NYC Once More - Sights & Sounds

So our weekend-weekday get-away to the Big Apple went pretty well. As mentioned in my pre-trip post in Packing for NYC, our objectives for this trip were to collect a passport, catch a Broadway show and I’m including this now that we’ve done it……….To try some good food! Of course, we ended up doing more than planned without burning too many holes in our pockets, which is a great thing.

In this post, I’ll be focusing on the sights and sounds of NYC. I’ll leave my next post to tell you more about the tastes so stay tuned for more on the restaurants we tried!

Before everything else, let me introduce our hotel! We stayed in the DoubleTree Hilton. Love love love this hotel for it’s great location and amenities. For one, there’s always a welcome drink at the lobby area. Who wouldn’t be thrilled to receive some ice-cold orange water after baking in the sun for an entire day?

With friendly and helpful staff, a cozy interior, and signature DoubleTree cookies to top off the experience, I wouldn’t mind coming back a third time.

Amongst all the musicals I’ve watched in my lifetime (my very first being Annie), this was my first Broadway experience! I am thankful for this opportunity to watch the very talented cast perform. Broadway Musicals have a repertoire of only featuring the best artists and I must agree and the experience has not let me down. After googling for various renditions of Defying Gravity, I still find the Broadway Musical’s version the best.

We went for the Alphaba Apple!

And to add to my collection of Musical Programme Booklets.

Amazing set.

We got streamered-on during the show!

Spotted some trishaws right outside the Gershwin Theatre! I thought they were exclusive to Asia, no?

One tip for newbies like I was is, if your are getting your Broadway tickets online, you might want to do a quick search for the best deals instead of heading straight to websites with cliché sounding-names. I got my tickets from ticketmaster.com as opposed to broadway.com (which I almost got my tickets from).

Also, my take is to get yourself an unobstructed seat as close to the stage as possible. We were four rows away from the stage and I felt like I could almost sing alongside with the cast. It’s amazing admiring the set and expressions of those on stage without having to squint or strain my neck.

We stopped by Hershey’s Chocolate World on the way back from Broadway.

The kisses lamps look so adorable!

I wouldn't mind buying this if smelling chocolate is as good as eating it.

On our last day, which happened to be our second day in NYC, we managed to squeeze in some time to visit the Empire State Building.

 A mail chute where letters were dropped from upper floors and collected at the bottom floor.

Running away from King Kong! Our photographer took this picture just as we were getting ready for a shot with the big guy actually. I wonder why we looked so frantic. Haha.

What a stark contrast to the Boston landscape! The buildings in NYC are sandwiched together in a rather neat fashion.

Since there was no way to stick my head out of the building to catch a glimpse of what lay below, I did this. Maybe I should get my camera insured.

Like all places of interest, the last stop is always a gift store. I'm not complaining! :)