Thursday: Legos, St. Patrick's, St. Bart's, the Waldorf, Library, Stardust, WICKED!

Thursday we had an open morning so we decided to do some souvenir shopping. We went back up through Times Square to Rockefeller Center. Our destination was the Lego store which we had seen our first night there but it was closed. This would have been the highlight of the trip if Isaac had been with us. He is a Lego fanatic. We spent a good bit of time in here and bought him a Lego Empire State Building (which took him about 10 minutes to put together when we got home but which he has since converted into a larger scale model using a bunch of his other Legos) The Lego store is right across the ice rink from 30 Rock.

30 Rock
Lego store
We bought a few things at another gift shop and then headed to St. Patrick's for the 12:00 mass. St. Patrick's is the only Catholic cathedral that we saw. The rest were all Episcopalian. I was really surprised that there was a difference. As ornate as the ones we had seen were, St. Patrick's was even more so. It was also the best lit. It was also the only one we saw actually being used (except for the prayers for peace and reconciliation at St. Paul's) and I think that made a difference. It was a beautiful place and an interesting service, especially for a non-Catholic. We got to hear the organ, which was huge and awesome. The lady who led the singing part of the service had a beautiful voice which echoed in the huge space. Here's some pics:


Next on our agenda was to go see St. Bart's. We saw SALT (with Angelina Jolie) when it came out in the theater and part of it was filmed at St. Bart's. That is what gave me the idea to see as many historical cathedrals as we could. There just aren't all that many in the US (compared with Europe) and it's not like anyone is building churches like this anymore. They really are a sight to see. That said, I was a tad disappointed in St. Bart's. It was fairly gloomy in there.

I will say this about cathedrals. They offer quite a respite from the noise and crush of people on the street. It can be super loud with horns and sirens and jack hammers outside but when you step into the cathedral, it is hushed and peaceful. There were people praying in almost every church we looked at; if not in the main sanctuary than in the small chapels that surround the nave. I was impressed at people who would come and pray in the middle of their busy day and I wondered about what had led to that habit. And I envied that I don't have that sort of discipline.

Since St. Bart's is on Park Avenue, we decided to stroll down the street a ways to see what we could see. Well, lo and behold, we came to the Waldorf Astoria! Now, when I was researching hotels to stay in I did actually look at the Waldorf's site, you know, just to see. It's pretty much waaaay out of our price range. Anyway, we stepped in, saw a sign about a dress code for men (coat and collared shirt) decided to just walk through the lobby and snap a few pics (they didn't turn out very well) and then step back out, just to say we've been to the Waldorf.


We got some chicken over rice at a corner vendor and then headed to the New York Public Library and sat on the steps outside to eat. The Library was pretty impressive because of it's size and age. I've never been in a library that looked like this. There is a copy of the Gutenberg Bible there that we wanted to see and that was pretty neat. The art and architecture was really amazing.

After the library, we headed back to the hotel to change for supper and the theatre. We had had Ellen's Stardust Diner recommended to us and were looking forward to that. Since we had eaten a late lunch we weren't all that hungry so we ordered nachos to eat. The thing about Ellen's Stardust Diner is that all of the wait-staff are aspiring Broadway actors so they sing the whole time. They are really good and it makes for a really fun dining experience. Here's some pics.



We shared a strawberry soda for dessert (I don't know what is wrong with my face in this picture!)
And a black and white cookie. ("Look to the cookie!")

After dinner we walked the couple of blocks to the Gershwin theatre where we were to see Wicked. This theatre is way bigger and a lot nicer than the one where we saw the Addams family.


Wicked was awesome. It was the absolute quintessential Broadway magical fairytale show. The set was awesome, the costumes were awesome, the cast was awesome...it was just great. We thoroughly enjoyed it. That said, I did enjoy myself more at Addams Family. It was just more fun, to me. If Wicked ever comes to your town on tour, or if you're ever in NYC, you gotta see it.

Wicked was over at around 10:45 and we headed back to the subway to ride back to the hotel. I was pretty worn out after this night. It had been a great day.