December 14, New York City

I can't believe how well I slept today. It is just so nice to be lying down I think!

Today was a busy day, with two shows booked in to the schedule. Despite that we had some time to kill between breakfast and show 1, so we elected to take the subway uptown to visit 'The Cloisters'.

The train ride from our station at 72nd Street was a long way, all the way uptown, through Harlem to Washington Heights, past 191st street. We got off at Dyckman Street (incidentally close to the only remaining farm house on Manhattan Island) and walked through a very interesting neighbourhood to get to The Cloisters.

This proved to be quite the hike up! Steep ... very steep! When we finally got to the top, we decided not to go in and have a look, as it took a lot of time to get there, and we had shows to get to. In case you do decide to go, The Cloisters are a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Most of the art advertised seemed to be either modern (Matisse ... if he's modern?) or Medieval. Entry is $25, and it was nicely heated. Not that we needed heating after the exercise we'd had.

We caught a bus back to the bottom (why did no one tell me I could catch a bus up??) and got a train down town. There we joined the crowds for the Radio City Music Hall Spectacular.

Firstly we stopped for some refreshment at a cafe style place just over the road. This is where I discovered that 'tea' in the US is not like the tea I liked. I always order tea milky (preferred ratio is 3 parts tea to one part milk, or 2 parts tea, to one part milk and one part cold water) so that I don't burn my mouth because I like to drink my tea, not sip it. When asked how I wanted it I told the guy 'Lots of milk, no sugar'. Except instead of adding cold milk, they added hot frothed milk ... and so I burned my tongue and ended up tipping most of it out. Grrr!

Before I talk about the show, I have to say that this was the most amazing theatre I've ever been in. The foyer was amazing, downstairs the toilets included 2 waiting rooms (kind of necessary given the lengths of the queues!) and inside was pretty awesome too.

The show was wonderful. A story, narrated by Santa. Some of the best visual effects I've seen! 3D animations on a screen, Santa flying through, and around NYC. Then projections on the roof and walls of the theatre space itself. The best part was that I was allowed to take photos so I can share some of this with you! So here are a few of my favourites.

Overall I gave the show an 80 on my TC 100 scale. Dancing and kicking was pretty speccy, but the show was stolen by the projections! Oh, and the sheep and camels.

At the theatre we met up with the Aitken family. Lisa worked with Dad on the Oneschool Project. She'd found the Magnolia Bakery and so together we battled the crowds to get ourselves some cupcakes. Mum and I chose Red Velvet, Gingerbread and Vanilla with chocolate icing. Now I'm going to say something unpopular. I don't think they were the best cupcakes I've ever eaten. The Red Velvet wasn't as good as mine, and the Chocolate icing on the vanilla ones had too much cocoa. But there you go. Now as well as being a theatre critic I'm a food critic!

After a quick trip to the hotel to drop off a precious cargo for later consumption (the cupcakes!) we headed down town to the very tip of Manhattan to cross another something off my bucket list (which I've yet to write!). We went for dinner at Fraunces Tavern. Opened as a tavern in 1762 (it had previously been a home) George Washington had meetings there, it was the sight of political meetings and is the longest running Pub in NYC. It's also pretty beautiful and has an amazing selection of beers ... not that I drink them, but the beer menu was longer than the food menu!

We were lucky to get to visit this place as Fraunces only opened a week ago after being severely damaged by Superstorm Sandy. Apparently water up to the waist went through the building, and a lot of parts of it (including the normal restaurant) are still undergoing repairs. Walking to the place we passed sandbags in the streets, lots of buildings with 'unsafe' stickers on doors, huge generator trucks and workmen working frantically. Clearly there is still a lot of work to be done in this part of the city.

The food we ordered was delicious and very generous in it's proportions. Definitely worth a visit, as the atmosphere was also fantastic.

From there (after a little shopping in some stores we encountered on our way back to the subway) we went back up town to the Marquis Theatre for Evita.

The theatre is part of the Marriott Hotel and is quite small. The seats were quite small .... That meant that we were very close to the action. Dad was a bit worried about this show because he'd read some reviews suggesting the lady playing Evita wasn't up to the role. I have to say I found it fantastic! 90 on my 100 scale. 

Ricky Martin as Che did an awesome job, once he got into the story. His constant hovering, and singing to Eva, though often she's not aware of it was fantastic.

The lady playing Eva, Elena Rogers, is the first Argentinian to play the role. I think part of the criticism of her singing is because of her accent, which I though lent a very genuine feel to the show. There was nothing put on about her portrayal. It was natural. She was so small and frail.

The guy who played Peron was actual the understudy and he did a magnificent job, and earned the biggest applause of the night ... and got the ovation started.

Two stand outs for me include the music, I'm still humming songs and will be downloading the album to add to my musical collection, but then the genius of ALWebber is no surprise. The other stand out was the set. Somehow they fitted 3 sides of a magnificent mansion with 9 foot doors onto a quite small stage, and it moved too! Nothing minimalistic about this show. Definitely something to go and see before Ricky heads Down Under.

Final note is an apology. In case I've made spelling mistakes or errors in expression, I apologise. Most of these are written very late at night (currently it's 12.35) and I've already been falling asleep in shows ... not because they were boring, but because it's warm, and comfortable and I'm tired. I do endeavour to come back in the morning and proof read. Please don't judge me too harshly!

Also here is a link I hope works to my Facebook photos, which are much more extensive than those loaded here.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151315740135210.510259.664625209&type=1&l=74b7e6d497