Day Three New York and Broadway!!!

After the first night for what seemed like a month (!) most people had surfaced looking and feeling a lot fresher from a good nights rest. Breakfast has been quite simple, but healthy options - some sugar laden cereals (!), bagels, toast, peanut butter, jams, juice, tea and coffee AND fruit. All  food requirements are being met and the quality of the food is good and everybody is taking plenty of water for good health and not only because it is a lovely 28 degrees!

This morning was the first rehearsal session and I watched Christie take the Choristers through a lovely warm up. As Jenny and I found a quiet corner in the Lobby to go through the days activities, the Choir nursed their voices back into shape. It was very cute to see the breakfast staff standing with their ear against the door, listening to the rehearsal. We invited them all in, after a break, and performed Cesere Aye to them. The staff looked amazed and were very thankful for the performance - maybe some extra "love" for breakfast in the next few days? The Choir sounded good and it looked like everyone enjoyed the opportunity to "perform", albeit to a very small audience.

Following the rehearsal, we had organised a bus to take us to Central Park, where we spent about 90 minutes in smaller supervised groups wandering around this amazing area of green, in a super big city. It really would be the best place to spend a summer Sunday in New York, as many people obviously do, with some street performers to see, large areas of lawn to stretch out and play ball (and sunbake!), people running or riding, or walking around the variety of paths and roads inside the park. We all met at Strawberry Fields which was donated by Yoko Ono after John Lennons death. It is a simple mosaic of the words "Imagine". She preferred this, rather than a statue, as she couldn't bear to see her slain husband like that or consider what the birds would have done to him! Many Choristers reminisced about movie scenes that had been filmed in Central Park, with a re-enactment of one taken place I am told!

After gathering together again, we walked about 30 blocks to the Theatres situated in the Times Square area. To say we "walked" would be a generous reflection, as the task of getting 41 people through a rapidly filling Times Square area, presented a challenge and we literally were "flat out" getting to the theatres on time! Thankfully, and safely, we managed to arrive at our destinations in time to "literally' see the curtains open on both The Lion King and Mary Poppins.

What transpired in the next two hours will be very hard to put into words, but from my experience ( I attended The Lion King, but am assured it was the same at Mary Poppins) your child had one of the greatest experiences of their lives. The excitement, the inability to express in words, the smiles, the hugs and the crying (of joy!) would have made all parents so very, very glad they have given their child the opportunity to experience a Broadway Show. Clearly, this was a magical moment in their short lives that will remain forever! And we get to do it again tomorrow!

As a note of interest, which was provided to us by our Tour Guide from the day before - a show is deemed to be "on Broadway" by the number of seats available in the Theatre - not by any physical location (although this is geographically the situation). A show is "on Broadway" if it has over 500 seats, "Off Broadway" if it houses between 100 - 499 people, and "Off Off Broadway" if it's smaller again.

After regrouping in Times Square, and seeing sights like Spiderman, Papa Smurf, Elmo and a wide variety of characters in the street, we ventured out in groups for dinner and to meet at the "Top of the Rock". This is a visit to the 67 - 69th floor of the Rockefeller Centre and 360 degree views of New York. We were fortunate that we arrived at  dusk, where we could see the sights by day, and as the night descended watched the lights of the city begin to flicker. The Empire State Building was quite close, and it was magic to watch it light up. After an hour of looking over this amazing city, we headed back to Times Square. There was shopping to be done!

Times Square on a Sunday night was amazing. Soooo many people, and I heard someone comment (sounded like a local) "this is just like New Years Eve"! Despite the incredible crowds, we did not lose one chorister, and the Disney Shop, the M&M Shop amongst others felt the generosity of our credit cards as many treasures were secured. Christie took a group of "non-shoppers" home for an earlier night. After 2 hours of shopping heaven, the balance of the group returned back to the hotel, tired but delirious with the excitement of the days events.

I am attempting to gather some photos for you all to see the amazing time we had. I will attach those taken by Casey from the past two days, as this is the only camera I have access to for the moment.