live to end, and the celebrities would begin pouring out.  I also used to drink up there when I was dating a guy from New Jersey.  We would meet halfway between his home and mine, at Penn Station and go drink on top of the parking garage.  Classy.

But as I began looking into things to do, I realized my dreams of possibly visiting a parking garage roof was really not how I wanted to spend my staycation so I made actual non-pathetic plans.

On Friday night, I checked into the hotel.  I am Diamond with Wyndham. This is my second stay at this hotel and second upgrade to an actual suite and also unsolicited late check out.  This is great because my checkout time isn’t until three so I can board the cruise after my room is ready at 1:30.

I took some absolutely horrible room photos that I don’t want to share, but the room is pretty much the same one I had HERE.

Some new room view photos:

I had plans for dinner but work was taking too long to JUST DIE ALREADY so I grabbed dinner to go at Tick Tock Diner to eat while I finished my day.

Finally I was free at around 7:00.

I had tickets to see Radio City Christmas Spectacular.  I took the subway up there and wow is that area of NYC absolute fucking hell.  As I mentioned earlier, we used to spend a ton of time in this area waiting for celebrities to come out of Saturday Night Live.  So when we were here, it was much closer to 1:00 AM than to 9:00 PM and I am used to it being much less all out chaotic.

Back to my SNL days, there was a crew of dudes from NJ that did the same and we would hang out.  During the show, we would wander around and look at the tree during December.  We would go into St Patricks Cathedral to warm up on cold nights.

It is also funny to me how I worked just a couple of blocks from this area for close to 18 years and never once ventured over here.  I know it was because my main goal when getting out of work was to get as far away from work as possible so I would bolt to the subway which would take me away.

I went to Top of the Rock.  Hoo boy do I regret this.  Everything about this.  They have express tickets for $85 where you can cut the line and go right in.  EIGHTY FIVE DOLLARS NO THANKS.

I bought a normal cheapo ticket (“cheapo”) and the website crashed.  Went to do it again and it went through but for $85?  Oh fuck the ticket that was in my cart when the website crashed stayed there and I accidentally bought two tickets.  I should have just bought the express pass.

The line to get in was insane.  I had a ticket for 8:20 and got to the line at 8:00. I got inside at 9:10.  I was kind of stressed at this point because my tickets for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular (half a block away) were for 10:00.  I took two photos of the view:

And a photo of The Beam which debuted this week:

And then I went tot see The Rockettes!   Could I BE anymore a tourist?

Big fat melon head in front of me:
This is not my video, but if you have never seen this show, here is why you should.

After the show I wanted to be as far away from here as possible.  I hopped on the subway and was ecstatic to find a 24 hour Dunkin Donuts downstairs YAY.

On Saturday I just had to take the Tea Around Town pink bus tea tour.  Had to do it.  Didn’t matter that I don’t give a fuck about high tea.  Didn’t matter that you have to buy a minimum of two tickets and I am one person. Nothing was going to stop me from getting on this fucking bus.

This tour has some pretty bad reviews but I loved it.  It killed me when we drove past Saks and the tree knowing I could have not been in the masses last night to see them.

After the bus tour, I walked to Madison Square Garden for Cirque du Soleil “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”

I love Cirque du Soleil and I think I’ll stick to seeing Cirque in Vegas because my cheapo tickets were about six times the price they are in Vegas.  It also wasn’t so great?  It seems more story than acrobatics. Oh and kids.

Once that show is over, I went back to my room.

The past few weeks of my life have been a comedy of errors.  This trip started off no different.  I kept realizing I forgot to pack things which is fine.  Until I was in my hotel room and made the conscious decision to stay in my hotel room because Santa Con is outisde, and realized I forgot my flash drive with all my blog stuff on it.  Do I go home and get it?  I mean, yes.  It also gives me a chance to grab a new pair of shoes since mine broke.

Getting home was fine.  Getting back was a nightmare.  I was waiting for the train for over an hour.  I came so close to saying fuck it and going back home to sleep in my bed.  The only thing holding me off is that my phone charger is in my hotel room and I am not sure if I have a spare in my apartment.

BUT

I did find a penny on heads when the train finally fucking came.

This morning I woke up with plans to go see the sunrise in Battery Park but the weather is miserable.

I did walk over to B&H photo to look at camera lenses. I hate mine. I bought them before knowing how to use the camera and I made mistakes. I think when I’m home I will trade everything in.

Back to hotel to pack up and head to the Manhattan cruise terminal to board my cruise to the Bahamas.  Because I of all people am taking a cruise to the Bahamas.

Thanks for reading as always!