Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Gettin' Outta Dodge

Looks like we are leaving town while the gettin' is good. Weather report says that weather will be fine for flying until perhaps tomorrow evening.

We are ensconced in the Marriott Hotel with a lovely view of LaGuardia airport, from which we will fly in the morning at 6 a.m. Of course you won't know this until I get home because this hotel has no wi fi and will rent me high speed connection for only $18. I don't think so. So I'll write this journal and post it when I get home (unless I have time and opportunity to do it at the airport). Fortunately, for anybody who worries, I posted a message to that effect to both Twitter and Facebook. (Except Ron just called to say that what I thought was "the hotel has no wi fi" actually said "the hotel has no weh." Owell! I tried!)

We've had a lovely day. Weather was not as nice as it has been up to today, but I never had to wear those Isotoner gloves I bought and most of the time I haven't even needed a coat (though I did today).

We got all packed up this morning and left our luggage at the Colonial Inn hotel while we went back up to Times Square. We had tickets for the 2 p.m. show at Radio City Music Hall. Walt went to check on whether we needed to pick up actual tickets (we didn't) and then we went back to Rockefeller Center to the eating areas overlooking the ice rink.

I watched the Zamboni clean off the ice.

Amy tells me that frequently this happens just when a man is about to propose to a woman and given that after a couple of circles of the rink this couple posed for a group of photographers at one edge of the rink, I'm going to assume that they are now betrothed...so congratulations, you guys, whether it's true or not!

We finally left the ice rink and went back to Radio City. I had no idea where our seats were and was pleasantly surprised.

Considering that this is the largest theatre in the world, seating nearly 6,000 people. sitting in the 14th row is just great (plus, I also had the outside seat, with room to stretch out my leg.

Everything in New York seems to be self-proclaimed biggest, best, most famous, favorite, or whatever self-aggrandizing label they can put on it. But this theatre may actually deserve the labels. And the show is a real spectacle with 3-D effects...

...a bus tour of NYC, flying effects, many Santas, the mighty Wurlitzer x2, The Nutcracker, lots of Rockettes, and the incongruous addition of a living nativity scene, complete with camels and sheep ("the camels do not play well with others," our tour guide told us yesterday!) I think the best way to describe this show is...to say it's indescribable! You hadda been there.

They say that you can't use flash photography or record anything at the show, but even our guide laughed at that, and flashes were popping off all over the place. I didn't take flash pictures, but I did take a few pictures to get the flavor of the thing.


(now isn't this what you expect to see with Santas,
the Nutcracker, and high kicking Rockettes?)

When the show was over, we wended our way slowly back to the hotel to collect our luggage. We had them call a cab (turns out it was a sort of town car) to drive us here to the Marriott, where we will remain overnight until we take the shuttle to the airport at 5:15 a.m. It place may not have wifi, but the bathroom is bigger than the room we've had for the past 3 nights, I need a manual to figure out the shower, and flushing the toilet is an experience...I'm just sayin'.

I've been to New York several times and rarely have a good impression of it. Something always seems to go wrong. But this trip has been a delight. The whole thing.

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