Our last full day in NY was spent mostly at NBC studios. We did the combo ticket: NBC studios tour, Radio City Music Hall tour, ticket to Top of the Rock. At only $43, it’s quite the value. And maybe I was just oblivious cuz I didn’t know about this gem until we got there, but this is one of New York’s best kept secrets!
In fact, the NBC studio tour was one of my favorite parts of this trip (with Perilla of course!). We had to go through security and were told “if you are carrying a firearm or other weapon you will have to check it before you can come upstairs.” Yes, they had a gun check. So no one needed to stop and we were on our way. We saw the studio for the Nightly News with Brian Williams. Interesting, but not what I came for. Then we moved to the suite that houses Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Dude the studio is TINY! Our guide explained how they make it appear bigger, but its just a hoax lol. It was cool though. And everything is covered because the HD cameras pick up every spec of dust lol.
Moving on down a hallway full of stills from various SNL sketches. Yep, we were headed to the studio itself! Again, this is pretty small. I wished I could take pictures but that was “proprietary”. Fail. Our guide asked who was a fan of SNL. Most people raised their hand. Then he quizzed us, “Live from New York it’s __”. Many people failed this lol.
Apparently the studio has perfect acoustics so performers always sound great. That’s when our tour guide (actually they were called pages, and this page looked just like Kenneth from 30 Rock) started going on about Ashlee Simpson and what an idiot she is. Considering I agree, this was entertaining. He had such a genuine disdain for her! I asked when Justin Timberlake would be back on. “Kenneth” told us he stops by all the time and that he loves the show. Hmmm maybe he’ll join the cast? 
if not I will just dance out my sadness!
At the end of the tour we went back to the gun check then headed to Radio City. Not as interesting but still pretty cool. The building is kind of like the Winchester Mystery House in that I’m pretty sure you could get lost and die long before someone even realized you were missing. Highlight of this tour: meeting a Rockette in the flesh! She was super bubbly, like you might imagine a sorority girl to be. I learned a lot about the process and what they do and stuff, which was super cool. We also got to take pictures with her. I think the 7 year old ballerina had the experience of her life!
carpet @ radio city - there were 7 different instruments featured
since there were no performances that day we got to go onstage - view looking out into the crowd
crazy elevator under the stage...one of a kind
Rockette
Last but not least Top of the Rock. We heard it’s best at night so we tried to go our last night in NY. Too bad a monster storm rolled in. oh yeah it was POURING rain our first day there. Wind, rain, extreme heat – nothing slowed me down! Anyway visibility was 0 so we chose not to waste our time. J had an early flight the next day so while I waited to head to Europe I did some sightseeing solo. The view from the lookout decks on floor 70 of Rockefeller plaza were Epic! If only I had pics I could post now! Ugh. Soon enough…
central park
Liberty Island
Empire State Building
I <3 NY
