Christi Chesnut, 17, a senior member of the Oxford High School marching band, is writing a daily journal for The Star’s Web site about the band’s trip to New York for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Christi, who plays the saxophone, will enroll in Auburn in the fall, where she will study veterinary medicine.This is her sixth journal entry, as told this morning to editors at The Star. She filed her report just before the Oxford band was to march in the parade.
NEW YORK — We went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral last night, and I think everybody was kind of in awe of that. It was just gorgeous, and most of us hadn’t seen anything like that.
New York tour trivia: St. Patrick’s Cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of New York, Edward M. Egan. It is the largest decorated gothic-style Catholic Cathedral in the United States and has been recognized throughout its history as a center of Catholic life in this country. Work on the cathedral started in 1858 by Archbishop John Hughes to replace the original St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which is used today as a parish church in New York. The cornerstone was laid in August of that year, and, after a suspension of work during the years of Civil War, John Cardinal McCloskey, the first American Cardinal, resumed work in 1865, opening the doors in May, 1879.
After the cathedral, we loaded up the buses and went to Times Square, and that was amazing too. For all of us, it was just kind of like “Wow!” because it was so different from the rest of New York in the way it looked. There were so many screens and so many people.
Since we were eating in two shifts at Bubba Gump’s, some of us went shopping first while we waited. There’s just tons of little Broadway shops, Phantom of the Opera, and that kind of stuff, about the different shows. We went to the Hershey store, which was fun. Our group, we kind of chilled at the Marriott Marquis, and you could just go in and sit down and watch people. That was very nice. You could just go in and sit down in the lounge and chill.
We’re staying at the Marriott next to the Newark airport. We checked in last night, and I think I speak for everybody when I say that’s the best shower we ever had.
When we went to dinner, it was funny, you know, because Bubba Gump is from the movie Forrest Gump, which is set in Alabama. So, since we were from Alabama, they were like, “Yea, Alabama!” and made a big deal out of it. And then they didn’t even have sweet tea. That was funny – an Alabama restaurant that doesn’t have sweet tea.
We had breakfast at 7:30 this morning and got our uniforms on to get ready for the parade. We’re busing to New York right now for the parade. The weather is beautiful. It’s cold outside, but it’s absolutely clear. It’s gorgeous.
We’re supposedly the lead-off band, and the parade starts at 11, so we’re ready to go.
