Four years ago, during my senior year of high school, I was fortunate enough to sing in Carnegie Hall with my school choir, under the direction of Christine Enns. A month ago, Caitlin was just as fortunate and sang in Carnegie Hall with the same choir and same director, except this time her name is Christine Tavares. It felt so good to be back in the big city. Especially since last time I went I was still grieving the loss of my mom. It was so wonderful to spend a lot of time with Cait, and we had so much fun together.
The first day I got in, I took a death ride taxi to the hotel and found the choir. Our hotel was right in the middle of everything (on 55th & 7th) so we walked everywhere, like real New Yorkers.
I spent the night roaming Times Square with some of the choir kids, and Christine and Becca (Christine's ex-sister-in-law... long story, but they're still best friends).
(Some non-english speaking man wanted to take a picture with her since she was 'famous' - her picture was on the side of Carnegie Hall)
Later that night the choir was practicing for their big day, so I stopped at the famous Carnegie Deli - across the street from the hotel - for a BLT. It was the size of my head... so I had to eat it with a fork.
Me n' my BLT
The next morning was spent walking around the city. I hung out with Cait. We bought cheap sunglasses, passed Radio City Music Hall and the famous LOVE sign. Then the choir went up to the top floor at Rockefeller center called Top Of The Rock. I decided to wait outside for them, and did some window shopping at a three story Anthropologie (THREE STORIES! It was incredible!)
I also hung out at the ice skating rink, saw where they film the TODAY show and waited for them to come down. After they were done with Rockefeller we went to the MOMA museum... The Museum of Modern Art. It was really cool. They had a Tim Burton exhibit that was sold out - big bummer.
Starry Starry Night at the MOMA
Radio City and us in our cool cheapy sunglasses
We spent a lot of time in there, they had all sorts of stuff, even live art. That was kind of weird, but since I had never seen live art it was pretty neat. Later that night we went to SoHo and Little Italy with Caitlin, her friend Bridget and Jordan, and Bridget's mom (as the chaperone). We went window shopping in SoHo, and then had some gelato at a cafe in Little Italy. It was wonderful.
Even later that night my friend Melanie and I went out for a drink. We ended up at a bar called Faces & Names.
John Malkovich & The Rolling Stones
Bubble Gum Martini (not so good) Me & Melly
It was a really cool spot with caricature paintings of celebrities on the wall. I stepped outside to make a phone call to Ryan, and on my way back in MacGrueber from Saturday Night Live also known as Will Forte opened the door for me! How polite! He is MUCH cuter in person, he really doesn't photograph all that well, but he was so cute when I saw him! We ended the night with Ray's Pizza and Mel's dad giving her a field sobriety test (he is a sheriff, it was too funny - she definitely didn't pass!!)
The next day was spent with the choir rehearsing (again... they did this a lot) and I traveled back to SoHo with the Jazz choirs and Christine and Becca. I bought two dresses, since it was so hot in the city (it got up to 90 degrees and humidity) and I was dying! Later that night it was Broadway night. All the students chose one show to go see.
I wanted to see Wicked again, since Christine's old friend from high school is Elpheba, and we were able to go backstage, but the show was sold out. I ended up getting a free ticket to see Avenue Q. Avenue Q is a raunchy, hilarious show with half the cast as hand puppets. It was a little awkward watching this show with two rows filled with teenagers... but what was even more awkward were the chaperone's faces. They were SO embarrassed. But wouldn't you Google what Broadway show you are seeing before you get into the theater, so you have some idea of what is going to happen? Guess not.
Later that night some of the adults went out for drinks. We tried to go to Al Pacino's bar, but they were closing, so we ended up at a bar that also had some sushi specials. We all had some good white wine and some delicious spicy tuna sushi. Becca and I decided to go a little wild with a shot of Patron, that surely got me buzzing.
The next day was the choir's performance at Carnegie Hall. They spent the day rehearsing... duh, and I spent it walking around Central Park with Melanie and hanging with cousin Renee!!
Central Park
The Dakota -where John Lennon was shot
She was too sweet to take a four hour train ride from Boston into the city. Her friend Adam said she could crash at his place in Brooklyn, so she came and visited! She took the subway into the city, she saw Cait before she went off to rehearsals, and then we decided to go to Brooklyn, find Adam and go to her friend's whiskey bar. We took the subway out to Brooklyn and ended up at Sycamore Bar. We had a few beers and talked, when her friend Adam showed up.
At that time it was getting late, so I headed back into the city, and she went to Adam's to freshen up. We met up at Carnegie Hall later that night to see the show. It went really long. The choirs were wonderful, I cried.
Cait is not in this one but some of her choir is in the top two rows! You aren't supposed to take pictures inside of Carnegie Hall... so I might get in big trouble for this!!! Haha
Seeing Cait up there with my old choir and teacher brought back all of the memories of when I performed. It made me miss my mom a lot. There was an after party at a restaurant down the street, but Renee, Adam and I decided we wanted sushi. We took a death ride taxi to East Village where we ate some incredible sushi! After sushi we said our goodbyes and I headed back to the hotel, and they headed back out to Brooklyn. It was so wonderful to see Renee, since it had been WAY too long.
Once I got back to the hotel, I met up with Christine and the chaperone's for some more celebratory drinks. We had a GREAT time, to say the least. The night ended with me getting everyone down to the bus at 4am, to get to the airport for their 7am flight. I said goodbye to Christine and Becca, and gave Cait a HUGE hug and lots of kisses, and lots of tears. It was so hard saying goodbye to her. I wish I could just keep her with me forever. After calling my dad to tell him everything went well I went to bed at 5am and woke back up at 7. Grabbed some starbucks and got into the last death ride cab ride back to the airport.
It was one of the best trips of my life. I loved every minute I spent with Cait and her friends. We all had so much fun. I can't wait for next year, when Ryan and I go as chaperone's to Cancun!!!!! Wooohooo!!!!
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