New York, New York

This past weekend marks my 2nd trip ever to New York City. Despite the 90 degrees with the 80-something percent humidity, I still loved it. There's something about the energy that appeals to me. If only it didn't cost a small fortune to live there.

The Christ Church choir sang at St. Thomas Church* on 5th Avenue and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (the largest cathedral in the world). Since Jason was wrapped up in rehearsals for several hours on Saturday and Sunday, I had a lot of time to explore on my own.**

We stayed at the St. Thomas Choir School at 58th Street and 7th Avenue, which is a pretty ideal location. They put up groups that come to sing at the church at the cost of $75 per person per night, which is a steal in Midtown Manhattan. The Choir School is near all the action and 1 block away from Central Park. If only we could take advantage of the accommodations all the time. Alas, only when the choir is actually singing at the church. Or if you're married to someone singing at the church.

Saturday afternoon I met up with my friend Rachel from law school. We decided to head to the Village for lunch and wound up at a Mexican place, talking for hours. Then we walked over to Washington Square Park, where everyone was playing in the fountain to get some relief from the heat.

Tip: if you're going to New York in the heart of summer and you know you'll be walking a lot because, you know, it's New York, wear black or white. Otherwise, the whole city will know what a sweaty mess you are. Sadly I wore dark pink and was disgusting looking by the end, but we had fun. I got back to the choir school, feeling pretty sorry for myself, until I learned that the choir had just finished rehearsal at the Cathedral with no air conditioning. At least I wasn't standing the entire time and expected to perform on top of that.

A couple of ladies from the choir had decided to go to Coney Island for a corn dog and other foods on a stick, and they invited me and Jason along.

We had corn dogs from Nathan's and ice cream from Mr. Softee.
They went on the Cyclone, but since I'm not really a big rollercoaster person and I wasn't feeling so hot by that point (probably the heat combined with the corn dog), I waited on the sidelines for them.
If you like rollercoasters, they recommend the Cyclone. Apparently it's a pretty good ride for being old skool.

We listened to the pitch for the freak show, but decided not to pay $3 to see people humiliate themselves. Seriously, the Rubber Woman who he brought out front to tantalize us just looked sad. That didn't stop us from taking pictures of some of the great signs.

Sunday morning Jason had to be at rehearsal at 9, but I took my time getting ready since the service didn't start until 11. I picked up an almond croissant at a bakery around the corner I had spied the night before, and then walked through Central Park to get from 7th Avenue to 5th Avenue.





St. Thomas is lovely (and I can't imagine the sort of revenue they bring in being right on 5th Avenue). It was all very formal. All of the people who passed the collection plates (deacons?) were coordinated in blue and white seersucker suits.

Afterwards, we stopped at a restaurant ostensibly for sandwiches and cheesecake because Jason really wanted to get cheesecake while we were in New York. Only once we were seated we opened up our menus and discovered a run-of-the-mill turkey sandwich was $20. !!!! No, seriously. $20?!?! For a sandwich? That's just taking advantage of people at that point. Like, oo la la, we're on 7th Avenue. We can charge you $20 for a sandwich just because. So we got some cheesecake, which was still more than it should have been, but not as much as the sandwiches and Jason REALLY wanted some cheesecake.

We went back to the choir school, packed up, and headed for the subway to the Cathedral. The subway stations were very, very hot, but the cars were blissfully air-conditioned. In fact, on Saturday afternoon after leaving Rachel, I watched 2 trains go by before I finally looked at the subway map and figured out an alternate route for myself because I didn't want to keep standing in the stifling station waiting for my train. I am public transit savvy.

At the other end we bumped into Elaine from the choir and the 3 of us stopped at an Italian place across from the Cathedral for sandwiches. $6 sandwiches. That's more like it. And they were HUGE. I ate half for lunch and half for dinner. I got a meatball sub and, for my Florida family, the sauce tasted just like Antonio's. Yum!

The guy at the Italian place asked us where we were from and when we said Boston, he said, "Oh! The enemy!" Then, "Don't worry, I'm not a Yankees fan."***

Jason and Elaine went to rehearsal and I wandered down to a bookshop on 112th Street, where I proceeded to buy 2 books and a canvas tote because the tote was cute, only $3 and more environmentally sound than the plastic bag. That's what I told Jason, at least. Mostly, it was because it was cute. It being only $3 tipped the scales in its favor. Then I just walked around the neighborhood and apparently my all-black ensemble made me blend because someone actually asked me for directions. That's right. I pass as a New Yorker. At least in that neighborhood.

Frankly, I know Midtown is posh and I'm supposed to be all agog at 5th Avenue, but I felt more at home up near the Cathedral. The neighborhoods felt more comfortable and the retail outlets more within the realm of possibility.

So, I think this is just the nature of New York City, but it seems like everywhere you go is a landmark. On my way to St. Thomas to meet Rachel on Saturday, I walked right by Carnegie Hall and the Russian Tea Room. Walking back to the choir school, I passed by the MOMA. Sunday morning I popped out of Central Park and, oh look, it's The Plaza.
Then on Sunday while roaming around the Cathedral neighborhood, I happened upon this:
In case you can't tell, it's the exterior shot of the Seinfeld diner.

At 4 I went to the Evensong service at the Cathedral and sat up in the fancy chairs near the altar.
In fact, I wound up being one person away from Jason, which was nice since I could look right at the side of his face while he was singing his little solo.

It was hot inside. HOT. As I already mentioned the Cathedral is not air conditioned. I just sat there and perspired, periodically waving the program in front of my face to get a bit of breeze, and feeling really happy that I was not wearing a choir robe on top of my clothes.

The Cathedral is amazing.

I had one of those moments where I looked up at the vaulted ceiling waaaaay above me and was overwhelmed by the beauty. I won't lie - I teared up a little.
I took a picture of The Poet's Corner, dedicated to American Literature. I thought it was appropriate since I am a Master of American Literature.
After Evensong we met up with a friend of Jason's from his mission in South Korea. She was a high school student when he was there and was a dedicated participant in the English classes they taught. It's been about 12 years since they've seen each other, but over the years she has called or emailed him periodically. Now she's living in New York and just finished a nursing program and is absolutely adorable. She gave Jason a hug and then looked at me and asked, "This is your wife?" and gave me a big hug too. The three of us went to Pinkberry and got yogurt and chatted. Then Jason and I had to hit the road if we were going to get back to Providence at anywhere near a reasonable hour. (We realized after we drove away that we didn't get a picture with her. Dumb.)

Despite the sweat, we had a great weekend. I really do like New York, though if I ever live there, I'm still rooting for the Red Sox.

* If you go to the website, you can listen to the service online.
**Thanks to all of you who made suggestions on Facebook. I now have a long list of what to do NEXT time I go. Kelley, sorry we didn't get to meet up. Someday...
***Despite the reputation, everyone I met in New York was nice. Kind of like when I was in Paris.