Little Italy

Overlooking the Hudson River

Times Square

In front of the Red Carpet for the Tony Awards

Mom and I on the city bus tour

Would you believe I have never been to New York?! Not the city. Not the state. So, you can imagine my excitement last summer when I was invited to join a choir to sing in Carnegie Hall this June. It’s one thing to get to go to NYC, it’s another thing to get to go to NYC to perform in Carnegie Hall! My mom made the trip with me (as a non-choir member) and we had a blast exploring the Big Apple! When I wasn’t in rehearsals we had free time to do whatever. Mom and I got an overview of the city on a bus tour, we ate tiramisu in Little Italy, we bartered for goods in Chinatown, we saw the bright lights of Time Square, and we saw a musical on Broadway. One of my favorite things we did was take a food tour through Greenwich Village. We ate Bleeker Street Pizza, voted best pizza in NYC by the Food Network, Italian cured meat, New York bagels, Molly’s cupcakes, and several other delicious items. Needless to say we were stuffed by the end of it.

Our choir performance took place on Sunday afternoon. We joined forces with several other choirs from around the world to sing the Faure Requiem. Carnegie Hall had provided an orchestra so during a rehearsal I took the opportunity to meet the harpist and she let me play on her beautiful instrument on the stage in Carnegie Hall!

While all of these experiences are pretty amazing, the most amazing thing happened Sunday night, the Tony Awards. Only a few blocks from our hotel, we were able to get in the gated area near Radio City Music Hall, where we could see the celebrities get out of their vehicles to walk the red carpet. I spotted Vanessa Hudgens, Jason Alexander, Amanda Seyfried, and my future husband ;), Bradley Cooper!!

I would say all in all it was a pretty great trip!