1938 TRIP TO FRANCE AND SWITZERLAND February 11, 2004 The next few days were glorious as Daddy showed us some of the sights of New York City. The most memorable one was our tour through the huge Rockefeller Center. Since it was less than ten days before Christmas the entire center was decorated for the holidays. Christmas trees decorated with ornaments and dripping with icicles were in every lobby and everywhere you went you were reminded of the glorious Christmas season. There's no doubt that all of our family were a bit overwhelmed by the vastness of the center and all of the things to see. In looking through the Rockefeller Center Guided Tour Book that Daddy had saved and put in his scrapbook, there are things that we probably saw that I don't really remember. One was a ship model of the Queen Mary! The model was twenty-two feet long, the longest model in the world, valued at $48,000 in 1938. Another thing we might have seen was what was described in the guide book as "Radio Facsimile, the lesser known of radio's two lusty off springs (the other being Television) . . ." The article goes on to describe how printed material can be reproduced, transmitted and received on a set designed for the home. I wonder if that's now called a Fax machine! I do recall the Radio City Music Hall. Somehow I knew or was told that it was the home of the famous Rockettes. Now whether we actually got to see their marvelous review or not, I can't remember. But I certainly recall that it was probably in the Radio City Music Hall building where I had the biggest thrill in my entire life. I recall that we were being guided through a display hall in which were a number of tall boxes that resembled the floor model radio sets of the day. But there was a difference. The boxes had a lid at the top and when you opened it up on its hinges, there was a lighted screen in front of you. It looked like a movie screen and on the screen you could see people moving around and could hear them talking like in a movie. The guide told us that it was a television set. And the next thing I knew the guide asked if there was anyone who wanted to appear on television. Of course being seven years old I immediately raised my hand and said "Me, me, me!!!" The guide took me into a brightly lighted booth where he had me sit on a stool. He asked what my name was, I told him and when he asked me where I lived, I told him I lived in Niagara Falls, New York. I just KNEW that he would be impressed with how far we had traveled just to get to New York City. Now I don't know if he smiled or not, but I certainly remember feeling so very important at that moment knowing that my parents and my sister were actually watching me and hearing me on something called a television set. Now I don't know what was more exciting to me in New York City. Was it the Rockefeller Center and the Radio City Music Hall and being on TV in 1938 or was it our trip to Macy's Department Store at Christmas time? Daddy took us to Macy's to see their animated Christmas storefront display and into the store where they had the most marvelous things for sale. From my point of view I was in paradise! The store was decorated to the teeth for the holidays and when we visited the toy section, I almost fainted dead away when I saw the large sturdily built wooden playhouse that had been set up and was for sale. I was allowed to stroll through all of the rooms of the playhouse all by myself, I was allowed to sit down on the little chairs if I wanted to and even now, I would pack everything up and move into that magnificent playhouse if all of my things would fit into it! It was a child's dream come true. It may have been that evening that Daddy treated us to the most unusual dinner we had ever had or could have even imagined. On the outside the restaurant appeared to be just a little one on East 52nd Street called the Swedish Rathskeller Restaurant. Their business card claimed that they served the "World Famous Swedish Hors d'Oeuvres Smorgasbord" I thought it odd that we had to go downstairs from the sidewalk level to get into the restaurant since I knew that it meant we were going into the cellar of the building. But once inside I realized that it was a rather fancy restaurant where we were greeted with a sight none of us had ever seen before. There was an unending buffet bar piled sky high with the likes of shrimp, maybe oysters and certainly other food that we had never tasted before. Daddy instructed us after we were seated at our table that all that we needed to do is to go up to the buffet table with our plates and help ourselves to whatever food we wanted to taste. I certainly can't recall what I put on my plate but I have an idea that I piled it sky high. I had never seen so much food at once and I had never known that there was such a place where you could eat as much as you wanted at only one price. In my mind I can still picture the Swedish Rathskeller Restaurant located in a cellar in New York City. It was probably the next day that Daddy checked the four of us out of the fabulous Roosevelt Hotel, packed us into a cab to Grand Central Station where we boarded the train back home. I'm certain that during the long train trip back to Niagara Falls, my thoughts were on all of the stories that I could tell my second grade teacher and the kids in my class at Pacific Avenue School about my unbelievable trip to New York City.