My New York City adventure this year was so much better than last year.  If this keeps up, in a few years I won't be able to take it!

Last year I stayed in White Plains and commuted into the city each day.  That was good from an expense standpoint, but cut into the time available for sightseeing.  It also meant a late night subway/train ride after each concert.  I never felt unsafe but I wanted to do something more convenient this year.

After researching parking and hotel costs, I chose to park in Bridgeport, CT, and take the train into the city and stay there for the weekend.  I chose Bridgeport so that my vehicle would be in position for the short trip to Wallingford for the Sunday matinee performance.  I arrived at the Rockefeller Center Hotel mid-afternoon on Thursday so that I could reserve tickets for some tours that had sold out early last year.  I wanted to take the Radio City back stage tour, the NBC studios tour, and the Rockefeller Center tour at a minimum.  Thursday evening was spent uploading pictures from my cameras and posting my Wilkes-Barre review.  I drifted off to sleep while reliving Wednesday night.

Friday morning started extremely early, as I've written elsewhere, and it took most of the morning to get my body temperature back to normal.  Right after lunch, I took the NBC studios tour.  If you get the chance, it is well worth it.  We visited the NBC Nightly News set, the MSNBC studio, and the Saturday Night Live stage, among other places.  The SNL cast was rehearsing for Saturday's show while we were there.  It was a very interesting tour.

Next up was Radio City.  The back stage tour is very interesting and takes you places the public doesn't normally get to see.  As a technical person, one of the most interesting places for me was the area below the stage where the hydraulic system is located.  The orchestra pit and the three parts of the stage are able to be raised and lowered independently by almost 40 feet.  The system was so innovative that the U. S. Navy borrowed some of the technology for aircraft carrier elevators.  The tour also includes the Rockettes headquarters and you get to meet a real Rockette.  Friday night I recommended the tour to several forum members and they took the tour Saturday and were equally impressed.

Then it was time to get ready for the evening show to be followed by a very special meet and greet that would include all 5 girls.  Even though I had met all of them briefly at the Mohegan Sun signing the previous Saturday, I was hoping to be a little more coherent this time!

Bruce had purchased my second ticket and we had second-row pit seats just left of center.  Dwight, Sara, Ralph, and the two Scotts were also there representing the forum.  I won't go into detail on the show as others have already done that.  I will say that the acoustics at Radio City are some of the best I've heard.  Near the end of When You Believe, when Chloë stops suddenly and lets that last note hang in the air, it must have echoed 5 or 6 times.  WOW!  It was obvious that the girls love Radio City as they were all at the very top of their game.  I counted Máiréad doing a record 10 spins at the end of Coast of Galicia!  They must have had a good nap in the afternoon since they were up even earlier than I was for the Today show.

After the show it was time for the M&G.  We eventually located the correct spot to sign in and headed downstairs.  There were quite a few people there and several of us hung around the end of the line.  I still had some things for Alex, Lisa, and Lynn to sign since they weren't at the Wilkes-Barre M&G, so I spent a few minutes getting everything sorted and organized.  Once it was my turn I started giving my stuff to the girls to sign.  Lisa was first and she was very impressed by the shirt and custom pictures I had made for her to sign.  I think I'm finally getting good at this M&G stuff since I was actually able to speak coherently for a change.  I didn't have anything for Chloë or Máiréad to sign since they had signed everything in W-B so I was able to just chat a little.  I asked Máiréad whether she counts the spins she does at the end of Coast of Galicia.  She laughed and said she just spins until she reaches a certain point in the song.  I asked her if she gets dizzy and she said the spins are slow enough that they don't bother her.  I couldn't believe that I was actually having a semi-intelligent reasonably normal conversation with her.  Life is good!  Alex and Lynn were both busy signing my items so I didn't get to chat very long with them, but I'll make up for that in June hopefully.  Naturally, I floated back to the hotel.

Saturday dawned sunny, warmer, and less windy than Friday.  I had the Rockefeller Center tour and Top of the Rock tickets for the afternoon so I took the subway up to the Natural History museum in the morning.  After getting there I discovered that it didn't open until 10 so I wandered around Central Park for an hour.  It was a beautiful morning and the tulips and daffodils were almost ready to bloom.  Spring was in the air.  When the museum opened I figured on spending 3 hours or so and then heading back to 30 Rock.  I quickly discovered that not only can you not see everything there in 3 hours, I don't think you could see everything there in 3 days.  There were two entire floors I didn't get to.  Next year I'll have to spend a lot more time there.

Jim had purchased my second Saturday ticket and this time we were second-row pit just right of center.  Once again both Scotts were there.  I didn't have a M&G this time so I just enjoyed the show.  It was as amazing as Friday.  I could watch that show every night and not get tired of it.  Máiréad's Last Rose Fantasia just blows me away and this night was no exception.  Alex's You'll Be in My Heart is really growing on me.  And Lisa really was The Voice.  Chloë's voice has gotten so much better since last year.  She has more power and she's not afraid to use it.  Nella Fantasia gives me goosebumps from head to toe every time.  And what words can describe Danny Boy.  With the Radio City acoustics, the sound is stellar and I've confirmed that it's Lynn that holds that last note for so long.  Amazing!

Sunday morning I took the train back to Bridgeport and headed for Wallingford to meet Scott for the two shows there.  Those would be my last two shows during this part of the tour and I was having mixed emotions.

Original review is here.