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The trip started off on March 31st, Friday morning. While most WRVHS students were sleeping cozily in their beds at home, band and chorus kids were waking up and walking into school drearily at 6:00am. The Dartmouth Coach had us loaded and driving out of South Royalton by 6:20.
We arrived in the city by 11:30, all of us with heavy anticipation of the coming hours. We entered The Manhattan Hotel and quickly went upstairs to change into our outfits for the night, and walked out looking snazzier than the Monopoly man. We then took a short walk through Central Park and reached the Lincoln Center to watch the Philharmonic.
After the orchestra put on a riveting performance, we walked back to Central Park and were permitted to play on the playground. Yes, we played on the playground. After our brief park expedition, we were delivered pizza and enjoyed it while sitting in the sun on the artificial park grass.
Later that night, it was time to party. We embarked on our first journey to Times Square and arrived at Bowlero. I am not afraid to inform you of the fact that Band and Choir kids are pretty good at having a good time. After an intense round of bowling, some adventures to the arcade, which was so magically chaotic, we arrived back at the hotel tired and excited for the next day, and settled into our rooms.
The next morning we enjoyed home-made breakfast burritos and left the hotel for a mile long walk in the rain to the Museum of Natural History. We explored many exhibits and indulged in taking pictures with various stuffed animals. Once our time was up, we left and strolled to the subway for a real New York experience.
We took the train down to Chinatown, where we all separated into groups to explore the wide variety of restaurants and shops. After a couple of hours, we hopped back on the subway and headed back to the hotel.
After some downtime at the hotel with optional exploration of Times Square, we all walked to Virgil’s BBQ and sat at large tables for what Mr. Pauly called a “Family style dinner.” We were served various entrees, and ended with an exquisite chocolate cake.
We then bolted through Times Square to the Gershwin Theater, where we saw a 7:00 showing of Wicked. After a marvelous 2 and a ½ hours, we went back to the hotel for our final night.
The next morning, we packed up our luggage, ate some delicious bagels, and headed to Penn Station to disembark on the Amtrak for the train ride home. After a long seven-hour ride, we arrived at the Randolph train station and went back to our houses with many stories to tell to our families.
