Paul B
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My wife had this bright Idea to take out Grand Daughter Greta to the Christmas Show in Radio City Music Hall.
Of course living in New York we have seen the show quite a few times and I figured I was done with that. Of course not.
So $500.00 later we got tickets and went this weekend. I forgot it was the same day they lit the Rockefeller Tree across the street and a couple of blocks away is Trump Tower which has hundreds of police protecting and the street is half closed.
I worked in Manhattan for 40 years and hate crowds. If you hate crowds, that is the one place in the world you don't want to be. Even in July you don't want to be there because of the crowds but for some reason people need to flock there to see all this.
So we took the Long Island RailRoad to Penn Station (which is how I got there every day to work) and naturally almost all those people going to Radio City are on the same train. Most of them were in the same car.
My wife has MS and doesn't do stairs well and I didn't remember where the elevator was to get to the "E" train so we decided to take a cab.
Big mistake. The line for the taxi's had about as many people on it as Yankee Stadium on opening night. We got on the line and called an Uber cab.
The Uber cab app came up with a message that basically said, "Yeah Right, Are you kidding?"
So we waited on the Taxi line which would have gotten us to Radio City for the Grand Finale if we were lucky.
Cars kept stopping offering rides to Radio City. I asked the first guy the price and then I told him that I don't think he understood me, I said I just want to ride in his car for the 15 blocks and I didn't want to buy the car.
After 10 or 15 cars came by looking for ridiculous prices, a guy came by and told me he would take us there for $25.00. I offered him $23.00 and he took it.
We got there and you could not get near the main entrance so we went in to the handicap entrance which was great. Of course my wife had to go to the Ladies room which was by the main entrance. The place where we didn't want to go because the Yankee Stadium crowd was all there, including the players, bat boy, mascot etc. As a matter of fact everyone in New York City and nost of the people from Europe were in Radio City and they were all in our way to get to the Ladies Room. All nine million of them except for the fifty Rockettes who were on stage.
Remember my wife can hardly walk "and I am walking a four year old" which I can't pick up due to a recent shoulder operation. Greta wants cotton candy. $8.00
I want a drink. A big drink, but that line was longer than the Ladies room so that didn't happen.
WE start making our way to the seat on the other side of the theater and I am wishing they let me bring torpedoes with me.
Greta wants pop corn. $9.00
We finally get to the theater and at the start of the show, Santa Claus tells us to put on our 3 D glasses. We follow Santa as he flies over Manhattan, then the show starts with the Rockettes. 50 Supermodels, what could be bad?
Greta says, "I want to go home". No, that didn't happen. We saw the entire show with the camels, donkeys, goats etc. (In my working career I sometimes worked under the stage in Radio City and it stinks of wet camel down there. I wonder why!.)
My wife wants to go to the Ladies room again, so we ask where it is. It is one floor up and the mens room is two floors up. Great. The elevator is again on the opposite end of the theater. I think when they built this place they purposely designed everything on the opposite end of the place from where you are at any given time, I am not quite sure how they did that.
We get on the elevator and go downstairs and are told, oh No, the Ladies room is upstairs on the opposite end of the theater.
Greta wants a light up dancing, twirling Rockette on a stick. $30.00
We go back up the elevator and they tell us "Oh no this floor is rented out for a party and you have to back downstairs.
I finally convinced my wife to go where the camels go.
We try to get a Taxi. Yeah right. So we walk to the Subway and of course that subway doesn't have an elevator. The Cop told us there was an elevator two blocks away. It takes my wife an hour to walk two blocks so we started down the stairs.
Greta is tired. 17 or 18 people jumped over us as we slowly got down the stairs.
We couldn't get to the E Train and had to take an F train which leaves you on 6th Ave. Penn Station is on 7th Ave so we had to walk. 45 minutes later we get to Penn Station where the Cop tells us the escalator was not working.
Neither was the elevator. Of course not. Why would any of those things work?
I remember it working in the 80s and once on the 90s.
We finally get on the train where two young girls loved Greta's Christmas dress and kept her occupied.
All in all it was a great day and like all days when I go to Manhattan I wanted to blow my head off.
Of course living in New York we have seen the show quite a few times and I figured I was done with that. Of course not.
So $500.00 later we got tickets and went this weekend. I forgot it was the same day they lit the Rockefeller Tree across the street and a couple of blocks away is Trump Tower which has hundreds of police protecting and the street is half closed.
I worked in Manhattan for 40 years and hate crowds. If you hate crowds, that is the one place in the world you don't want to be. Even in July you don't want to be there because of the crowds but for some reason people need to flock there to see all this.
So we took the Long Island RailRoad to Penn Station (which is how I got there every day to work) and naturally almost all those people going to Radio City are on the same train. Most of them were in the same car.
My wife has MS and doesn't do stairs well and I didn't remember where the elevator was to get to the "E" train so we decided to take a cab.
Big mistake. The line for the taxi's had about as many people on it as Yankee Stadium on opening night. We got on the line and called an Uber cab.
The Uber cab app came up with a message that basically said, "Yeah Right, Are you kidding?"
So we waited on the Taxi line which would have gotten us to Radio City for the Grand Finale if we were lucky.
Cars kept stopping offering rides to Radio City. I asked the first guy the price and then I told him that I don't think he understood me, I said I just want to ride in his car for the 15 blocks and I didn't want to buy the car.
After 10 or 15 cars came by looking for ridiculous prices, a guy came by and told me he would take us there for $25.00. I offered him $23.00 and he took it.
We got there and you could not get near the main entrance so we went in to the handicap entrance which was great. Of course my wife had to go to the Ladies room which was by the main entrance. The place where we didn't want to go because the Yankee Stadium crowd was all there, including the players, bat boy, mascot etc. As a matter of fact everyone in New York City and nost of the people from Europe were in Radio City and they were all in our way to get to the Ladies Room. All nine million of them except for the fifty Rockettes who were on stage.
Remember my wife can hardly walk "and I am walking a four year old" which I can't pick up due to a recent shoulder operation. Greta wants cotton candy. $8.00
I want a drink. A big drink, but that line was longer than the Ladies room so that didn't happen.
WE start making our way to the seat on the other side of the theater and I am wishing they let me bring torpedoes with me.
Greta wants pop corn. $9.00
We finally get to the theater and at the start of the show, Santa Claus tells us to put on our 3 D glasses. We follow Santa as he flies over Manhattan, then the show starts with the Rockettes. 50 Supermodels, what could be bad?
Greta says, "I want to go home". No, that didn't happen. We saw the entire show with the camels, donkeys, goats etc. (In my working career I sometimes worked under the stage in Radio City and it stinks of wet camel down there. I wonder why!.)
My wife wants to go to the Ladies room again, so we ask where it is. It is one floor up and the mens room is two floors up. Great. The elevator is again on the opposite end of the theater. I think when they built this place they purposely designed everything on the opposite end of the place from where you are at any given time, I am not quite sure how they did that.
We get on the elevator and go downstairs and are told, oh No, the Ladies room is upstairs on the opposite end of the theater.
Greta wants a light up dancing, twirling Rockette on a stick. $30.00
We go back up the elevator and they tell us "Oh no this floor is rented out for a party and you have to back downstairs.
I finally convinced my wife to go where the camels go.
We try to get a Taxi. Yeah right. So we walk to the Subway and of course that subway doesn't have an elevator. The Cop told us there was an elevator two blocks away. It takes my wife an hour to walk two blocks so we started down the stairs.
Greta is tired. 17 or 18 people jumped over us as we slowly got down the stairs.
We couldn't get to the E Train and had to take an F train which leaves you on 6th Ave. Penn Station is on 7th Ave so we had to walk. 45 minutes later we get to Penn Station where the Cop tells us the escalator was not working.
Neither was the elevator. Of course not. Why would any of those things work?
I remember it working in the 80s and once on the 90s.
We finally get on the train where two young girls loved Greta's Christmas dress and kept her occupied.
All in all it was a great day and like all days when I go to Manhattan I wanted to blow my head off.
