New York City

Saturday, November 18, 2017

After our trip into New York City and our explorations around the hotel last night, we were in the location where the Christmas concert would take place. The above map shows the key locations associated with the preparation and production of the concert occurred. We were up early on Saturday for breakfast at the Applebee's about two blocks from the hotel. We then returned for an orientation meeting at 7:45am in the 4th floor ballroom of the hotel. Then the choir members remained in that ballroom for morning and afternoon rehearsals while the others were free for other activites.

The Crown Plaza Times Square is at 1605 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. Our two Saturday rehearsals were held there. The Carnegie Hall address is 152 W 57th St, New York, NY 10019. It is about a 10min, half-mile walk north on 7th Avenue, shown on the map above. The choir was taken there by bus on the afternoon of the concert for another rehearsal.

The large ballroom of the hotel was filled with about three hundred singers. It was quite inspiring to go through the music that the 18 church groups had practiced separately. Not having sung with that many voices before, I was surprised that we could stay together and produce some impressive sounds. Phil Barfoot directed the rehearsals and we got to meet Charles Billingsley and LaRanda Green who were the soloists.

It was about five hours of intense rehearsal, but there was a bit of fun and games thrown in. They claimed that Vanna White couldn't come but her sister was with us -- the lady with the outrageous hairdo came in with two supposed bodygaurds. They had drawings and gave out crazy hats, ear muffs, etc. and Eddie Good was one of the winners.

Sunset Dinner Cruise in New York Harbor

After our rehearsals at 3pm, we all boarded large comfortable buses in front of the hotel for the transport to the pier in lower Manhattan for the dinner cruise. With these crowded streets around Times Square, I was glad that they were doing the driving.

We headed south through Times Square with its billboards and crowds and drove through Manhattan to the pier. The above is a reasonable estimate of our tour route. We swung around the south end of Manhattan and under the Brooklyn Bridge. Then on the return trip we swung out close to the Statue of Liberty. The aerial photo at right shows the south end of Manhattan much more clearly than our perspective from the water. The tallest building is the One World Trade Center.

We approach our boat, the Spirit of New Jersey, which was almost like the one shown above which was docked behind us.

Even though it was a dull and rainy afternoon, it was nice to be on the water and see the boating. There were many of these ferries moving back and forth.

We proceeded to the main deck and found tables for the buffet dinner. Ricky and Becky Ridgway join us for this photo.

The boat photographers were busy, so I snapped this one of part of our group. Front row Becky Ridgway, Denette Harris, Karla Ayers, Danielle Bialka, Nan LaFlash, Johnnylee Hadly. Back row Ricky Ridgway, Greg Ervin, and hidden are Margaret Williamson and Chris Ayers.

I enjoyed just watching the city as we cruised down the Hudson River. It is obvious that they are still building skyscrapers in south Manhattan.

We must have seen dozens of these ferries - situated between two rivers, Manhattan uses a lot of ferries.

As we cruised down the Hudson River we got our first view of the south end of Manhattan through the fog. We were traveling beside a variety of shipping associated with all the piers along the Hudson.

The south end of Manhattan is a truly impressive sight, with the One World Trade Center soaring above the other modern buildings on the waterfront. At the water's edge you can see the trees associated with Battery Park.

In this slightly wider view you get a better perspective on Battery Park with its background of highrise buildings.

Even though it was raining, we decided to go outside on the top deck for a look around. I wanted to get Elyse with the city in background, but the light was so low I couldn't get both in focus.

Darla, Elyse and Jeff on the deck of the Spirit of New Jersey with the buildings of lower Manhattan in the background.

We crossed over to the starboard side of the boat where we had a distant view of the Statue of Liberty. I tried to get a picture of them with the Statue in the frame, but it just didn't work. The Statue of Liberty was too far away and its perspective too small.

We went back to the city side of the boat and Jeff tried a fill-flash shot of Darla, Elyse and Rod with Lower Manhattan in the background.

We have now moved around to almost directly south of Manhattan.

We pass another of the variety of scenic cruise boats the ply the waters of the Hudson River and the East River.

We are now headed up the East River and looking westward at Lower Manhattan. The One World Trade Center is still prominent, even though it is on the other side of the island.

Moving on up the East River, we reach the famous Brooklyn Bridge. It was opened in 1883 and was revolutionary at the time because of its suspension construction. We passed the end of it when we were going to Brooklyn Tabernacle and noted that it is now only for auto and foot traffic.

We passed under the Brooklyn Bridge and got a look back toward the southwest toward lower Manhattan.

I liked this view of a ferry traveling under Brooklyn Bridge.

Traveling back down East River, our boat swung southward and over close to the Statue of Liberty to give us a good look. It is impressively large when you are up close to it. We are now traveling back up the Hudson River, and you can see by the Colgate Clock that it is 5:15 local time, but almost too dark for photography now.

These are the city lights on the New Jersey side as we head northward on the Hudson River.

One building had a pair of lighted bands up its entire height. Quite a light bill! Hope they are LCD.

Meanwhile they had music and some guided group dances on the boat, and Elyse got involve in that. I'm still watching the lights of the city, some so bright they make a column of light across the water.

We were passed by a huge Disney cruise ship that was heading down the Hudson to start a cruise, we presumed.

Approaching our docking area, we were now seeing the Manhattan buildings at night.

It was now raining steadily, but we were on our comfortable bus. On the streets were still crowds of people with umbrellas. I think it is safe to say the New York City never sleeps.