NYC, Part 3: Mystical Transport and other Impressions

 So, as I was saying...

we took this field trip to NYC with my son's sixth grade class--a very small class from a very small school.

One of the most memorable things we experienced was the absolutely beautiful, sensational  opera singer filling the subway station with her voice. I think it was undoubtedly the most mesmerizing, glorious sound I've ever heard. And I didn't understand one word of it. I was just enthralled. We all stopped to stare and listen, like snakes being charmed by  a flute.

Look closely and you'll see her standing alone in the third "frame" from the right.

The subway platform being her stage, she'd take large steps,  first stage right, then stage left, slowly, dramatically. Acoustics in a subway rival Carnegie Hall, no doubt.

Funny how the most memorable sights are not really sights at all. 

They go much deeper into your memory than anything visual. 

Music is a form of transportation all its own. 

Like the cars that take miners deep into the earth in search of coal or diamonds, music can carry our souls into places where treasures lie, 

mysteriously hidden below the surface.

But then there are the quintessential sights 

that leave impressions on our minds. 

One impression I had was that Lady Liberty has mighty masculine arms. 

 Another impression, tested in real time by yours truly: 

Trash cans on ferries are not the answer to the question "What can I hold on to?"

because the answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind.

Better to have a strong travel companion at your side. 

 

Better to have a strong travel companion at your side.  Preferably one with masculine arms. 

Big Apple Trip, Part 2

This would be a trip involving multiple modes of transportation (mainly our feet), multiple bathroom stops for the moms, and multiple times when our leader, the sixth grade teacher (AKA Mr. B), would gather us together, do a head count, and then break into a huge smile when he'd say, "18! Yes! We've never lost anyone on a field trip."

First stop, Penn Station. I kept my camera tucked securely away.
Second stop, a bathroom for one of the moms. It wasn't me, honest!


So, we made our way through Penn Station, having issued the warnings to the kids to keep their electronics and money hidden, to stay close to their chaperons (ie mom or dad, since each student had one or more).

The day was beautiful. This overcast sky kept us comfortably cool for walking to our two main destinations of the day.

I saw our kids snapping photos left and right and thought how times had changed since I was their age. I would have had a Kodak Insta-matic with 24 exposures on it, or 36 since this was a special occasion.

Signs and sights to the left of this sidewalk reminded us of the damage brought to this area by Superstorm Sandy.  Lives and homes have been under reconstruction since that terrible event.

When you're twelve living two or three states away,  events like that seem like a long time ago in a land far, far away.

Aaaah.   The innocence of youth.

Next we boarded the ferry  that would take us to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty .
Funny how I had blocked out the memory of a ferry ride I once took
to Alcatraz Island.  Let's just say it felt like doing time.







I  tried to stay away from the edge of the boat so that my lunch would stay down. The pole had been my "base" to which I clung like a kid not wanting to be "it"in a game of tag.  Because "it" would not be pretty in my version of the game.

 But for a picture, I gave up my post because I wanted the flag and the harbor and part of the skyline in the background.  So I handed the camera to one of the gang and that was that.   Then I went back to my base.

I wasn't the only one on "base."  Here are two more bake sale moms trying not to toss their cookies.















Anyway, there was neither drama nor Dramamine on board, so hooray!

These silly girls pretended to be overcome with emotion upon seeing the Statue. 

So maybe there was a little drama. Hey, they're preteen girls. And this is New York. 

What do you expect? 

Next stop: Ellis Island, where there is a bathroom that doesn't rock.