This past weekend we continued our fall festivities with some spooks at the annual Halloween Extravaganza and Procession of the Ghouls at the Cathedral of St John the Divine. Before the start of the evening, we took Lillie for a long fall walk in her Halloween costume (Thanks, Mom).
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| We love walking along Riverside Drive...you could see hints of the leaves starting to change. (This was before the snowstorm...haha) |
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| Me with Lils in her pumpkin costume. |
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| I love this picture!! So cute. Lils was a little more cooperative for Austin.. |
Then we headed down to the Upper West Side for the evenings festivities, and walked around Columbia University's campus, which is so old and academic looking. Brick buildings and pillars, cobblestone walkways. We had coffee and cupcakes to go with the events; Austin got dark chocolate and I got Mr Frankenstein.
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| Halloween decor on the Upper West Side |
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| Frankenstein cupcake! |
Then we headed over to the church...
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| (via Momma Hewitt on their NYC trip) |
Pretty impressive to say the least...the largest Gothic church in North America. You could fit the Statue of Liberty inside! On this night...the huge arching ceilings and dark corners provided an incredibly eerie atmosphere. We waited outside on the huge concrete steps, and once invited in were greeted by our first ghoul playing the cello, which echoed through the huge cathedral.
At 10 pm, the traditional silent movie began. They play a different movie each year; this year's was a screening of the 1925 version of The Phantom of the Opera. Live organ music accompanied the movie, and added to its spookiness.
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| The screen before the start of the movie. |
After the movie, as the time approached midnight, the infamous procession of the ghouls officially began. Out of the smoke, the ghouls one by one began to appear....
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| A huge skeleton was suspended in the back of the cathedral. The organ music began to escalate... |
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| The ghouls came out of this goblin's mouth. |
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| Each ghoul was unique, and their costumes were elaborate. Each ghoul was in character, and would interact with the audience as they made their way through the procession. |
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| Some were creepy, some were funny. |
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| The bishop directed the ceremonies. |
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| It was most definitely an epic way to end the night... |
Seriously so much fun! One of those things that makes you say "Only in New York..." :) Afterwards we were heading back to the subway, and decided to duck into a random diner, which just so happened to be...
Tom's Restaurant! Seinfeld, anyone? No big salads a la Elaine, but Austin had some pancakes and I had a delicious chocolate milkshake. That's one of the random things we love about New York...we pop into a diner and the next thing you know a huge picture of Kramer is staring us down.
It was a perfect New York night. We were a bit worried about going home on the 1 train so late since you have to go up an elevator to get to ground level, but laughed a bit at ourselves upon realizing that this is truly the city that never sleeps. At 2 am, our train was just as packed as it was when we got on at 8 pm. Just a few more Halloween characters this time :)
After the snow storm and our epic day of chili making on Saturday, we decided to venture out on Sunday to survey the damage. We went to Central Park, and were greeted by evidence of both seasons.
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| Snow and changing leaves. |
We walked up to the Harlem Mirror, and all the way down by the pool and to the reservoir. Kids were dressed in snowsuits and trying to make snowmen (rather muddy snowmen), and others were taking pictures of the vivid leaves randomly popping up in different areas of the park. It was a fun contrast to take in.
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| The Harlem Mirror |
how did I read this but not read this before I took my brother and sister in law into the city?
ReplyDeletetotally need to get a milkshake there. and definitely wish I could have came up for the extravaganza! new york city is full fall. just for you :) it's so pretty.