Day 17 Broadway and the Lion King

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Geo: 40.7489, -73.9912

It was a mad scramble this morning to pack up the room for the upgrade. Almost everything fitted back into the suitcases and bags and we were able to leave all of this with Michael and Anthony while the guest services team worked their magic. We have no idea where we would end up .... other than it was UP. Sort of like a little mystery tour or gamble.

With that done and arrangements made, the first order of the day was to get to the Empire State Building. No bananas again (pun intended @Gary). The line looked even longer than on the previous days. Approximately two hours. Plan shelved...again.

Oh dear, meant that we had time to visit Macy's and SHOP. We had a quick breakfast on the lower levels and then Mac left me to my own devices for 90 minutes to explore the nooks and crannies. Of course forgot to factor in "queuing time" but was a success and added a winter skirt and two shirts to my already burgeoning luggage. Am going to solve this crisis by investing in an additional suitcase (@AuntyGail will be proud!)

The "Lion King" was next on the agenda . The matinee was packed. Our seats were fabulous - centre of house, lower floor, row V AND the person in front of me was a shorty! Bonus!

The staging of the show was so clever (very similar to Sydney). Amazing sets and special effects. Incredible costuming and masks. Wonderful voices. Great story. It was a winning combination.

And I had a private laugh when Pombaa did the little joke about the "other" Disney movie and did a rendition of "Let it go!" Couldn't help myself thinking about work - it is our number one safe-test YouTube clip that we use for testing in Techsphere.....much to the disappointment of all males in the team. The joke elicited the exact groan from the audience as I get from the "boys" of Techsphere. The difference here was that the joke was accompanied and a rousing round of applause.

The 5 pm finish had us emerging from the theatre in the dark and again found ourselves in the melee of 8th Avenue to take the Uptown loop of the hop on hop off bus. Freezing - of course - on the top open air deck - of course - and loving the interaction with our knowledge of our Brooklyn tour guide - of course. The loop included a circuit of Central Park, a visit to Harlem, a glide by the Hudson River (even colder there) all culminating in a drive down Museum Mile. Got to see @Dawnee's Cooper Hewitt Design Museum and marvelled at her "office" backyard. An inspirational location.

The ultimate destination was the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Wow. We had three hours here but could easily spend a week, a month or even a lifetime of exploration. The scale of the exhibits and the diversity of the collection are beyond description. There must be stats somewhere on the basics of the collection. More reading to do in this space.

And I have to confess. It was one of those occasions when you needed to be "in the moment". There was so much to see and enjoy and appreciate there was no time (or inclination) to take photos. There have to be thousands of better professional shots on the net than I could ever take.

Enjoyed a simple dinner in the Garden Court of the Museum and avoided the buses and hopped a New York chariot home. I do love the ubiquitous New York cab. And Mac was a NATURAL at hailing one down.

And the upgrade was a treat. The jackpot was ours. We opened the door on 2510 and were very pleased. A three room, two bathroom and a full kitchen apartment with a view of 7th Avenue down to Times Square and an equally spectacular view of the blue of Madison Square Garden. "It'll do love" for the next three nights.

Thought about calling it quits at 11.30 pm after a session in the laundry only to be surprised by the spewing of 20 000 people out of Madison Square from the sold out Phish concert rigth on the dot of 11.41. The iconic band had played four nights to sellout crowds and the street erupted with people and the associated swarm of Yellow Cab traffic. It was chaos for about 20 minutes but miraculously from our 25th floor view we watched the black ants stream and clump and disappear underground and were mesmerised by the delicate manoeuvres of the seemingly choreographed pick up routine of the endless stream of cabs.

New York, New York had done it again......maybe we could sleep now.

Not quite yet.

As it approaches 1 am there is a party happening on the balcony under our room. Riotous revellers. Um, we had no idea what they were celebrating but we were tempted to use the hotel provided earplugs for the very first time.

Defs ALWAYS something happening in New York, New York.

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