Broad Horizons - LIVE on the Today Show!!

It's our last day in NYC and did we ever go out with bang! A number of us fought off some fierce fatigue and made our way back to Rockefeller Center to watch a live taping of the Today Show on NBC. We saw the usual suspects: Matt, Ann & Al and also got up close and personal with pro basketball player, Magic Johnson and pop sensation, JoJo! Here are a few pics with more to follow! What a great way to end our stay in New York!

Music, Magic and 30,000 bulbs...or so we heard....

Hello from New York City!

Well, we've had another action packed day in the city that never sleeps! This morning we enjoyed a personal shopping tour of Soho, Nolita and the famed Canal Street and got the inside scoop on where to get the best buys. We hadn't planned on returning to our hotel before setting out for tonight's big event at Rockefeller Center - but boy can these ladies shop!!! With aching shoulders and plastic bag-burned hands, we trucked back uptown to our hotel, dropped off the bags, popped a few M & M's (a delicious wholesome dinner) and made our way back downtown to soak up the atmosphere around the famous tree lighting - and sadly, that's all we got!

After returning to our hotel, I flipped to NBC to watched the live telecast and quickly saw that unless we camped out the night before there was no way we could've got anywhere near tonight's festivities. We knew it was a long-shot anyway...but I was pretty shocked to see how few people got anywhere near! After all, this is New York - the BIG APPLE in the U.S.A!! Surely they would have BIG SCREENS and BIG SPEAKERS!! Ah well....I guess you can't always believe in the stereotypes....and those in the know do say that New York is like a completely different country. I guess they were right...Darn it.

NYC Pics

The gang's all here!

Welcome to NYC! I’m happy to report that everyone made it safe and sound and our New York adventure is off to a wonderful start!

No trip to NYC during the holidays would be complete without a trip to Radio City Music Hall to see the famed Christmas Spectacular – and spectacular it truly was! We started off our day with a backstage tour of the esteemed Music Hall, where we learned all about its interesting history and even got to meet one of the Rockettes! However, it really is a small world because of all the places in all the world, Erin (our new Rockette friend) was from West Bloomfield, Michigan – only a short drive from the Canadian border and very close to Sarnia, Ontario where many of our travellers reside.

Following our backstage tour, we enjoyed a delicious dinner in a restaurant overlooking Times Square. While the food was excellent – it couldn’t compete with the real star of the show: The incredible views. It really felt like we were in a movie!

Next, it was back to Radio City for the big event. This year, Radio City Music Hall is celebrating its 75th anniversary and they really pulled out all the stops! It would simply be impossible to put it into words…so you’ll have to wait until your friends/family return home so they can tell you all about it!

Until next time…Good night from New York!

PS-Don't forget you can click on the pics above and enlarge them!

Update from NYC!!

Hello everyone,

A quick update for you from NYC: I decided to fly in a day early just to make sure that everything is in order for when the majority of our group arrives tomorrow. I'm delighted to report that the staff here at the Hotel Newton are just lovely - friendly, polite and couldn't be more helpful. The hotel itself is in a great location and has loads of ammenities near by. I've taken a couple of pics for you, to demonstrate! For those of you with a bit of a caffeine habit, you'll be thrilled to hear that there is a Starbucks right across the street! There's also a newstand right next door to the hotel, as well as a great little diner (Key West Diner) and a nice looking Thai restaurant.

I'll keep this one short because I have a lot to do today! I'm heading downtown to scope out everything else for the rest of the trip. I hope you all have a great flight (it's a quickie!!) and I'm looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow!

Meredith

PS-Sorry for posting the wrong date re: the tree lighting...It's Wednesday, not Thursday, that you'll want to tell your friends and family to tune-in to NBC!

Tune in to NBC: Wednesday November 28 - 8:00 pm

Hello everyone!

Just a quick note to remind you all to tune-in to NBC this Thursday, November 28th at around 8:00 pm for the 75th Annual Tree Lighting at Rockefeller Center in NYC!! Our holiday New York! New York! tour departs on Monday and we'll all be braving the cold to witness this historic moment!

Hosted by Al Roker, this year’s tree lighting extravaganza will feature Celine Dion, Josh Groban, Barry Manilow, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, and Ashley Tisdale, performing current hits and holiday classics.

Thousands of people from all over the world will travel to Rockefeller Center to take part in this star-studded event...but if I know these ladies, we'll have no problem muscling our way to the front! Keep your eyes peeled!