Day 31 - New York City

First thing we did this morning was make our way to the pier where one of the harbor cruises leaves from. We chose to do a 2.5 hour cruise which goes right around the island of Manhattan and under the 18 bridges that connect it to the islands around it. The highlight of the cruise would have to be getting close to the Statue of Liberty which is actually a lot smaller than I thought it would be.

In the afternoon we went to another exhibition at the Discovery Museum, this time we went to 'Art of the Brick' and exhibition of some of the sculptures created by Nathan Sawaya out of Lego. I have seen a lot of his work in books and on the Internet so it was pretty cool being able to see a lot of it in person. He seems like a very literate and profound man.

We then made our way to Rockefeller Centre where we had booked to go on the NBC Studio Tour (think Kenneth from 30 Rock). During the tour we got to go to the set of Saturday Night Live and Today. A couple

of volunteers also got to do the news and weather broadcast. The highlight for me was definitely seeing the set for Saturday Night Live as I try to watch it online when I can. They have used the same studio for all 38 seasons of the show and tickets to the live screening are probably the most popular tickets around. You actually have to go into a lottery in August for the entire season.

After this I went and saw Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theatre. This theatre was more what I expected from Broadway theatres it was very big with a large stage. The show was stunning. I was a wee bit concerned whether I would like the show as the movie wasn't very good. However, I loved the show. Out of the three I have seen so far this one was by far the biggest production there were things coming down from the roof, this coming up from under the stage, people going down into the stage. Big set changes, amazing costumes, fireworks, people up on the roof. It just had everything, I can truly understand why it is the longest running production in broadway history, it is currently celebrating 25 years.

When I came out there were big crowds gathered at the side exit to the theatre next to the Majestic. It is currently housing a broadway show starring Tom Hanks. Everyone was waiting for him to leave so I joint the crowd and waited.... And waited..... And waited some more.

Finally he came out, signed a couple of things and then got whisked away in a black SUV. I did manage to get a photo of the top of his head though. So now on this trip I have seen two celebrities: Tom Hanks and Peter Jones (UK Dragons Den).

Tomorrow I'm hopefully going to another broadway show that I don't know the story to but from what I know it is a great show. Check in tomorrow to see what I think!