The Rest of the Story

Sunday was spent in practice, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral for Mass, and walking in Central Park. That park is huge. It was interesting to see when we flew in—buildings, buildings, and more building, and acres of trees smack dab in the middle of them.

Monday morning, my mom, MFD, and I went shopping for souvenirs, then we went back to the hotel to get ready for rehearsal at Carnegie—the other practices had been done at the hotel. We stayed after our own practice to hear another group that we wouldn’t get to see that night because we’d be getting lined up off stage. Carnegie was only a couple of blocks from the hotel, so we went there to change, then back to Carnegie for the pictures and to hear the prelude concert.

Then it was our turn to shine. I didn’t mention that in any other choir performance I have seen, singing sections have all stood together, i.e. sopranos in front, basses behind, altos next to sopranos, tenors behind them. What David Thye, the conductor, had us do instead was to sing in quartets—a soprano next to a bass next to an alto next to a tenor next to a soprano, etc. It made me a little nervous at first, because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to hear my part if I was hearing two others beside me. Turned out I knew my part better than I thought, or was a better singer than I thought, because I could hear myself and the other parts, and I hit my notes correctly! It really was kind of neat, supposedly you blend better that way. I don’t know if we’ll ever get to hear our actual performance for ourselves to see how it turned out—Carnegie Hall itself is copyrighted, so no pictures or recordings were allowed inside by the audience.

We met back up with KSA, MFS, and my mom after the concert, where KSA had a dozen roses for MFD and me. Awwwwwwwwwwwwww. We loaded up on busses and headed for the pier, where we eventually boarded The Spirit of New Jersey for a dinner buffet and cruise around the Statue of Liberty and the harbor.

After dinner, there was a DJ to provide some entertainment. Let me tell you, we had some wild (mostly) women on that cruise that forced me to get up and sing and dance and generally look silly with them. I want to make sure you understand I was forced, because there seem to be quite a few pictures floating around, so if you happen upon one, remember that I was forced. And remember that pictures and videos can be doctored. Did I mention that I was forced?

We finally got back to the hotel about 0300 Tuesday.

Sometime after daybreak—quite some time after daybreak—we got up and around for our last day in NYC. Beautiful blue skies, nice temp, we headed out to eat first. Then we walked up 5^th Avenue…and walked…and walked. Eventually we ended up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the beginning of Museum Mile. Once a year, the museums along this stretch offer free admission, and we happened to hit that day. Unfortunately, after arrival, we were informed that it was only from 1800-2100. So rather than pay the “suggested” $20 per adult, we walked a little bit further before heading back to the hotel.

So there we are, around 85^th and 5^th Avenue, when the blue skies depart and it starts to rain. Not just rain—it poured. Yep. And why would we have an umbrella when the day started out so beautifully? KSA did buy one from a guy that was offering them in front of the Met. Good thing, or all kinds of stuff would have been ruined, like our cell phones, cameras, etc.

For those of you that might be visiting NYC in the future, busses do not accept paper money. Coins only. The drivers don’t care how wet you are. We would have already been soaked to the bone by the time we went out of our way to hit the subway. So we walked all the way back to about 54^th and 6^th Avenue. In the pouring rain. We barely got to the hotel in time to find our suitcases and change clothes before we had to load up for the airport.

{sigh}

So, we get to the airport about 1730, our flight is supposed to depart at 1945. As we’re standing in line, they inform us that our flight has been delayed until 0045. And actually, we had a pretty good time during the wait. We hit a few of the shops, got something to eat, then entertained ourselves by visiting or playing cards. One of the gals brought some cards and you played like gin, only with words, and that was fun.

We were all more than ready, though, by the time they called our flight. Fortunately, there hadn’t been any more delays, so we actually did leave around 0100 EDT arrived back home at 0230 CDT.

There you have it. And remember that I was forced.

Flo