Big Trip 2013 - Day 3 NY

With little sleep, we all poured on to the bus this morning at 6:30am (after the 5:30am breakfast call). Thank goodness our tour guide suggested we leave at that hour (an hour earlier than we had first scheduled) because about half way to NY we hit TRAFFIC!!! 3 right lanes closed on 95. Our incredible bus driver, Mr. Daniels, maneuvered the bus at one point into a rest area (some pretty fancy bus driving) and then it took us about an hour to get past the traffic jam. But once that was over, we were treated to the beautiful NY skyline from the Jersey side.

You can really see the new World Trade Center - it's enormous!!! It's not completed on the top, but it's already taller than most everything else! With Sinatra's "New York, New York" (thanks to Mr. Mozell) we crossed the Washington Bridge into New York.

We pulled up to the beautiful Church of the Intercession and were treated to a lovely lunch by our hosts. The church was stunningly beautiful inside. We got to hear the warmup of the other group - from New Mexico, Hobbs High School Choir - and then were treated to a lovely pipe organ demonstration by the church organist Mr. Bill Randolph. He even played Bach's Toccata and Fugue (you know the one that starts Disney's Fantasia?!) for us. At 2pm we played our concert. Hobbs first, then our combined orchestra, then chamber orchestra. I have to say, it was a great concert! Well received!!

Our NY tour guide Joan whisked us into the bus and we were given a bus tour of Harlem. We saw the building the President Clinton works out of in Harlem. We learned about and saw the old Brownstone buildings. And we got to go shopping at a little African market with stalls.

Then it was Pizza time - V&T Pizza next to Columbia University (an Ivy League school) - that was across the street from the very large St. John's the Divine Cathedral. The pizza was awesome... check it out: http://www.vtpizzeriarestaurant.com/#/home

Skirting Central Park, we made our way to Broadway and traveled towards the Theater District - passing many NY landmarks, including Juilliard, City Center, and Columbus Circle. I think we were all mightily impressed when we came upon Times Square... it was soooooo cool! So many people, shops, advertisements, people, food, people, and lights... and did I mention people???

By 7:30pm we were all at the Foxwoods Theater in time for Spider Man. I don't even know how to capture in words how totally amazing that show was - parents, I'm pretty sure your kids will tell you lots about it - it was pretty technically incredible! I can honestly say that I'm rather enamored with Spider Man now (strangely, also the Green Goblin too... but that's because the actor who played him rocked!). Quite a highlight!!

On the bus ride back to New Jersey (Paramus - when you say that city, put the accent on the "am") we got to see a spectacular view of the city. Now we're at a lovely Courtyard hotel and will be getting a few hours of sleep (hopefully about 6 or 7) before our busy day tomorrow. I NY