Million-Dollar views

Saturday 7 August

Garden Court, Frick Collection

After breakfast I wandered through Central Park over to the East Side and to the Frick Collection on E 70th Street. Henry Clay Frick was a coke and steel magnate who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He amassed a huge fortune which he spent on works of art - paintings, sculpture and furniture - and an enormous mansion to put them in. The house cost $5 million in 1914 and when Frick died in 1919 his collection was valued at around $15 million. In his will he stated that after his wife's death (she lived until 1931) the house and the collection should be left to the nation as a museum. It is an amazing place - hard to imagine you're in New York City as it is more like a cross between an English stately home, a French château and an Italian villa. Some of the most famous paintings in the world are there - Holbeins, Gainsboroughs, Constables, Turners, French Impressionist and far more. Frick clearly wanted works that would fit well into home so there is nothing that might offend or make the viewer uncomfortable.

View from Top of the Rock

I took a walk along Fifth Avenue past the park and back to the Rockefeller Center. This time there was no wait for tickets to the Top of the Rock so up I went! The observatory is on three levels on the 67th and 68th floors as well as on the roof. Although not as high at the Empire State Building it has an amazing view and there is more space and fewer people. And, of course, there is a great view of the ESB itself.

Lower Manhattan from the boat

The tour company that is arranging our choir tour had laid on a complementary ticket for a twilight cruise so I went down to Pier 78 and boarded the boat. As the sun set, it sailed gently down the Hudson River, around the tip of Lower Manhattan and up the East River as far as the UN building. It then turned around and went back the same way, by which time it was dark and there were great views of the nighttime skyline.

West Side Story

Friday 6 August

I had breakfast in the café attached to the hostel and then met up with Lauren, one of the managers, who showed me round the various facilities, including a nice pool and lots of other sports facilities - this gives me a good idea of what's available when I bring the school choir here in April.

Cathedral of St John the Divine

I took the subway up to 110th St to meet Christopher Wells, who will be our accompanist on the tour. Christopher is the organist of Christ Church, Bronxville, which is about half an hour north of Manhattan, where we will be singing alongside his choir. I took the choir from Bilton Grange there in 2004 and the Bickley Park boys there in 2007. It was great to catch up with Christopher and to go with him to St John the Divine Cathedral on the Upper West Side, one of the other venues at which we will be performing. The cathedral is apparently the biggest in the world (St Peter's in Rome is bigger, but that's a basilica!) and should be a very exciting place to perform. We were shown around by Marnie, who also answered any questions we had - very useful. We then wandered around the building - a very beautiful and peaceful place.

We then returned to the subway - Christoper got off at 50th St as he was meeting someone for lunch and continued all the way to South Ferry at the southern tip of Manhattan. I wandered up through the Financial District, past Wall Street, and to Hanover Square which is where the British Garden is. This was built to honour the British victims of 9/11 and contains plants from Britain and features such as City of London bollards and stonework from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. On the ground there is a kind of narrow meandering pathway containing names of English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish counties.

I walked up to South Street Seaport and queued up at the half price to ticket booth there. This time I was successful in getting a ticket for West Side Story.

I walked over to St Paul's Chapel, which will be our third venue in April. I have been here many times before but I thought I would take a few photos to show the parents. The chapel is one of the oldest buildings in New York and still contains the pew where George Washington worshipped. In recent years it has been closely linked with 9/11 as it stands opposite the site of the former World Trade Center. I walked over to Grond Zero - this is the first time I have seen evidence of construction here as, understandably, there have been all sorts of arguments as to what should be done with the site. They are now building the new One World Trade Center which will once more be New York's tallest building. The footprints of the original Twin Towers will become huge pools surrounded by waterfalls. I had a look at a new exhibition nearby which gave details of the plans.

The High Line

I took the subway up a few stops to W 14th St and walked over to Gansevoort St which is where the High Line starts. This is a brand new project which is converting a former elevated freight railway into a park. It is brilliant - a walkway above the streets lined with plants and whacky modern art installations, with great views of the City all around. Currently it only stretches from 14th to 20th St but it will eventually go all the way up to 34th St.

I took the subway to W 53rd and walked down to the Rockefeller Center to see whether I could go up to the Top of the Rock observation deck but the next available time didn't give me enough time to be back safely for the theatre.

I had dinner at Ellen's Stardust Diner which has live singers singing songs from the shows, etc. - great fun!

Palace Theater

I wandered around Times Square taking photos before going to the Palace Theater, which is at the north end of Times Square for the performance. I had never seen a professional production of West Side Story and it certainly didn't disappoint. The sets and lights were brilliant but what was central was fantastic singing and dancing - some modern musicals could learn something from that. The work is an absolute masterpiece.

It was thrilling to come out straight into Times Square which was thronging with people out to enjoy themselves on a Friday night.

Start spreadin' the news

Thursday 5 August

I left Watertown fairly early and got on the road to New York City. The landscape of upstate New York couldn't be more different from the city - miles of forests and mountains with dramatic valleys and rivers and very few buildings. It is amazing that, given all this space, human beings need to live in crowded cities with skyscrapers getting ever taller. The weather on the journey was pretty dramatic - at one point it rained so hard I pulled off the freeway and stopped until it eased. I decided not to take the sat nav's advice to go via Scranton, New Jersey and instead took route 17, which was rather more scenic.

Eventually the unmistakeable Manhattan skyline came into view and I took a deep breath before braving the New York City roads. Actually, the traffic was fine and I parked up by the YMCA on W 63rd St where I had three free nights' accommodation thanks to the school choir trip I'm planning for April 2011. Once checked in I took one last drive in N America (at least for this trip!) and left the car at the rental location on E 80th St.

I took a trip to B&H electronics store, which is an amazing place on the corner of 34th St and 9th Ave. There are several stages to the purchase. First you select what you want and take it to the desk, or for bigger purchases tell the assistant what you want. They then put it in a big plastic box which disappears along a track/conveyor belt. You then line up to pay at the cashier's desk and finally go to pick it up, by which time it has travelled along to that point and has been put in a bag for you to take away! It is actually all rather more slick than it sounds!

After that I walked up to Times Square to see if there were any tickets available at the half-price ticket booth for a show. I had noticed that West Side Story was on but unfortunately there was nothing left so I decided to try again tomorrow. Times Square is a little different from the last time I was here - the ticket booths have been rebuilt and now look very smart and one side of the square is now closed to traffic which makes a pedestrian's life much easier.

I wandered back along Broadway towards the hostel and looked into the Time Warner building at Columbus Circle which has a big shopping mall. In the basement is a big "Whole Foods" store which is a combined self-service restaurant and supermarket. I decided to have my meal there - very tasty, wholesome and cheap!

Farewells

Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 August

Yesterday was another very lazy day by the pool - sadly my last, so I made the most of it!

In the evening we all (Lynn, Dana, Robin, Kyle, Danny and I) went over to Carolann and Kim's so that we could all spend it together. They got pizza in and we chatted and stayed for far longer than planned. Robin and I said our farewells and we made our way back for a reasonably early night.

Today, Robin and I got up at 5am as we had been advised to get going early to beat the Boston rush hour. To our (very pleasant) surprise, the whole family got up to see us off and we were on our way before 6am. It was already quite busy so it was just as well we left when we did - once we had got through Boston the traffic going the other way was already at a standstill at 6.30am!

So we had the long drive back to Arnprior, passing through New Hampshire and Vermont, across into Canada and through Québec into Ontario, arriving in Arnprior around 3pm. I had a rest for a couple of hours before Robin and I said our farewells - it has been so great to spend time with him. I decided I would head towards New York City and find somewhere to stay once I had got back into the US. So I am spending the night at the Rainbow Motel (last decorated c1975) in Watertown, New York State.

Which witch?

Monday 2 August

Town Hall, Salem

I decided to take a trip up to Salem, where the witch trials took place in 1692. I went to the Witch History Museum, which consisted of a tour around various life-sized scenes depicting various events during the period of the hysteria. 19 people were hanged and another crushed to death for witchcraft before the governor's wife was accused - after that, the trials abruptly stopped!

I had lunch at a restaurant called Victoria Station which was on the wharf at the harbour in Salem before returning to Lynn's to find Robin still sitting by the pool...

Family

Sunday 1 August

Flo, Larry and me

Flo's brother Ray and his wife Irene, who were visiting from Canada, joined us for breakfast - Larry is a mean pancake-maker!

We then went back over to Lynn and Dana's where they had organised a family get-together. So as well as my cousin Lynn, her husband Dana and their two boys Kyle and Danny, there was my other cousin Carolann, partner Kim and son Justin, Lynn and Carolann's half-sister Melanie, her husband Danny and their boys Donovan and Griffin. Of course there was also my Uncle Robin (Lynn and Carolann's Dad), as well as Lynn and Carolann's Mum Flo and her husband Larry, Flo's brother Ray and his wife Irene.

There were several keenly contested games of Baggo (you have to throw a little beanbag into a hole!) which Ray won hands down. The kids splashed around in the pool and the adults chatted over fantastic food produced by Lynn, Carolann and Flo. A really great day!

Catching up

Thursday 29, Friday 30 and Saturday 31 July

I haven't written anything for a few days so it's time to catch up!

Inside the Bass Pro store. Yes, this is a shop!

On Thursday morning the weather wasn't too good - dull and rainy - so Robin, Lynn, Kyle, Danny and I went for a little shopping trip. They took me to the Bass Pro store, which is an extraordinary place that sells everything for the outdoors - hunting, fishing, sailing - you name it! It even has display tanks full of fish and turtles (not for sale, just for show!). I have never seen so many fishing rods in my life!

The store was near a big complex which includes the stadium where the New England Patriots football team play and we went for lunch at CBS Scene which is a themed restaurant with TVs playing CBS shows. By the time we got back the weather had improved so we spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool and when Dana got home we had our evening meal outside and later Robin, Dana and I went to one of the local hostelries for a drink.

Lazing by the pool

Friday was the laziest day of the trip so far - we just lazed by the pool. When Dana got home from what sounded like a stressful at work we told him that the most stressful part of our day was walking from the sun-lounger to the pool... He wasn't impressed... After dinner we went out to meet my other cousin Carolann, her partner Kim and her son Justin for ice cream and Robin went home with them to stay for a couple of nights.

Boston from the Duck Tour

On Saturday Lynn, Dana, Kyle, Danny and I got up early to go into Boston for the Duck Tour. It was great - the driver/guide was an Irishman who, true to form, talked non-stop for an hour and a half. He was full of information about all the sights and the novelty of going from the road to the water was great. After the tour we wandered up through the public gardens and Boston Common in glorious sunshine and on to Faneuil Hall for lunch.

We returned home and I went over to Florence and Larry's. Flo is Lynn and Carolann's Mum and they live in Braintree. We went over to have a drink at Carolann and Kim's - the first time I had seen their house, which is a beautiful detached property in a nice quiet area. Flo, Larry and I went for a Thai meal and I stayed over at their house.