NYC

Brooks and I recently returned from New York City, a first trip for the both of us. It was a school trip, with several ensembles in the music department competing in a music festival at the famous Riverside Church. I've been aching to go so I pimped myself out as chaperone. It was a demanding trip (I'd be surprised if anyone got more than 20 hours of sleep over the course of four nights) but I'm sure I'll always remember it favorably.

One reason I wanted to go was to have some interesting culinary experiences. Sadly, several of our meals needed to be at places that could house our whole party of 250, so not all meals were noteworthy. We did manage to stop at the Magnolia Bakery right away after they dumped us at Rockefeller Center for some of their delicious cupcakes - chocolate with buttercream frosting for him and pistachio for me.

We stopped at St. Paul's chapel, where 911 rescue workers once sought rest and comfort. It serves as a memorial today and these origami peace cranes sent by Japanese school children and other groups are among the artifacts still displayed.

We made the usual stops - Liberty and Ellis Islands, Times Square, and here, the top of the Empire State Building.

I feel lucky that my kids have such a great music department to go through in our public school. The directors are tireless workers with high taste in the arts. I was reminded of what a special community we have for music students when our ensembles won every category in which they were entered at the music festival.

The festival provided all the participating schools a cruise around the Hudson with dinner and dancing. It provided the close of the trip (and the close of this blog post) with this beautiful view of the island of Manhattan.