Day 5 : Madison Square Garden, Top of the Rock, and Grand Central Station

4 May 10, 2017

Day 5 : Madison Square Garden, Top of the Rock, and Grand Central Station

We grabbed breakfast close to the hotel and took the subway into Times Square so we could be ensured a seat on The Ride. They don't open until 9 and when we got there at 8:40 there was already a long line that took up half the block. We managed to get seats on the 8:30 pm ride later in the day. Trip advisor highly recommends this tour.

We got lost in the garment district on our way to Madison Square Garden. We made it on time for the 10 am tour. It was really good. We weren't able to see the locker rooms because the Rangers have a playoff game tonight. But even better we got to see them warm up from a private suite. It was truly spectacular.

We did a little shopping at h&m, Macy's, and footlocker. I absolutely hate the Macy's that takes up a whole block and puts up the thanksgiving parade. It was chaotic and all over the place. We could not find a single thing we were looking for. The signs were unhelpful in letting us accurately know where we could find something. Everything is so spread out. It took us ten minutes to find a men's restroom and then ten to find the women's. The sales people are so overworked that they lack basic customer service skills and they have no product. All the shoes I asked to try on were unavailable there and I wear a normal size (between a 9 & 10). Needless to say I will not be going back. We walked to the stores across the street and found exactly what we were looking for at h&m and footlocker.

From there we made our way to Top of the Rock. Beautiful park views from this skyscraper. It wasn't as windy up here and the sun was shining so today was a good day to go up. They should have the disclaimer that it will take longer to come down then to go up.... It was very easy going up but we had to stand in this super ridiculous line to get back down. While we were leaving the Rockefeller Center it was around lunch time and it seemed like all the important people had to get their shoes shined. It was quite the sight. A+ people watching.

We took a very short bus over to Grand Central Station and walked for about 5 min. You literally cannot miss it. It is an extraordinary building sitting in east midtown. We took the free (with NY pass, $9 w/o) audio tour and we learned the amazing history of Grand Central Station. It was one of the highlights of the day. We made our way to the downstairs commissary and had the happy hour at the Oyster Bar Restaurant. It was amazing. We shared raw, BBQed, and fried oysters. Delicious. This restaurant has been running since 1913 and is jam packed with history.

After dinner we tipsily made our way to the "Whisper Gallery" and played with the stations acoustics. We had about two hours to kill before our ride tour. So we decided to play a round of free bowling at Bowlmar off of Times Square. It was a great way to kill 30 minutes and the bowling alley is extremely trendy. It's pretty decked out and also includes pretty expensive arcade games. I'd personally only spend the money if I was trying to impress someone on a date.

Since the game didn't last long (also Kevin won), we made our way to the meet up spot Chevys and while we were there we decided it couldn't hurt to get their $6 happy hour margaritas... An hour later I'm sitting on my tour bus and I so badly have to pee but there is absolutely no way to get off this bus. I could not enjoy this tour (also it's super cheesey and I don't really recommend it at all unless you like corny humor) and silently said many prayers that I would not pee in my pants. An hour went by and I jumped over people to get to the Chevys bathroom. Crisis adverted and Kevin and I made our way home. 11 pm and happily ready for bed.