New York City!!!!

At the Phantom of the Opera on BROADWAY!!

So much good food at Mama S'Barro

Our own mini United Nations at the United Nations!

At the top of the Empire State Building!!

Lady Liberty!

Standing in front of the Brooklyn Bridge

On our ferry ride out to Liberty Island

Today was New York City day!! And it was an amazing day.

We started by going to see the Brooklyn Bridge- a big piece of American History.
Then we went to the Statue of Liberty!! It was awesome. We saw the most popular monument in New York. It made us realize that we seriously are in New York City! YEAH!! We also saw a movie being filmed and we saw Matt Damon!! He wasn't in the program, but of course, he was an appreciated extra!
After lunch we went to the Empire State Building. It was INCREDIBLY beautiful. It was a little cloudy, but that certainly didn't ruin the 360 degree view of this wonderful city!
We then went to the United Nations. They had guides that took us around and told us more about the United Nations. They took us into a big Council Room- a place where they filed the movie "The Interpreter."
We went to dinner in an Italian Restaurant in the middle of time square. They gave us a huge selection of food and any kind of pizza we'd want. We were so hungry and SO excited for the food. We had a very fun time in the Italian, American, loud and crazy kind of way! Then we split into 2 groups. One headed to see the Phantom of the Opera (more about that later) and the other went to spend some time in Time Square. Time Square was definitely gorgeous, full of people and lights. Although it had been a long, full day- we were ready to stay there all night, but, the bus came and picked us up. Today was an incredible day!

Some of us didn't have a chance to spend very much time enjoying our wonderful dinner at the Italian Restaurant. 31 of us took the chance to open ourselves to the world of the Broadway Theatres. At 8:00PM the longest running show in Broadway history- "The Phantom of the Opera" had its curtains rise. A. L. Webber's musical included lover, passion and a dramatically interesting story. Webber, Cameron Meckintosh and Tim Shamman created the perfect new score from the perfect romantic plot, that was written in Gaston Leroux's famous 1911 novel.

The show has amazed so many people through so many years and it still shines. The fabulous casting of singers, the amazing and beautiful costumes, modern light techniques, fire and the design of the scenes led us to the Phantom's story. It is the story of a woman, a girl really, who is manipulated forcefully by three men, all of whom she loves- the Phantom, her dad, and a bright young patrician. The story tells of her rite of passage.

At the end of the show the audience gave a standing ovation for the "phantastic" entertainment.

Written bye Carlotta Meggiorin & Panka Kaiser