Day 1, part 2. Yes, we are still on day 1.

I mentioned before that we purchased NYC Explorer passes from Costco at a discount price. The pass allowed us to enter 3 different attractions. The passes came with a 96 page guide book that listed all of the attractions. We had so much to choose from. We used our pass at the Top of the Rock attraction. An added bonus to the pass was that it allowed us front of the line access at the ticket counter. So we literally were able to bypass the line, show them our Explorer passes, and were ushered to the waiting area for the elevators. We only had to wait a few minutes until we were escorted into the elevators. They tried to make it entertaining by having a little laser light show on the ceiling of the elevator. We finally reached the top and stepped out onto the platform.

In case you forgot, we are headed to the top of this building.

The view from top of the Rock was stunning. 

A tale of two kids. One has a fear of heights and would not go near the edge of the platform. The other went right up and pressed his face against the glass.

That's Central Park behind us.

A perfect view of the Empire State Building! This was high up on the list of things to see, because they wanted to see where King Kong climbed in the movie.

We could even see the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

Central Park.

Alex and Noah.

My 3 favorite guys.

 Thumbs up!

Who me, nervous?

Nik perfectly happy to see the view from inside.

Noah loved the view from the 70th floor.

Alex zoomed in on the roof of a building. Grass!

We spent about 45 minutes up on the 3 platforms, enjoying the beautiful views. I had originally planned on staying up there until after sunset. I wanted to see the town light up. But Nik was pretty much done with the whole thing. And sunset was still another 30 minutes or so away.  So, we decided to head down. I guess I should have planned on arriving a little later. 

It really was a great way to kick off our first day. We were able to get a 360 view of the city and could point out some of the landmarks to the kids. And it wasn't that crowded, like we have heard with the Empire State building. I'm so happy we decided to see Rockefeller Center. 

After we exited the building, we decided to head to the Nintendo World store at Rockefeller Plaza. I had no idea how big Rockefeller Plaza was. It took some circling around to find the store. Nintendo World is a 3 story souvenir shop for all things Nintendo. We were able to pick up a couple of shirts for the boys with an I love New York theme, and the kids checked out a Nintendo museum display.

Lost in Rockefeller Plaza.

Nintendo Heaven!

After that, we headed back to the hotel. Along the way, we stopped in St. Thomas Episcopal and St Patrick's Cathedral. The churches were beautiful. Unfortunately for us, we arrived in the midst of a major refurbishment at St. Patrick's. It was difficult to tour the church and get decent pictures. 

St Thomas Episcopal.

St Patrick's Cathedral.

St. Patrick's

St Thomas

We also passed Radio City Music Hall. Our hotel was in walking distance to so many attractions.

Mexican food cart. We should have tried it.

These bike rental racks were the thorn on the side of the locals. They all hated them. But we saw allot of people renting them.

Our day one ended with us buying some hot dogs from Nathans and taking them back to our hotel room. The hot dogs were horrible. Not the way I remembered them as a kid. We ended the evening just watching the news coverage about the tornado that struck Oklahoma that evening. 

Next up, day 2 and seeing our first musical on Broadway!