Bartering, Cannoli, 5th Ave, Rockefeller & Broadway

Today started off at a small coffee shop called Culture Espresso Bar. It's a few blocks from our hotel. I ordered a mocha and a chocolate croissant. Andrew had a latte and a ham and cheese croissant. I must say, all were absolutely divine. The chocolate in my mocha was rich perfection, but not too sweet. Just right. And my croissant - chocolate and bread. Need I say more? Andrew didn't add any sugar to his latte, which is normal for him. I usually need a little bit of sweet in my coffee, but according to my taste, his latte didn't need a thing. Delicious! His croissant was also very tasty.
Next, we made our way downtown via the subway. Our destination: China town for some cheap knock off shopping and Little Italy. We bartered our way through Chinatown. I found several things I liked and I think I did a good job of talking the prices down to what I wanted. I can thank my trips to Mexico for that learned skill. After passing through Chinatown, we arrived in Little Italy. I loved the feel of this part of the city. It felt warm even though the weather was cold, crisp and windy. There was just a feeling of life in the air. Little Italy still looks Italian, but sadly there aren't as many Italians inhabiting the neighborhood as you might think. Most of the people in the store fronts had eastern European accents, though I think they were trying to fool the tourists into thinking they were full blooded Italians. Andrew and I were searching for a pizza place he had found on Yelp that got rave reviews. After passing the block it was supposed to be on a few times, we gave up and decided to try one of the many other Italian restaurants. We picked De Nico's. It was very warm and inviting and filled with beautiful Christmas decorations. And a bonus - the waiters were speaking Italian to each other! Though I've never been to Italy, this restaurant seemed like the real deal. We both ordered pizza. He had the sausage, I had the zucchini. When we finished, the waiter brought us complimentary zeppole, which are basically Italian doughnuts covered in powdered sugar. Very yummy!
On our search for the restaurant Andrew wanted to find from Yelp, we passed a few cannoli stands along the way. We decided that even though we were stuffed, we couldn't just walk past them. I have made cannoli at home and they honestly weren't that great. Probably because we bought the pre-made shells and just stuffed them with sweetened ricotta. We weren't expecting them to be very good but decided to buy them anyhow. We ordered the chocolate with pistachio filling. They were fantastic! So good we are even talking about going back just to grab a few more!
After Little Italy, we made our way back Uptown to Rockefeller Center. Our goal was to go to "The top of the Rock." We wanted to wait until dusk to see the view of the city because we read that was the best time to go. We got acquainted with Rockefeller. We saw the giant Christmas tree, the ice skating rink, Studio 1A where the Today Show broadcasts, and 30 Rockefeller Plaza. We still had quite some time so we decided to walk down 5th Avenue. This is what shopping New York is all about. They had the high price stores and some lesser expensive ones as well. Best of all - the H & M! I was determined to pick something out, but it just didn't happen again. I think I just felt too rushed. I still tried a few things on, which was a good enough experience in itself.
Next, it was time to head back to Rockefeller to see the view of the city. On the way we stopped at a hot dog stand. I must say that I was not impressed. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't very good either. I'll stick to the hot dogs outside Safeco before the next Mariner's game I go to. Of course, if we come across a stand that is supposed to be really good, I'll give it a try. But this was nothing to write home about.
We rode the elevator up to the 67th floor of the GE building. The view of the city was very beautiful. It was, however, freezing outside so we took all our pictures quickly and headed back down.
Our next stop - the Broadway musical, Elf! We made our way toward the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. Apparently Google maps was messing with us because we couldn't find it for quite a while. After walking back and forth a few times, we finally realized we were on the wrong street. Sure enough, it was the next street over. We grabbed our will call tickets, but we still had an hour to kill before the show. We decided to sit down at the restaurant on the corner so I could grab a cup of coffee. I was so sleepy. We ducked into Charlie O's which seemed like a chain restaurant and may very well have been, but it was way over priced! My cup of crappy coffee was $4.50. Oh well, it kept me awake for the show.
Which by the way was amazing! Elf was so much fun! I am sad to say that all of the major productions I've been to in Seattle (the list isn't very long) have been pretty disappointing, poorly written and terribly acted. This show was the opposite. Andrew and I both loved the actor who played Buddy and all of the other actors were very convincing in their roles. We both left with smiles on our faces and songs running through our heads. It was a blast and I would love to go to another musical at some point.
Needless to say, our feet were killing us and we didn't have much left in us after the show so we headed back to our room. On the docket for tomorrow - Ground Zero, Wall St and Ellis Island. Stay tuned!