Boston Fancier than NYC?

Aside from being stranded in the middle of nowhere for over two and a half hours, the trip to Boston was fun...

I'll start from the beginning. On Saturday, E and I went to Boston with E's drama club to see How the Grinch Stole Christmas the Musical. We arrived on time to the grade school, 8:30AM, for bus pick up. We were immediately informed that the bus was running late because the roads were slippery where he was coming from. Okay, no big deal, E and I got into a friends van to hang out and wait.We waited and waited and waited, finally after an hour the bus showed up.
We all gasped as the 200 year old bus driver stepped out of the bus and limped into the grade school to take a ten minute pee trip.
The ride to Boston was pretty uneventful, a little snow fell in through the roof vents, but it wasn't' over my seat, so whatever. There was boring scenery and stomach lurching winding roads,but I don't get carsick, so whatever. We arrived about 10 minutes before the show was to start. Before the bus stopped to let us out, Mr. Bossy,not his real name, one of the drama coaches took a hold of the microphone so he could start bossing, I mean telling us what to do. He told everyone that they had to leave all of their electronic devices including cell phones on the bus or shut them off. Fine, I shut mine off, but I would have a real problem leaving it in the bus, say if for some crazy reason, the bus took off without me and I ended up stuck without a phone. Next he told us to go to the bathroom on the bus because we weren't' going to have time to go in the theater before the show starts. Yeah, right. Last, he told everyone they had to leave their coats on the bus because we were just getting out and crossing the street to the theatre. I told E she could leave hers on if she wanted, I am just rebellious like that. However, E is not rebellious, and she left her coat on the bus. I didn't' care about my coat as I avoid wearing one as much as possible. It was only 20 degrees Fahrenheit outside. We piled out of the bus, half the people wearing coats, and made it into the theatre without anyone dying of hypothermia.
Of course when we got into the theatre, half of us snuck off to the restrooms! E pleaded with me not to go because we were "not supposed to!" Heh heh. When we got into the bathroom we met up with many other rebellious chaperone's including Mr. Bossy's companion. Poor guy, even she didn't listen to him.

While we were meandering about the theater, I noticed that there were small alcoves here and there with private parties going on. I also noticed that many people were dressed up. I thought of the matinee we went to last year with the drama club in NYC. Almost everyone there was wearing jeans. Not so much in Boston.There were also cash bars located at every level, E seriously begged me not to get a drink, so I didn't. A choice I regret.

Our seats were about a quarter of a mile away in the last rows of the Balcony and I forgot my binoculars. As for the show, it was great. I am a huge Dr. Seuss fan, and even painted a Dr. Seuss fence on my living room wall, and tell everyone I went to the same high school as him. Of course not at the same time. The costumes were fun and the songs fabulous.

After the show, several of us stood in line so we could purchase $35 T shirts. The T's in NYC were $20. Yes, I am insane, but felt pressure, I know, crazy, I really don't want to talk about it.

We got back on the bus and proceeded to go back to Vermont. Well, we made it over the border from NH to VT, through Woodstock VT, about an hour away from our destination, when the bus pull over at a gas station."Why are we stopping?" we all asked. After a while Mr. Bossy got on the horn and told us that the bus driver just noticed we were low on gas and he wasn't comfortable going further without getting more. Okay, we are at a gas station,no big, right? WRONG! There was no diesel fuel at this station. And to make things more scary, apparently this bus had no emergency road side assistant plan, huh? Being that I was toward the back of the bus, I couldn't hear exactly what was going on but I heard a rumor that the State police were called, the town police where we were headed were phoned and supposedly the town we were stuck in Bridgewater was not going to help us. Great. I don't know what finally happened but after about a half an hour we were told that gas was on the way. Yay! But the gas didn't arrive for another two hours!!! In the meantime people were getting ornery. At one point I was scared that I, I mean, WE were going to go all "Lord of the Flies" set the bus on fire and throw the driver into traffic. Thankfully, I had Xanax with me, which I took, and it helped me realize sending smoke signals would probably be fruitless out here with all the wood stoves around and all. Mr. Bossy did yell at some of the moms because they were really acting over the top angry. I was angry because they didn't give us frequent updates and also because I was just getting into the movie A Sharks Tale, when the bus stopped. The most I did to rebel, was stand up and volunteer to take some of the carsick kids off the bus for fresh air. Another bossy man tried to stop me and asked that we all go out in groups. I said no thank you, I was going out now, it was too hot in the bus, and I was not waiting for a turn to go outside. "You can't keep us from leaving the bus" I said loudly, well quietly anyways. I know the bosses just had every ones safety in mind, but I had to get the fuck out of there, if just for a minute. It was zero out.
Finally the gas arrived we headed out, and well, wouldn't you know, the toilet wouldn't flush. What a piece of crap this bus was. The driver couldn't even figure out how to turn the lights on and off properly. The aisle lights would go on for no reason then off then all the overhead lights would go on. What a dumbass.
Last I heard, from one of the over the top angry moms, was that we were getting a refund for the bus cost. That's good news at least.

$35 T-shirt, which I bought one for T also. I know, I don't want to talk about it.

One Field Trip Down, One to Go

Not the dreaded field trip I complained about in an earlier post. This one I was actually looking forward to. E's drama club put together a day trip to NYC. We took a 4 and a half hour bus ride to get there, visited Rockefeller Center, had a tour of Top of the Rock, saw Mary Poppins on Broadway and ate dinner at The Hard Rock Cafe.

The day started off 10 minutes earlier than when my alarm was supposed to go off, which was 4:30 in the AM. I was up every hour during the night for fear of alarm clock failure. Being 4:20 in the AM is much earlier than I usually get up, UGH!
E and I made it to the bus on time which left at 6AM. I was fortunate to be able to sit next to a really nice young woman for the 4 and a half hour drive. She, I’ll call her J, was the chaperone and cousin of E’s best friend, who I knew would be joined at the hip with E for the entire day. J who is exactly half my age, turned out to be a wonderful, friendly companion for the ride and for the entire day. She and I talked a lot about music and shared songs from our players. Being that she is so young, I was pleasantly surprised at her eclectic taste in music, similar to mine in many ways. She was great with the girls and readily held onto both girls arms at all times while walking the streets of NYC. E of course preferred this new young cool chaperone over me. I was not offended because E still kept calling “mama” whenever I would walk too far away. I found it very anxiety provoking trying to keep and eye on our kids while also keeping track of our group of 45 people, while getting bumped into every 5 minutes or so by other pedestrians. And, I would like to know, what all of these people were doing on this Wednesday afternoon, walking the streets. Soo many people, too many for me to tolerate more than a day. One thing I did find pleasantly surprising was how polite New Yorkers were. Every time someone bumped into me or I walked into one of them, they said “excuse me”. Never once did anyone yell at me and tell me to go back to Vermont! The only rude person we saw was a man driving a NJ vehicle and he gave our bus driver the finger. The kids loved that.
Our first stop was just a quick 10 minute visit to the edge of the water so we could see the Statue of Liberty. It was soooo cold and windy by the water, we only stayed 5 minutes. Next, we visited the Rockefeller Center Skating Rink where we witnessed crazy people actually seeming to have fun skating in the 20 degree weather. At noon we took a tour of The Top of the Rock. The view was gorgeous. After, our small group of 4 got separated from the main group for a few nerve wracking minutes. We knew where the theatre was, but we didn’t know how to find our way out of the building. Heh, heh. Then when the others showed up, one of the teachers actually accused us of wandering off. J and I stood up to him though, because after all, he is not our teacher.
We then walked 7 blocks to the theatre on Broadway. That is not a long way in NYC, but with 45 people all walking at once, it seemed like it took an hour. Mary Poppins was a hit with everyone. It was never one of my favorite movies, but I did enjoy the performance. I especially liked the “Step in Time” scene where everyone tap danced. I do have a couple complaints though. I was thinking for some reason that the seats at theatres on Broadway would be more comfy and spacious than the local theatre here in Vermont. Well, this is not the case. Apparently most theatres must have been built during the time people were skinnier and shorter. It was difficult to not be able to straiten my legs for an hour and a half at a time, and I am SHORT! My next complaint was the price of the refreshments. E and I were starving, as we were forced to eat our lunch at 9:30 AM, and the show was at 2 PM, so we bought a cookie. A $4 cookie! Mind you, it was a big cookie, but for that price it should have been the size of a pizza. The souvenirs were priced as I expected. $20 for a T-shirt for E, $20 for a Mary Poppins pop-up book.
Our last stop was The Hard Rock Café for dinner. By that time E was starting to be affected by all the noise and activity of the city and stated during dinner “I wish they could shut off the music in here”. I actually enjoyed watching the music videos while eating. But I also felt like I had enough sensory stimulation for one day by then.
One other thing I feel the need to add to this long (sorry) post is the NYC fashion. The times when I was able to take my eyes off my child, I did some people watching. Mostly because I was interested in what they were wearing. And the answer surprised me. JEANS. Almost everyone had on jeans. In particular I noticed a lot of “skinny” jeans worn tucked into high cut boots. I don’t know why this surprised me, I guess maybe I thought I would see at least a few fancy people, wearing the clothes like the ones modeled on The Today Show. Not so much.
We had a great time in NYC, and I hope I get another opportunity to go again soon, like in a year or so. My next field trip is tomorrow, where I head off the Albany, NY to see Sesame Street Live with T’s class. I am going to be exhausted by the end of this school break!

Photo's: Top right: View of The Rock from the ground. Middle left: View of the Empire State Building from The Top of the Rock. Bottom right: The New Amsterdam Theatre.(note, the clock is incorrect)